Bradford City fell to a 1-0 defeat against 10 men Huddersfield Town at the Accu Stadium, with a first half strike from Marcus Harness the difference between the two teams.
It was Huddersfield Town who came flying out of the blocks on derby day and should have had the lead inside the first ten minutes, January signing Bali Mumba picked up the ball on the left wing, with his pass inside deflecting into the path of Marcus Harness, Harness slipped the ball through to Alfie May, whos shot at the angle was saved by Sam Walker, the ball reached Lyden Gooch at the back post with all the goal to aim for, but his shot somehow went into the side netting.
Just minutes later, Walker’s goal kick was headed back by Joe Low, this allowed for Bojan Radulovic and Joe Wright to have a tussle for the ball, which the Serbian got the better of, flicking the ball into the path of Harness, but his half-volleyed effort went flying over the crossbar.
Halfway through the first half Huddersfield got their due reward, the Bradford City defence switched off allowing for May to get in behind from Mumba’s quick throw in, May clipped the ball across to Radulovic, who’s header was superbly saved by Walker, but Harness was the most alert to fire the ball into the roof of the net from close range and give the Terriers first blood on derby day.
Graham Alexander made changes at half-time, but it was Liam Manning’s side who continued to dominate, Harness dispossessed Curtis Tilt high up on the right hand side, the Huddersfield number 10 carried the ball forward before finding May in the box, but May couldn’t quite get his feet set allowing for Jenson Metcalfe to block his attempt.
Huddersfield continued to push for a second, and they weren’t far away when Low’s header from Gooch’s corner went narrowly wide of the post.
On the hour mark Bradford were given a lifeline, Marcus McGuane was late with a tackle on Metcalfe, and after already receiving a yellow card in the first half, McGuane recieved a second booking and was given his marching orders.
Despite the man advantage, Bradford City remained toothless and created very little to trouble Huddersfield, the best chance falling the way of Louie Sibley who got the ball on the left hand side of the box after some good defending from Low, but his shot was comfortable for Lee Nicholls to catch.
Huddersfield saw the game out to earn three points and the bragging right over their West Yorkshire rivals, a bitter pill to swallow for Bradford City fans who might be beginning to question whether they have enough to compete at the top, but Graham Alexander believes he still has enough in his squad;
“I think we have enough in this group, they have proved it already this season.
“I am not going to turn on this group of players at all, I know what we are up against in this division.”
Victory for Huddersfield Town sees them remain 6th in League One, 3 points above 7th place Luton who they play on Tuesday night, Bradford City slip 1 place to 4th, 6 points behind 2nd place Lincoln City, who they travel to on Tuesday.
Huddersfield Town: GK Lee Nicholls, CH Radinio Balker, CH Joe Low, CH Murray Wallace (Josh Feeney 86′), WB Lynden Gooch, CM Marcus McGuane, CM Ryan Ledson, WB Bali Mumba, AM Marcus Harness (Lasse Sorensen 74′), Alfie May (Cameron Humphreys 68′), Bojan Radulovic (Dion Charles 74′)
Unused subs: Jak Alnwick, Mickel Miller, Will Alves
Goalscorer: Marcus Harness 23′
Bradford City: GK Sam Walker, CH Aden Baldwin (Tommy Leigh 85′), CH Joe Wright (Tyreik Wright 68′), CH Curtis Tilt, WB Josh Neufville (Harrison Ashby 46′), CM Max Power, CM Jenson Metcalfe, WB Ibou Touray, AM Joe White (Louie Sibley 46′), AM Bobby Pointon (Calum Kavanagh 46′), Stephen Humphrys
Unused subs: Joe Hilton, Matthew Pennington