"It felt like a win": Huddersfield Town boss on derby point versus Leeds United, Jonathan Hogg dismissal and 'special' Brodie Spencer

Town produced an intense, in-your-face performance versus Leeds, who hammered them 4-1 in the reverse fixture and had to do things the hard way after being reduced to ten men just before the break after captain Jonathan Hogg was dismissed for a silly elbow on Junior Firpo.

Earlier, during nine minutes of added-on time, the hosts took the lead when Michal Helik, who came on as a substitute for Yuta Nakayama, scored on his return from injury – netting a rebound to register his ninth goal of the campaign.

Despite their numerical disadvantage, the Terriers held firm in the second half against the visitors and their backline was breached just once, when Patrick Bamford levelled midway through the first half.

Town held firm and claimed a heroic point on a memorable first home game for the German.

He said: “First of all, it was a fantastic atmosphere in the stadium, the supporters were behind us for the whole game.

"We started not really good, Leeds did it very well in first few minutes, then we decided to press one on one as we had solutions prepared before the game.

“We were in the game and then boys did really good over the 96 minutes. Today, it feels like a win with over 50 minutes with one player less against a team like Leeds with the quality of individuals they have.

“You can’t defend everything, but we did very good with high discipline. We scoreed from a set-piece and know we had an advantage because of tall players.

"Brodie Spencer was ill after breakfast. It was not good, normally we’d want to change. He wanted to play and he played 70 minutes and that shows the special mentality of the team.”

On the Hogg dismissal, he added: “I haven’t seen the situation, but Hoggy apologised after the match in the dressing room.

"But you could see the whole team standing behind him as a leader, the whole team behind him. Sometimes, you need the whole team to fight for the captain and they did it very well.

"Our players gave all what they have and with the supporters having their backs and they did it reality fantastic and it was successful moment to take a point. Hoggy apologised and it was really unnecessary to get the red card and he knows this.”