Leeds 0 Huddersfield 1: Aaaron Mooy the merrier as leaders Town get the better of insipid United in derby

WELSH songstress Mary Hopkin's classic Sixties hit Those Were the Days may evoke feted days of yore for Huddersfield Town supporters.
Huddersfield Town's Aaron Moy scores the only goal of the game against Leeds United (Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe).Huddersfield Town's Aaron Moy scores the only goal of the game against Leeds United (Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe).
Huddersfield Town's Aaron Moy scores the only goal of the game against Leeds United (Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe).

But David Wagner’s class of 2016-17 are doing their level best to provide a contemporary slant to that unofficial club anthem.

These are most definitely the days to be a Town fan. Four points clear at the top of the Championship table and now basking in the glow of their best start to a league season. Life is unquestionably good.

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Leeds United, by contrast, are enduring depressing and familiar early-season angst and hand-wringing, with head coach Garry Monk loosening his collar as he fights for metaphorical air.

The scoreline on Saturday may have hinted at a tight and closely fought derby contest, but in this case, it was misleading. As 1-0 wins go, this was pretty emphatic.

It showcased a team with an identity and soul against a disparate looking gathering of individuals who lacked collective cohesion and urgency, and are palpably lacking in self-confidence.

On a big boxing weekend, the main West Yorkshire footballing bout proved thoroughly one-sided with Leeds failing to lay a glove on their rivals from across the A62.

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Fittingly, the knockout blow was provided by the game’s best player in Aaron Mooy, with the Australian midfielder putting gloss on a resounding performance with a sweetly-struck 55th-minute winner.

Granted, there will be conjecture given the fact Mooy was only yellow-carded for a robust and high challenge on home captain Liam Bridcutt just before the break, with Wagner admitting that the offence would probably have yielded a dismissal if the game had been staged in his native Germany.

But it was hardly the real issue for Leeds. The more pertinent one was the fact that they produced next to nothing in a flat and insipid performance that scraped the barrel.

The win means Town have a pronounced spring in their step ahead of tomorrow’s encounter in Brighton, which will provide a more accurate barometer of their progress than did Saturday.

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For Leeds, anything like a replication of this display against Blackburn Rovers will be beyond the pale.

For Mooy and Town, the bandwagon continues, with the visitors’ match-winner – after World Cup qualifying engagements for the Socceroos in Abu Dhabi and Perth – crowning an eventful week.

Thankfully, for his and Town’s sake, there were no signs of fatigue or jetlag from the Sydneysider.

Far from it and it was Leeds who were the ones out of sync.

Mooy, who went close to scoring for Australia in their qualifying games against Iraq and the United Arab Emirates, said: “The big games like this are the ones you want to play in and I really enjoyed the game and to score my first (Huddersfield) goal, and a derby winner, is special.

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“The goal is great for the fans and I was happy to help the team. It was a great day. The shot was instinct more than anything.”

Casting aside any notions of travel-weariness, Mooy – whose sense of well-being was added to by the fact that his parent club Manchester City claimed the bragging rights in their derby with Manchester United – continued: “I was travelling back from Dubai and not Australia, so it was only a couple of hours behind in time difference.

“The national team provides business class, so it was not too bad.

“We are just happy to get results at Huddersfield at the moment and believe in what David wants us to do. He is a very passionate coach and his tactics are working perfectly at the moment.”

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Mooy’s strike was the first moment of genuine quality in a derby encounter that hardly simmered, let alone boiled.

The main talking points from a cagey first half centred around referee Roger East, who showed a yellow card and not red following Mooy’s strong challenge on Bridcutt and rebuffed stringent home appeals for a penalty after Marcus Antonsson tumbled under pressure from Chris Schindler.

Town, to their credit, stepped things up on the restart, with Leeds producing a laboured replication and posting no threat.

Mooy, who fired a rare first-half chance wide, was afforded time and space before unleashing a rasping strike from distance, which flew past Rob Green.

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For the remainder of the game, Town, whose shape and energy were reassuring constants for them, were rarely troubled, with the only moment of alarm going when Danny Ward gathered Chris Wood’s downward header.

Indeed, it was the visitors who could have added to their advantage with Kasey Palmer firing over and Rajiv Van La Parra seeing an audacious 40-yarder tipped over in the nick of time by Green, while appeals for a spot-kick were rebuffed after the Town winger went down in the box under pressure from Luke Ayling.

As derby wins go, this was comfortable alright.

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