Reds 2 (O’Grady 8, Pedersen 31)
Huddersfield 1 (Vaughan 61)
Barnsley earned their first three points of the season after a hard fought victory over Huddersfield Town. The two Reds goals came in the first half with clinical finishes from Chris O’Grady and new-boy Marcus Pedersen.
O’Grady almost burst in on three minutes but the Town defence managed to bundle the ball back to Smithies in goal after good work from Dawson.
Barnsley were rewarded for their brilliant start on eight minutes as Chris O’Grady turned well in the box and tucked home a lovely finish with his left boot from 15 yards.
The Reds had started with the bit between their teeth and Etuhu burst forward on 11 minutes before feeding the ball to O’Grady, but he curled over from the corner of the penalty area.
On 21 minutes Adam Hammill zipped a tasty ball right across the face of goal but no yellow shirt was on hand to finish off.
The visitors were responding positively to Barnsley’s early dominance and they should have levelled on 25 minutes as Clayton jinked his way into the box down the left, but his pull-back was thankfully cleared by Noble-Lazarus.
A minute past half-hour Barnsley doubled their lead and it was through Marcus Pedersen on his home Championship debut. A deadly ball in from Kennedy was brought down expertly by the Norwegian, and he turned to fire low past Smithies from 12 yards.
The Reds were back on top in the second quarter as the tempo picked up again. In the first of two minutes added on, Pollitt did well to smother a cross from the right with Vaughan lurking.
Second half
Clayton saw a volley deflect wide for a corner from the edge of the box and Marcus Pedersen blasted well over at the other end on 51 minutes.
A minute past the hour saw Vaughan in again onto Clayton’s through-ball and this time he made no mistake as he tucked beyond Pollitt from the edge of the box.
Jacob Mellis was thrown into the action on 73 minutes, replacing Noble-Lazarus who had enjoyed a pretty much faultless game at left wing-back.
A punt from Kennedy was fed into Mellis by O’Grady down the left on 85 minutes but the ex-Chelsea man’s effort thundered over from the corner of the box.
As Town piled forward in search of an equaliser, Smithies came up for a corner that was cleared by M’voto and he ran almost the full length of the pitch with the ball but couldn’t convert from 30 yards out.
Teams
Reds: Pollitt, Kennedy, O'Brien, Dawson (c), O'Grady, Perkins, Wiseman, Pedersen (Dagnall 75), M'voto, Etuhu, Noble-Lazarus (Mellis 73).
Subs: Steele, Scotland, Cywka, Jennings, McNulty.
Huddersfield: Smithies, Hogg (Stead 87), Hammill, Lynch, Vaughan, Clayton, Scannell (Ward 53), Norwood, Carroll (Paterson 77), Gerrard, Clarke (c).
Subs: Bennett, Smith, Gobern, Wallace.
Referee: Lee Mason
Referee's Assistants: Gary Beswick & James Wilson
Fourth Official: James Adcock
Man of the Match, sponsored by Napoleon's: Marcus Pedersen
Reds: Pollitt, Kennedy, O'Brien, Dawson (c), O'Grady, Perkins, Wiseman, Pedersen (Dagnall 75), M'voto, Etuhu, Noble-Lazarus (Mellis 73).
Subs: Steele, Scotland, Cywka, Jennings, McNulty.
Huddersfield: Smithies, Hogg (Stead 87), Hammill, Lynch, Vaughan, Clayton, Scannell (Ward 53), Norwood, Carroll (Paterson 77), Gerrard, Clarke (c).
Subs: Bennett, Smith, Gobern, Wallace.
Referee: Lee Mason
Referee's Assistants: Gary Beswick & James Wilson
Fourth Official: James Adcock
Man of the Match, sponsored by Napoleon's: Marcus Pedersen
