Huddersfield Town 3 Doncaster Rovers 1

Last updated : 08 January 2004 By Footymad Previewer

Leading scorer Jonathan Stead fired Town into play off contention with a brace of goals which helped them win an exciting Yorkshire derby at the McAlpine Stadium.

The £1million rated striker struck in the 42nd and 69th minutes and also created the winner for Jonathan Worthington on 82 as Town racked up a third successive win.

The goals were Stead's 16th and 17th of a superb season and his overall performance was sure to have impressed the host of Premiership scouts watching the Huddersfield born star.

The victory was no more than Peter Jackson's side deserved in front of their second biggest crowd of the season, while stuttering Doncaster need to quickly rediscover their form if they are to claim one of the automatic promotion places.

Town dominated the first half and with defender Nat Brown performing heroics as a makeshift striker, Town caused all sorts of problems for the visiting defence.

With Worthington dominating in midfield it was something of a surprise that it took Huddersfield 42 minutes to break the deadlock.

The goal came when skipper Robert Edwards' corner was flicked on by Brown and Stead applied the finishing touch at the far post.

Rovers improved in the second half, but they were still indebted to keeper Andy Warrington who pulled off a string of top saves to keep his side in it.

But the veteran keeper could do little about Town's second as John Doolan's poor header gave Brown possession and his perfectly weighted pass to Stead split the defence and he cooly slotted home.

Leo Fortune-West went close on a couple of occasions for the visitors before they pulled one back when Andy Holdsworth allowed Michael McIndoe to break down the left and he crossed for Gregg Blundell to slot home.

Rovers were denied a certain equaliser when Philip Senior pulled off a brilliant one handed save to keep out David Morley's header.

Its importance was underlined moments later as Town broke down the other end and Stead's trickery created the winner for Worthington.