Leeds United vs Sheffield Wednesday. Sky Bet Championship.
Elland RoadAttendance31,638.
Saturday 17 March 2018 18:33, UK
Atdhe Nuhiu scored a stoppage-time winner to hand Sheffield Wednesday a 2-1 victory over Yorkshire rivals Leeds.
Substitute Jay-Roy Grot appeared to have earned Leeds a share of the spoils with his first goal for the club late on but there was still time for Nuhiu to snatch Wednesday's first win at Elland Road since 2007.
Nuhiu had earlier broken the deadlock after a goalless first half that underlined how far the two sides had fallen in the past year.
Leeds and Wednesday were among the Championship's top sides last season but have both endured miserable campaigns.
The Yorkshire rivals went into the derby with only one win each in 2018 and there was not much in the way of quality in an even opening 45 minutes.
Wednesday enjoyed the brighter start with Adam Reach twice testing Leeds goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell, playing his third game since replacing Felix Wiedwald.
The young stopper first kept out a low effort with his feet after Reach had been played in by Lucas Joao with Leeds stretched and then pushed a long-range strike behind.
United had been tidy in their build-up play but did not threaten until the 25th minute when Wednesday goalkeeper Joe Wildsmith denied Caleb Ekuban from a well-worked free-kick routine.
The Leeds striker should have tucked that chance away and was guilty of spurning another good opportunity as he blazed over unmarked after a corner had been headed back into the box.
Wednesday came through Leeds' best spell of the half unscathed and almost took the lead in stoppage time when Sam Hutchinson - making his first appearance since December - nodded home only to be denied by the offside flag.
A half-time snowstorm left a light covering on the pitch and Leeds made the quicker adjustment to the tricky conditions.
Gjanni Alioski shot over from the edge of the box and Pablo Hernandez sent a free-kick into the side-netting as he tried to catch out Wildsmith.
Nuhiu came closer with a 25-yard strike that landed on top of Peacock-Farrell's goal before Leeds again threatened through Gaetano Berardi's curling effort.
But it was Wednesday who took the lead on 72 minutes when Nuhiu finished from close range after Reach's header from Jack Hunt's cross had come back off the right-hand post.
Hernandez had a shot saved by the legs of Wildsmith as Leeds sought an immediate response.
It appeared Wednesday had the points in the bag as snow began to fall again only for Grot to nod home Hernandez's cross from two yards three minutes from time to finally break his duck on his 18th Leeds appearance.
But the visitors were not to be denied, Nuhiu outmuscling Matthew Pennington as they chased a through ball before beating Peacock-Farrell with a composed finish.
Paul Heckingbottom: "I sound like a broken record. The last couple of games I should be highlighting to the players why we've won. Instead I'm going mad at the reasons why we haven't. They're both goals we should stop. You've got to be clinical and take your chances at one end and be ruthless, tight and disciplined at the other.
"The goals we're conceding are nothing to do with a lack of effort from the players, it's poor decisions at the wrong time. You'd be disappointed seeing those goals at any level. It's pointless me coming in here making excuses why we've not won the game. We all know why we haven't won the game - we didn't take our chances and gave two poor goals away."
Jos Luhukay: "The team worked very hard. It's a very good day for us and I'm very happy for our fans. Atdhe always works unbelievably hard and he's a very important player to the team."
