Leeds United’s U23 boss Mark Jackson was full of praise for Niall Huggins after the versatile midfielder shone during Monday’s 2-0 Premier League 2 victory over Sunderland, while speaking to LUTV.
If you want to catch the eye of the enigmatic Marcelo Bielsa, it helps if you can play in multiple positions.
Stuart Dallas, Gianni Alioski, Luke Ayling and Pascal Struijk have all become key cogs in the Elland Road machine due to their ability to adapt to a number of roles, while summer signings Diego Llorente, Robin Koch and Rodrigo Moreno are all renowned for their tactical flexibility.
So you’d imagine that Bielsa would have been enthused by the way 20-year-old Huggins went about his business as Leeds moved ten points clear at the top of the Premier League 2, Division Two table.
The York-born youngster shone in a central midfield role during the first-half, scoring the opener following a lung-busting Jamie Shackleton run, before filling in effectively at left-back in the second 45.
“Niall’s got natural ability to play in different positions and that’s really important in the way that we play as a club. Niall has shown, once again, his versatility within the team,” Jackson said after a deserved 2-0 win.
“He dropped back into left-back in the second half. For all the players to have that versatility is good.”
Cody Drameh, Joe Gelhardt and Tyler Roberts, who opened the scoring from the penalty spot, all impressed at Throp Arch.
Yet Leeds will be concerned by the sight of Ian Poveda limping off towards the end after picking up a knock; an incident that forced Leeds to see the game out with ten-men.
“Pleasing win. The boys have dug in towards the end but, during the course of the game, we dominated it. The boys deserved the three points,” Jackson added.
“We hope Ian is OK. He’s getting assessed now and we were never going to take any risks with him when he got that knock.
“In a strange kind of way, it was pleasing to see the way the lads coped with that stressful situation. I thought they coped with it really well.”
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