Steve Evans praised United’s clinical edge after guiding his side to a 3-0 Yorkshire derby victory over Huddersfield Town on Saturday afternoon.

Goals from Mirco Antenucci and Chris Wood deep into stoppage time of an otherwise forgettable first half gave United a 2-0 lead at the break, before Alex Mowatt struck another wonder goal 10 minutes after the restart to wrap up the three points at the John Smith’s Stadium.

But Evans admitted his men had been under par during the early stages, with the hosts seeing more of the ball until Antenucci converted Stuart Dallas’ pin-point cross from the right following some smart link-up play with Wood.

“I certainly didn’t plan for us to play like we did in the first 35 minutes, because that wasn’t very good,” the head coach said.

“The first piece of quality in the game came from Stuart Dallas, pulling it down, playing the one-two and putting it in the box for Mirco’s finish.

“The second real piece of quality in the first half came from Murphy’s through ball for Mirco – there was then a little ricochet and it fell to big Chris to stick it in.

“In the second half, we were always going to be subject to Huddersfield throwing caution to the wind.

“I don’t think we kept the ball well enough in the second half, but what we did do was score another special goal.

“He (Alex Mowatt) is a special young man and I’ve said to him time and time again since I walked into this football club that he’ll dictate what level he plays at."

On his first Yorkshire derby since taking charge, Evans added: “You don’t realise until you come in the door at Leeds United that this is everyone’s game that they look for.

“I’ve been the opposition where you’re looking forward to playing Leeds United for weeks. We’ve got a lot to live up to - the one thing that remains common is the support.

“We came here and we were professional. Two out of our three goals were outstanding and we’ve got three points.

“We’ve got back-to-back wins and that’s what the objective was when I spoke to the players after the debacle against Blackburn.”

Evans admitted he felt confident that his side would go on to claim the three points providing they opened the scoring at the John Smith’s Stadium, and that proved to be case after some resolute defending from United during the early stages.

“My team talk before the game was that we had better players than Huddersfield, but this is a Huddersfield team with a new manager in the stand,” he said.

“I know what the chairman stands for here, Dean Hoyle. He’s man I have enormous respect for.

“So I expected them to show the passion and commitment which they did. I thought they were inventive in that first half-hour and we had to defend resolutely and carry a bit of luck.

“I was always confident that if we got a goal and went in front, we’ve got some good players here and we controlled it for large parts.

“I know they had one or two chances in the second half or shots from the edge of the box.

“Big Marco did very well today and made some very good saves, as you’d expect from him.”