Football: Hendrie treble brings boost for Barnsley

Barnsley put themselves back in second place in the First Division last night as John Hendrie's hat-trick put paid to a spirited display by the bottom club, Grimsby Town.

The Mariners began in fine style: John Oster gave them an early lead at Blundell Park. But things started to turn sour when Hendrie struck to level the scores and was then the victim of an off-the-ball incident which saw the Grimsby defender, Mark Lever, sent off for lashing out at the Barnsley striker.

Hendrie added to Grimsby's woes when he scored again to send the Yorkshire side in 2-1 ahead at half-time. Michael Appleton equalised with 15 minutes left but Hendrie promptly completed his treble to send his side above Sheffield United, who travel to Manchester City tonight.

Gordon Watson scored his first goal for Bradford City following his pounds 550,000 move from Southampton as the Bantams climbed out of the bottom three by beating Port Vale. Over 15,000 packed into Valley Parade to see the home team win 1-0 and send Manchester City into the relegation zone.

At Elm Park, Andy Payton quickly put Huddersfield ahead but Reading's response was impressive - with the former West Ham striker Trevor Morley, Keith McPherson, the Northern Ireland defender Barry Hunter, and Stuart Lovell all on target to give the Royals three vital points.

Mark Angel gave Oxford United the lead at Portsmouth, but Paul Hall and Matthias Svensson hit back to give Pompey the three points.