18/12 Hudds 2nd Half

2nd half, Pouton on for Coldicott, Lester on for Allen. The first 20 minutes Town blitzed Huddersfield, upping the tempo considerably and attacking with pace and penetration. Dona van in particular having a great game, linking up well with the forwards and McDermott, beating his full back and whipping in dangerous crosses. From one Groves shot just over from 15 yards, another was scrambled away by the defence. Another time he cut inside, played a one two with Lester and when it looked as if he would be in on goal his first touch knocked the ball too far and a defender cleared for a corner. Pouton too was having a good game, showing good control and distribution. Huddersfield were rattled and kept giving the ball back to Town to attack again. Groves was attacking any crosses into the box, causing alarm for the Huddersfield defence, but the ball never quite fell for a Town forward.

You felt that Town had to score or else Huddersfield would break away for a third and sure enough after a rare Huddersfield attack, a hopelessly miscued shot from 25 yards fell straight to the feet of Stewart (who looked offside) in the box who made it 3-1. Town kept going forward which meant Huddersfield always looked dangerous on the break, but with a couple of minutes to go, a good move saw Smith hit a great dipping shot from 18 yards which hit the bar and bounced to safety.

Town left to a standing ovation from a sizeable following in the away end. If they play like this away from home more often they will pick up a lot more points. As the home side, Huddersfield were disappointing, but have good finishers in Stewart and Wijnhardt. Town were good in midfield and caused problems up front, and all the players showed great commitment with tackles flying in. We let ourselves down defensively. Smith is not yet back to his good early season form, while Lever lets his marker lose him too easily, and his distribution is terrible. Huddersfield play quickly to the forwards feet, not Lever's kind of opposition. McDermott was steady but Gallimore was useless, either getting caught out of position, missing tackles or giving the ball away. Donovan was my Town man of the match.

All in all, probably the result we all expected but I thought it flattered Huddersfield, Town played well and had enough possession to have deserved a draw, but must start turning good performances away from home into good results.