Let's talk about the Huddersfield Town League game

[ncRover]

Sterry was my man of the match. Some exemplary defending from him.

[drfchound]

Timmy didn’t have a shot to save tonight.
The team as a whole defended really well, especially the back four who were solid and won almost every ball that they went for.
Gotts continued his good form and Close was Mr Calming Influence, always available to receive a pass and rarely gave the ball away.
As others have said, Lee struggled to get into the game but we all know he isn’t an out and out striker and wasn’t able to hold the ball up so hence, it was always coming straight back.
Okoronkwo will make a difference when he eventually gets fit again.
A good battling performance by the lads and worthy winners in a game that wasn’t great to watch but meant everything to us at the end.

[ForsolongaRover]

Yes a tough watch at times but you can’t fault the effort tonight.
Only exception being Gibson who did absolutely nothing.
I cannot understand how he could start in place of haks or Clifton.

It was a game made for Gotts and his like. Thus Clifton, who was not even brought on as a sub, would have thrived.

[Pliskin]

Really poor game of football.

Other than the penalty we offered nothing in attack. Fortunately, Huddersfield were crap on the day and showed no urgency.

Unconvincing performance, but we ground out a good result, something we haven't done enough until recently.

Suddenly 50 points doesn't seem too far away.

[Donnywolf]

Sterry was my man of the match. Some exemplary defending from him.

I said with 10 minutes to go " wish we had 5 Sterrys defending for rest of game " as he was having a great game and battling for every single ball

[PDX_Rover]

Sterry was my man of the match. Some exemplary defending from him.

I said with 10 minutes to go " wish we had 5 Sterrys defending for rest of game " as he was having a great game and battling for every single ball

Sterries - lol

[Rupee92ONLY]

TLT - Not a great deal to do but apart from a few positioning errors he was bang on when called on.

Sterry - MOTM.

McGrath - Good no-nonsense defending. His 6 yard passes forward put us in trouble time and time again.

Byrne - Very composed. Couple of eery moments in first half when he stepped out but that’s nitpicking. Best centre back we have.


Bailey - Wasn’t really on it last night. Certainly allowed one of them.

Gotts - 2nd behind Sterry. Stands out in our side, just accepted he’s one of our best players now.

Close - Really good last night so that’ll be a 2 year contract extension.

Gibson - Atrocious. Not up to this level.

Molyneux - Weak and needs to stop looking to go down. Good penalty I thought and did get better 2nd half.

Lee - PLEASE PLAY HIM DEEPER!! Every time he touches the ball he oozes class, whichever centre forward plays in front of him will just be better for having him so do it.

[Chris Black come back]

Now coming into some decent home form finally. Since turn of the year we've been at home 6 times, won 3 times, drawn 2 and lost only 1 - to Championship Southampton by a single goal.

[ncRover]

Huddersfield striker Dion Charles just goes to show that spending big money on a ‘proven goalscorer’ doesn’t guarantee a worthwhile investment!

Huddersfield paid £750,000 last January for him after he was prolific for a few years in this division at Bolton. He’s only scored twice in the league since and offered nothing in other aspects of his game last night either.

Now Huddersfield are stuck with him for another two years and he’s 30 years old. Likely on wages that make him hard to shift.

[Donnywolf]

Were Terriers fans booing him off when he was substituted , or their Manager for taking him off ?

[ncRover]

Were Terriers fans booing him off when he was substituted , or their Manager for taking him off ?

They were cheering the substitution.
Something sneaking in to fan behaviour which I don’t like.
As bad as he was, it must be really upsetting to hear if you’re that player from your own supporters.

[Ian Nimmo]

Thought Senior and Byrne did well also.

Massive 3 points that. Huddersfield tactically were horrific.

Looked a pen also for the push on Molz?

Yes it was a clear push and should have been a pen for me, and probably majority of south stand

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Timmy didn’t have a shot to save tonight.
The team as a whole defended really well, especially the back four who were solid and won almost every ball that they went for.
Gotts continued his good form and Close was Mr Calming Influence, always available to receive a pass and rarely gave the ball away.
As others have said, Lee struggled to get into the game but we all know he isn’t an out and out striker and wasn’t able to hold the ball up so hence, it was always coming straight back.
Okoronkwo will make a difference when he eventually gets fit again.
A good battling performance by the lads and worthy winners in a game that wasn’t great to watch but meant everything to us at the end.

An accurate summary I think. We've not really seen what Lee is capable of playing in the role he's asked of at the moment he's living off scraps and trying to hold things together.

Another factor even when we get Frankie back, is the state of the pitch which doesn't really help possession based football with slick passing, more like the ball being a bar of soap difficult to get control of.

Going forward of course it's the same for both teams but we're going to have to put up with games like last night where it's about limiting mistakes and playing safety first football. It's definitely not the surface for trying tricks and flicks Mr Gibson!!

Every game is a cup final from here on.

[Filo]

I know we are lumbered with it, but Rugby really does destroy the pitch

[GazLaz]

Only one of the teams in L1 that played away on Saturday and away again last night won (11 games). Such a disadvantage being in that situation.

[TheFunk]

Playing on a frozen pitch against Southampton has destroyed the pitch. Forgive me if I'm wrong but a former groundsman used to post on here and he said Football does far more damage to a pitch than Rugby League.

[Filo]

Playing on a frozen pitch against Southampton has destroyed the pitch. Forgive me if I'm wrong but a former groundsman used to post on here and he said Football does far more damage to a pitch than Rugby League.

I just don’t believe that, we have the same problem every year as soon as the Rugby starts

[GazLaz]

Playing on a frozen pitch against Southampton has destroyed the pitch. Forgive me if I'm wrong but a former groundsman used to post on here and he said Football does far more damage to a pitch than Rugby League.

Exactly that, playing in freezing temperatures does the damage.

[i_ateallthepies]

TheFunk is correct about the damage done by playing on a frozen pitch, it kills the top growth.  It doesn't kill the plant but because there is no growth at this time of the year there is no new grass to replace it.  I'm unconvinced however that football does more damage than rugby, the weight difference between football and rugby players alone will be a factor and that's before you consider the tearing up the surface with scrummaging.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

The issues with pitches across the country are mainly weather related. It's just common sense at this time of year.

No point blaming one code or another, as the pitch would be suffering anyway without Rugby or visa versa. Bradfords pitch last night for example looked just as bad if not worse than ours.

The point is, teams have to adapt their game to cope with the conditions so it's likely we'll see lots of mistakes with ball control, misjudging passes and bad bounces etc. We need to take this into account when assessing games and individual performances.