THE VERDICT: TOWN 2 WATFORD 0 Town silence critics and show Hornets sting in tail

UNCHANGED STARTING XI AND GREAT SHOW FROM CAMPBELL PUT WATFORD TO SWORD

IF Huddersfield Town have been consistent in anything this season, it has been in answering their critics in one game, inviting a whole slew of criticisms in the next one, and then answering those new criticisms in resounding fashion.

The cycle continued against Watford.

Having lost 5-0 against Bournemouth and fought for a draw against Coventry, there were criticisms over squad depth, team selection, daft mistakes at the back, their lack of creativity without Josh Koroma, the performance of the centre forwards, and their general inability to beat better sides even if they have proven capable of walking over those at the bottom of the table.

This game answered all of those questions. Didn’t like the six changes against Bournemouth? Unchanged line-up. Don’t like us making silly errors at the back? We’ll force the opposition to make them instead. Think we lack creativity and finishing up top? Fraizer Campbell’s best performance of the season, including a goal.

Don’t beat big team? We’ll beat the team in third. With the Danny Grant signing now appearing imminent, we might even see that squad depth start to be addressed very soon.

This wasn’t a game that should have anyone scrabbling to predict a vertical climb up the table in the new year or anything like that. The two goals were practically begging to be described in this article as early Christmas presents – a mistake by goalkeeper Ben Foster under pressure from Isaac Mbenza to give Campbell a simple tap-in, and a real, proper, high-quality own goal by Etienne Capoue.

None of that ‘wicked deflection’ rubbish, but a proper miscue that will surely one day grace a Bad 20s Football account on whatever the future equivalent of Twitter is.

It’s also true that Town were more reliant on and excellent showing from goalkeeper Ryan

Schofield than they ideally would have liked.

Watford were not as clinical as they could have been but there were at least three moments in the game we were convinced we were about to see the net bulge only for Schofield to emerge with a momentous intervention. The stats suggests Watford should have scored three goals, and the fact they didn’t is a testament to the immensity of the hometown boy and academy product’s performance.

We are for once not using stats as a stick to beat Town with, by the way; not on this occasion.

If Watford had shanked all those chances over the bar that’s one thing, but it’s hardly a criticism to say ‘they would have conceded more goals if their goalkeeper wasn’t really, really good.’

Carlos Corberan said after the game that it was hard to pick a bad performance out of the whole side, and it’s impossible to disagree. The spine of the side in particular – Schofield, Rarmani

Foster, Kabasele, Troost-Ekong, Wilmot, Capoue, Ngakia, Garner, Cleverley, S ema, Sarr, Gray SUBS: Deeney, Masina, Chalobah, Perica, Bachman, Sierralta, Navarro, Crichlow, Phillips

Edmonds-Green, Naby Sarr, Jonathan Hogg and Campbell – were all excellent, but everybody did a job to help the side dig in and take the points after scoring those two first-half goals, and Mbenza probably deserved a goal for his fine efforts too.

It wasn’t perfect, but what has been this year? Over this very difficult Christmas we need to find joy wherever we can.

Huddersfield Town giving their fans something to cherish over the next week certainly qualifies.