Terriers need to now put games to bed earlier...
October and November, and nearly did so again against Middlesbrough.
There have certainly been stumbles since then, and nearly all of the eight goals Town conceded against Cardiff and Bournemouth owed something to carelessness on the Terriers’ part. But with the benefit of context, those games now look to be the exception rather than the rule.
Most fans I’ve spoken to about last Wednesday’s goalless draw against Coventry have spoken of how boring they found it, but it was a game I enjoyed in spite of the lack of goalmouth action as two hard-working teams cancelled one another out through sheer grit and effort. Both sides were also hopeless in attack, mind - but it is part of the same pattern that allowed Town to
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As such, we could understand why Corberan was so delighted with the performance in midweek despite the lack of creativity his side showed in the final third, and by repeating their off-the-ball efforts here they ensured that the slices of luck they got with the two goals was enough to give them victory.
Sure, they can’t afford to rely on their goalkeeper having a worldie every week, and ideally they would be able to stop the opposition having quite so many chances on goal. But we know what it looks like when this Town side folds under pressure (see: Bournemouth) and more often than not they have resolutely refused to do that recently.
FIRST-HALF goals scored by Huddersfield Town in their last nine games: 10. Second-half goals scored in that time: 2.
If we have one nitpick about some of the Terriers’ recent victories, it’s been that they rarely succeed in killing games off once and for all after taking a oneor two-goal lead despite having chances to do so.
It hasn’t particularly ended up mattering, thankfully, but it is a tendency that threatens to come back and bite them at some point. It nearly did against Middlesbrough, remember.
Etienne Capoue’s 32nd-minute own goal came when the possession was still 50/50; thereafter it was 38/62 in Watford’s favour.
Against Sheffield Wednesday, Town had 77 per cent possession when Isaac Mbenza whipped in the second goal on 22 minutes, after that it dropped to just 53pc.
Letting teams come back into the game like that should, in principle, offer opportunities on the counter-attack, but we can only think of the Millwall game where Town have exploited that to full effect.
Getting through on sheer resilience is to be admired.
Defending leads can sometimes mean sapping all will out of the opposition by scoring a third that puts the game beyond them, as Town have experienced against Brentford, Cardiff and Bournemouth this season.
Town have had so many problems to overcome in this campaign that complaining they’re ‘only’ winning 2-0 has massive ‘my diamond shoes are too tight’ energy. But we’re sure Corberan would prefer to be able to rest a little bit more easily in the final 30 minutes of games than he has been able to over the last month or so.
We couldn’t help but smirk when Fraizer Campbell gave Town the lead nine minutes in.
My admiration for his tireless efforts has become a bit of a running joke on our podcast Ooh To Be A..., where it has long been my assertion that he brings a lot more to the side than just goals.
For all that, though, Campbell’s return of three goals in 34 games last season was some way short of what you’d expect. Happily, he has now already exceeded that tally in his 19th appearance of this season.
Town need other players to step up and help fill the void left by Josh Koroma’s injury, and Campbell is name No.1 on that list.