Hatters manager hails the ‘excellent’ Terriers
LUTON Town manager Nathan Jones believes the onus is all on Huddersfield for tonight’s play-off semi-final.
“The winner goes to Wembley and the winner of that goes to the Premier League so the stakes are massive,” said Jones, who brings his side to the John Smith’s Stadium.
“Huddersfield are an excellent side, they finished third in the league but in the games the margins have been so small and again they were exactly the same,” Jones added.
Ollie Turton went off injured at the break to be replaced by Pipa, and even if the former has been able to shake off that knock, we think the Spaniard helped instigate enough of an improvement in the second half that we’d been surprised not to see him retained from the start.
If Turton is at all a risk, Josh Ruffels might be expected to graduate to the bench in his stead.
The temptation will surely be there to put Tino Anjorin or Sorba Thomas into the starting line-up if they are able to up their minutes, but the spectre of extra time means Corberan may need to keep his powder dry and start them on the bench.
Besides, both Duane Holmes and Danel Sinani had good outings in the first leg and have earned the right to stay in the side.
As far as shape goes... Corberan has opted for the 3-4-3 that he has generally otherwise stayed away from over the past few months, although it may be more like a 3-4-2-1 with Holmes and Sinani operating flexibly between the lines.
Predicted Huddersfield Town line-up to face Luton Town: (3-4-2-1): Lee Nicholls; Tom Lees, Jonathan Hogg, Levi Colwill; Pipa, Jon Russell,
Lewis O’Brien, Harry Toffolo; Duane Holmes, Danel Sinani; Danny Ward. Substitutes: Jamal Blackman, Naby Sarr, Josh Ruffels, Carel Eiting, Tino Anjorin, Sorba Thomas, Jordan Rhodes.
“Second half they came into it at Kenilworth Road, controlled the play a little bit more in front of us without causing us masses of problems and I thought we defended our box fantastically well.
“Huddersfield were in the Premier League a couple of years ago, they’ve got
Premier League players who played in the Premier League.
“For us to be on the same level playing field as them shows that we’re doing something wonderful at this football club.”