CARLOS CHUFFED WITH HIS TERRIERS
Blues are the latest victims...
CARLOS Corberan believes his high-flying Huddersfield players are reaping the rewards of being mentally strong as they saw off Birmingham at St Andrew’s.
Huddersfield extended their unbeaten run to 15 games with victory to keep up the pressure at the top.
A Levi Colwill goal and Lewis O’Brien’s strike gave Corberan’s side a two-goal advantage at half-time and it was enough to move them up to third in the table.
“It’s down to many things – we’re in this dynamic, they’re giving the best they can, the mentality of the players, the desire to play game by game and the positive performances,” said Corberan.
“We have a strong mentality – it’s impossible to compete in the Championship if not.
“It’s not easy to achieve 100 per cent commitment every time you’re on the pitch, but the players are taking a lot of responsibility and putting in a lot of desire to compete.”
Birmingham, who lost striker Lyle Taylor to injury in the warm-up, saw makeshift centre-back Maxime Colin depart to a knock in the 25th minute.
Jordan James was promoted from the bench while Ivan Sunjic came on for Colin, which forced captain Gardner into the back four.
Huddersfield took a 27thminute lead with the first serious attack.
Poor Birmingham defending allowed Sorba Thomas’ inswinging corner to find onloan Chelsea defender Levi Colwill to chest the ball at the far post and it went in via Blues’ Gary Gardner.
was a timely birthday present for Colwill, who turned 19 yesterday.
Terriers midfielder Lewis O’Brien saw a first-time angled shot saved by goalkeeper Neil Etheridge, who was then smartly off his line to deny a clean-through Jordan Rhodes.
Blues’ first opportunity came in the 32nd minute when Hernandez produced a snapshot that hit goalkeeper Lee Nicholls and went out for a corner.
The home side were looking increasingly vulnerable at the back and Duane Holmes was left clean through, only to blaze high and wide.
O’Brien made it 2-0 in the 44th minute after more catastrophic Blues defending.
Gardner allowed a pass to drop over his head then could only make a real hash of his clearance across his own box, where Jeremie Bela slid in but could not keep out O’Brien, who sidefooted home.
Birmingham improved after the break but found Huddersfield’s defence and Nicholls in particular tough nuts to crack. Blues hit the woodwork when a shot from HerIt nandez was helped on to the bar by Nicholls but their attacking petered out and Huddersfield were able to complete a comfortable victory.
Birmingham head coach Lee Bowyer admitted his makeshift defence did not do enough to stop the goals.
“I thought we started brightly, but the goals conceded were soft again – a setpiece and the one just before half-time, which made it a lot more difficult,” he said.
“Other than that I thought we asked questions of them defensively.”