A pitch invasion, a funny ref, unlucky Luton, sensational Sorba, nice Nicholls, going to Wembley – Notes on Huddersfield Town’s playoff semi-final triumph

It would be easy to make the argument that Huddersfield Town didn’t deserve to win their playoff game against Luton Town on Monday night. You could reel off a stream of statistics that prove Luton were the dominant team on the night but one statistic tells you everything you need to know, and that’s goals scored: Huddersfield Town 1-0 Luton Town.

So despite needing a string of excellent saves and wasteful finishes to stay in the game, Town came out on top and triggered jubilant scenes as fans and players partied on the pitch after the full time whistle.

Here are a few of my thoughts on the game.

Luton deserved it 

The truth is that Luton should have been out of sight before half time. Town had a strangely underwhelming first-half performance and repeatedly allowed Luton to carve them open. 

I think our struggles were mostly self-inflicted, with Town playing out from the back with the intention of drawing Luton forward and creating gaps to break against. This might have worked but we struggled to stand up to the pressure and frequently lost possession during these cat and mouse periods of the game. 

On the few occasions we managed to break their press with quick passing we couldn’t find the killer pass to release the attacking players, so it was a tactic that involved a lot of risk and not nearly enough reward.

While Town were poor in that first half, it has to be acknowledged that Luton were very good too. Despite their meagre resources, they’re a very good Championship team and attack with purpose when they get the ball in the final third. Poor finishing and Nicholl’s ridiculous ability meant they couldn’t make their dominance count and Town managed to hang in the game long enough. 

The only time I thought Luton got it wrong was when they went behind. They played right into our hands by trying too hard to push forward and readily gifting the ball back to us so we could soak up time and run the clock down. They didn’t manage a single shot after Rhodes’ winner. They also lost their heads a few weeks ago when we played them in the league and they missed their penalty. So my only criticism of them as a team is that they lose their composure too easily when things don’t go their way – but given how their manager behaves it’s not hard to see why this happens. We suffered from the same problem when Lee Clark was our manager and frequently had similar pitch-side meltdowns as Nathan Jones has.

Lee Nicholls appreciation 

Now I’ve watched the highlights back, his string of saves now look very good rather than otherworldly but I still want to take a moment to praise Lee Nicholls for keeping us in the game last night. While no individual save would make his end of season highlight reel, he pulled off multiple saves when it seemed certain we were going to concede. 

I was a big fan of Ryan Schofield’s earlier in the season but it’s hard to argue that Nicholls has given us a ridiculous upgrade in that area of the pitch since he became first choice. I can’t really remember a signing arriving with such little fanfare and making such a big impact (though Tom Lees is another candidate for players that arrive without fuss and make a huge impact). Aaron Mooy is probably the only player I can think of in recent years that has arrived (relatively) unknown and become a risen to legend status in a single season but he was an Australian international when he joined.

It’s not just Nicholl’s saves though, he is so good at organising and motivating the team from between the sticks. He looks genuinely disgusted whenever he has to make a save and lets players around him know when their standards have dropped, particularly if it risks him losing his clean sheet and getting his shirt mucky.

Sorba makes the difference 

While I’m gushing, Sorba Thomas deserves a moment of praise. I’m guessing the medical advice was that he couldn’t be played for more than half an hour, as he entered the field around 60 minutes and it’s not a coincidence that the momentum of the game swung towards Town in that moment.

His direct running and energetic pressing lifted the team around him too. I can understand that, because seeing him come on gave me a boost and increased my confidence in Town’s chances. Taking out the things he actually does with the ball, he’s a talisman for this club and embodies the relentless attitude that has helped us succeed this season. It felt like his entrance into the game gave every other player in blue and white a 10% lift in their levels as well as Thomas adding his own energy to the mix.

While there is an almost spiritual element to the difference Thomas makes to this team, there was a more literal difference too. His set piece deliveries produced a disallowed goal and the match winner despite both of those free kicks coming in relatively harmless positions on the pitch. His ability to deliver the ball consistently in the right area and with whip and curl makes him an incredible asset. 

Surely with almost two weeks until the playoff final he will be able to start at Wembley and give the team a lift from the start. It feels like his season has been a fairy tale for him so far, starting on the fringes on the squad and recently out of non-league football and now one of the Championship’s hottest prospects and a Wales international. Capping the season off with a promotion at Wembley would be the Hollywood ending his story for this season deserves. 

A funny referee 

I try not to talk too much about officials and decisions in this blog because it can get a bit boring. But it’s hard to talk about this game without referencing the referee’s role. His big moment of the game came when their keeper bundled Harry Toffolo over in the box. In real time it looked like a certain penalty and watching back the replays, it’s hard to see why the referee thought there was nothing wrong with what the keeper was doing. It was clumsy and awkward looking but Toffolo was trying to get the ball and couldn’t because the keeper took him. Thankfully it didn’t affect the outcome of the game but it was incredibly infuriating at the time. 

On a more general level, I thought the referee was having an odd night. In the first half he seemed determined to let the game flow and refused to blow for incidents that looked like blatant fouls by both teams. I prefer refs that are reluctant to give fouls as the physical side of the game is important and the game is dull when neither team dare make a challenge. However, the loose goosey approach completely switched in the second half and he started giving fouls for the most minor misdemeanor. Ultimately this proved to be to Town’s advantage as Luton gave away many fouls in the second half and we scored from one of the resulting free kicks. Still, it’s poor for a ref to change their threshold for a foul so markedly mid game. 

On top of these gripes about the officiating there were the bizarre scenes at the end of the game where the referee and linesmen were almost off the pitch before the final whistle was blown. I understand they wanted to avoid the pitch invasion but it struck me as a bit unprofessional that the match was still ongoing and the linesman was legging it from across the pitch.  

Pitch invasion 

Moving on to the pitch invasion, I should probably make some frowny comments but on the whole it looked like it was a lot of fun and the vast majority of fans behaved themselves and celebrated in good spirits. A few bad apples may have spoiled it but I don’t think Town fans were “a disgrace” as Nathan Jones put it in his post match press conference. 

I didn’t personally get on the pitch but I did enjoy seeing the players and fans celebrating together. Special mention should go to Lewis O’Brien, who didn’t make it to celebrate on the shoulders of fans with the other players because he was posing for literally dozens of selfies with fans on the pitch. 

The reports of Town fans having a go at Luton’s players and supporters are disappointing to hear and don’t reflect the typical Town fan. Whoever threw the coin that cut the 80-odd-year-old Luton fan should be arrested and banned from further Town games. 

The Town fans that gathered by the away end are harder to condemn. The majority looked to be actually applauding the Luton fans, presumably for their team’s impressive achievements this season and the volume of their support. Sadly, a few of our fans weren’t in such generous spirit and seemed to be trying to wind up their rival fans. I find that kind of behaviour a waste of energy but apart from the victim of the coin throwing incident, I didn’t witness any actual violence, just the usual gesturing from the Stone Island-clad youths. Not the kind of  behaviour I’d endorse but I didn’t see anything that warranted Luton’s manager to go on a post-match rant. Though in his defence, he was a bit tired and emotional by that stage of the evening.

Wembley! 

Now our thoughts can turn to the arrangements for the final at Wembley. I’m very excited about the prospect of a trip to watch Town at our national stadium again. These opportunities don’t come along often and it’s great that this time around the stakes won’t feel quite so high. As we’ve recently been to the Premier League the nerves, for me at least, shouldn’t be quite so bad. I’d like us to go up again but I’d be pretty happy to see us have another good go at the Championship next season too. 

I’m sure I’ll be desperate for Town to win when the day comes around but at the moment I’m just looking forward to the day out and seeing what this incredible Huddersfield Town team can pull off. Regardless of the outcome of the final, this has already been an incredible season and all Town fans can feel happy with what we have achieved and the memories we’ll have to look back on in years to come.