Huddersfield Town take on Doncaster Rovers tonight, where they’ll be hoping to shake off Saturday’s defeat against Blackpool. Doncaster Rovers come to the Accu Stadium in good form, unbeaten in their opening three games and a point ahead of Town in the embryonic league table (which no longer interests me now Town aren’t top).
After a positive start to the season, the loss at Blackpool and the struggle to break down ten men didn’t feel like it was part of the Huddersfield Town script. Tonight’s game should be a chance for Town to return to their pre-Blackpool way of doing things. Though Doncaster will not be an easy opponent.
Can Town brush off the Blackpool performance?
After seeing a less pleasant side to this new Huddersfield Town team on Saturday, it feels vitally important to get back to the performance levels we saw in other recent games. Not so much from a points perspective but more because we need to keep our momentum up. The games are coming thick and fast, which is great when you’re winning but can be punishing if your team is out of form.
There’s been talk about the improvement of the collective character of the team that’s been assembled over the summer. Now it’s time to show that new character on the pitch. Setbacks often sparked downward spirals that we couldn’t stop last season. Having the ability to bounce back from a bad result is a test of character as much as it is skill or tactics. So fans will be hoping to see a reaction tonight.
The unstoppable object meets the immovable force
Despite being glum about the defeat on Saturday, Town are actually the league’s joint top scorers. I’ve bemoaned the lack of creativity in our squad but only Barnsley have been able to match Town’s seven goals. Doncaster will probably be concerned about how many we’ve scored lately even if, as Town fans, we don’t yet see ourselves as being prolific.
Doncaster Rovers’ defence has so far only conceded two goals, second best in the league behind Cardiff. So they’ll be feeling like they’re navigating the step up from League Two pretty well and will come to their game feeling confident.
Why are Doncaster keeping things tight at the back? Part of that answer will be their new central defender, Matty Pearson. The Keighley Cannavaro will no doubt be desperate to show everyone at Town that we were wrong to part ways in the summer. And given how many set piece goals he scored for us, it feels destined that he will score against us tonight. It’s not clear whether he’ll shush the crowd this time or not.
Is this a local derby?
I’m sure there are bitter “local” rivalries in football that feature teams further apart than Huddersfield and Doncaster but I still struggle to see this game as a derby (Crystal Palace-Brighton and Norwich-Ipswich seem likely candidates but I can’t be bothered to check on Google Maps). It’s always nice to beat any Yorkshire team but I’m struggling to feel any particular needle in this fixture.
It’s already pretty clear that no love is lost between Bradford City and Huddersfield Town fans and our games against them will unquestionably have a bit of extra spice. I’m not sure that the Yorkshire derby angle adds a lot to today’s game.
Regardless, I’m expecting a good atmosphere as it should be a reasonably full away end and the Town fans have been in good voice so far this season. I also believe that playing under floodlights tends to lead to a more electric atmosphere on average. Just like early kick offs are often lethargic to start with.
Am I wrong on this and do other fans see this as a local rivalry? Let me know in the comments.
Will Lee Grant stick or twist with his selection?
I’ll expand on this question in my predicted lineup article but the selection questions Grant has for this game is whether he should shuffle the pack or stick with his favourites for this game. There are multiple players that may feel their starting place is under threat as well as players on the bench that will believe they should start.
There’s not an obvious answer, as dropping players after one iffy game doesn’t help to build confidence in the players as they’ll all fear they’re one bad performance away from being dropped. Though Grant has consistently talked up it being a squad approach this season, so he would probably have made changes even if we’d beaten Blackpool.
I doubt we’ll see wholesale changes from Saturday but it’s likely there will be a bit of tinkering to freshen up the lineup. Jack Whatmough, Herbie Kane and Ben Wiles in particular may be fearing losing their place after Saturday’s struggles but all three will hope they’ve done enough in earlier games to earn a bit of credit from Grant.
Check out my predicted Huddersfield Town XI to take on Doncaster Rovers!
The bounce back will be what every town fan will be looking for. We can’t look back all the time at previous teams, but if Doncaster score first , there will be a dipping of the atmosphere and memories of times past. But let’s hope that the new team will win 3-0, and the new era is fit and well.
I’ve got so used to expecting the worst at Town and being proved right, or feeling optimistic and then having my hopes dashed, that it will take a while to believe that things are now better. This stage of the season is particularly tricky because you only get a real sense of where we are after ten or so games. And it could take even longer to reach our full potential with so many changes to adjust to over the summer.
Doncaster dominated possession and snatched late winners in their two wins home and away, but they didn’t hold on to a lead (their one shot on target out of 10) in their last (home) game against Wycombe .
Who knows what that means? They are not invincible – but….against the ‘Blackpool’ version of HTFAC they very well could be .
I always expect the worst.
Fingers crossed
I think possession-based teams are probably better for us to play the direct ones. Particularly if it’s a team that isn’t littered with star players.
With a bit of luck we’ll see two teams have a good go at each other and the team that plays the best wins. And that team will be Huddersfield Town (I can dream).
Hi. Friendly Rovers fan here. Doncaster were League Two champions last season for a reason. And so far we have not lost in 15 competitive games going back to 4thy March. I have forgotten the taste of defeat. Huddersfield are going to be up there at the end of the season no doubt, so I hope we both a great game and hopefully a draw.
Thanks for your comment. It’s always nice to hear the opposing view from other fans. We finished last season in terrible form so I think a lot of our fans can’t quite believe that we’ve improved over the summer and fear we’ll fall back into losing every week. However, with a new manager, 11 new players and a new way of playing things have been looking pretty good (until Blackpool best us at the weekend).
I’m expecting a decent game and two teams giving it a good go. Clearly we’ll have to be at our best to give you your first taste of defeat since March.
All the best for the season after tonight.