Huddersfield Town managed to come away from Sincil Bank with a point following their 1-1 draw with Lincoln. You can question whether a team with our aspirations should be satisfied scraping a draw against Lincoln but that mentality wouldn’t acknowledge the quality Lincoln play with, their current run of excellent form and that we can’t expect teams to roll over for us just because we’re Huddersfield Town.
Lincoln carved us open time after time in the first half but wayward finishing and good work from Nicholls kept us in the game. We then grew into the game in the second half, taking the lead through Leo Castledine before being pegged back thanks to being outmuscled at a set piece. A fair result and decent performance, even if both could have been better.
Weathering the storm – A tricky first half
I’d heard people saying that Lincoln were good and the league table shows they’ve had a decent season so far but part of me was sceptical that they were really that good. It’s League One after all. But the first half an hour of this game showed that they are, as everyone else seemed to know, a very good League One side.
Lincoln outfought us in midfield repeatedly and this exposed our defence, which they tied up in knots with good movement and quick passing. If their finishing was as good as the rest of their play then we could easily have been three down by halftime.
While it’s a shame that we struggled to get a foothold in the game and we gave up far too many shooting opportunities, my impression was that it was Lincoln playing well rather than Town being particularly poor. We needed to be a bit snappier in the tackle at times and we didn’t do enough to track runners at times but on the whole, we weren’t doing loads wrong. So if you wanted to take a ridiculously optimistic perspective, we did well to keep ourselves in the game despite not being the best team.
And Town had a couple of moments in the first half too. Most of our threatening attacks followed a similar rhythm, with Lynden Gooch putting in dangerous curling crosses from deep to the far post, which we typically would flood players forward to exploit. It didn’t quite work but Ryan Ledson did get on the end of one at the far byline and nodded square but no Town player could convert, going straight for goal might have been a better option even from a tight angle. Our attacking play was far from perfect throughout the first half. We wasted too much possession when we won the ball back, struggling with their dynamic pressing and too often getting rid anywhere rather than picking out a thoughtful pass.
Another optimistic aspect was that Town struggled initially but improved as the half went along. The biggest chances they had came in the first spell of the game and the later opportunities they created during this dominant spell were shots from range. We’ve had tough spells in games before this season and utterly collapsed, so it was nice to see us hang in there and work out problems in real-time rather than waiting for detailed instructions at half time.
An improved second half
The battles that Town had been previously losing in midfield suddenly started turning in our favour in the second half. It was an open and evenly matched game, with both teams playing some good football in patches. There was no obvious tactical switch that brought about this improvement that I noticed, more that we just upped our workrate and got stuck in better than in the first half.
The opening goal could easily have gone to either side but it was Town that created the first breakthrough. Alfie May was unlucky when his wonderful touch set him free in the box but his shot was parried by the keeper straight back to him. May showed good awareness and selflessness to ping the ball to the far side of the goal, where Castledine gobbled up his least spectacular goal for Town with a simple header into an open goal. I thought this was funny, because May had jokingly complained about how Castledine seems to have the knack for getting on the ball in good positions after the Port Vale game and then he helped create that exact situation for his teammate.
May had a brilliant chance to put us 2-0 up shortly after, when another good Town attack resulted in Ledson picking out an unmarked Alfie May, who went through one-on-one with the keeper but his stroked finish was just deflected wide by the onrushing keeper. Getting the second goal might have been harsh on Lincoln but it would have put Town in a strong position to go on for the win but sadly their keeper did just enough and we conceded very shortly after.
You could argue that Lincoln’s goal was a bit unfortunate after a shot was blocked on the line but fell kindly for their man to finish. Though that whole situation only occurred because we were outmuscled on a corner and didn’t react quickly enough to the danger when the ball dropped. I can’t say any individual was hugely at fault for this goal (though I question why Marcus Harness was marking Sonny Bradley) but, collectively, I don’t think we were aggressive enough in our defensive work. With Whatmough, Low and Feeney all unavailable, I suppose it’s understandable that we’d lose a bit of aerial dominance playing our fourth, fifth and sixth choice central defenders in a back three.
It was another hint to Town’s improved mentality that they didn’t collapse after going behind. They shouldn’t receive too much praise for simply avoiding having a meltdown after a disappointment but we’ve seen that happen frequently this season, so sticking to our task after the goal was commendable.
Both sides had half-chances after Lincoln’s equaliser but neither was able to find a conclusive opportunity. Town had some good spells of pressure in this spell but so did Lincoln and a draw seemed like a fair outcome in the end, though I’m not sure Lincoln fans would agree.
The best we’ve played against a top-end team
Town beat Stevenage when they were top of the league in the early days of this season but since then we’ve really struggled when we’ve come up against teams that are competing at the top end of the league. I believe that this game is our best performance against a quality League One team this season. After winning our previous three games in a row against limited opposition it was good to see us go toe to toe with a team above us in the league and come away with a point.
I don’t think it’s a lack of skill that has seen us struggle in previous games against decent opposition, more a lack of character, gumption and fight. All three of those things were on display in this game from Town, which kept us in the game long enough for it to eventually turn in our favour.
It’s still not time to book St George’s Square for the promotion party in May but this is another positive step for Town. After feeling despondent about our prospects this season only a few weeks ago, a positive festive period, topped off by this performance, now has me believing a good end to this season is possible. The doubts about Lee Grant and the character of this team remain, we’ve had too many false dawns in the past to be easily convinced this revival will be sustained but the signs look a lot more positive now than they did after the Wigan game.
Battling performances
There were some excellent individual displays in this game, with Murray Wallace in particular being a key performer in keeping Town in this game. We came under some sustained pressure at the back at times and Wallace’s individual defending was strong throughout, particularly in the air. He won eight aerial duels (or headers if you want to be technical), double the amount of any other Town player and even the headers he didn’t win, he typically got himself in the way enough to spoil things for their attackers.
Another player that got stuck in during this game was Ryan Ledson, who repeatedly got himself in the way of Lincoln’s players and took a few whacks on the shins for his troubles. After complaining he was too passive fairly recently, he now seems to be a lot more combative in the middle of the park, which is the kind of leading by example we need from him.
Alfie May was the final player I wanted to pick out as a key performer for us on the day. He doesn’t seem to be getting any luck (or service) but his mentality on the pitch is always excellent and he is awful for opponents to play against. He’s always moving, always trying to find space and off the ball he tracks a long way back to help the team. Obviously, I’d rather be celebrating him for scoring goals but he did everything else very well in this game. And it was ultimately his bit of quality on the ball that set up Castledine’s goal. Most strikers who aren’t getting as many goals as they like would have shot when the ball ricocheted back to May, it showed a commitment to the team to pick out a better placed teammate rather than blast the ball at the keeper again.
Could this be a playoff game in spring?
We next play Lincoln again on a Tuesday night in March but it’s possible that we could play them again if both teams make it into the playoffs. We’ve played every team in the division now and Cardiff are the only team that I’ve seen us play that have looked better than Lincoln, so I expect them to be competing up at the top end of the table come the end of the season (though I also thought Doncaster were one of the league’s better teams based on their game against us and they’re now second from bottom).
In some ways, Lincoln would be a good team to play in the playoffs as they have many of the qualities we aspire to. So if we can match them in terms of work rate, aggression and quick-attacking play then we should have the quality to be able to get the better of them. If we can’t do these things consistently by the end of the season then we don’t deserve to go up anyway.
Exeter next
The games don’t stop at this time of year but at least we’re back at home for our next fixture, a Sunday 3 o’clock kickoff against Exeter. We won our away game against Exeter by a goal to nil. While it was a Leo Castledine curler that made the difference for Town in that game, we really should have won by three or four goals, with Exeter being very sloppy with their playing out from the back.
Exeter’s recent form suggests they won’t be the pushover that we faced back in September but Town are in better form at the moment too. If we can keep up our work rate and sustain our good form then we should pick up all three points. Things are never that straightforward with Town though, so the crowd may be needed to get behind the players. Whether this good little spell we’ve enjoyed is enough to have won the fans back over to Lee Grant’s project is still open to debate but each positive result helps to restore a bit of faith in a manager that fans expected to be “sacked in the morning” in mid-December.
Could we raid Lincoln again?
There are some Lincoln fans that really don’t like Huddersfield Town because we have a tendency to treat them like a feeder club and snatch away their best talent. It started with the Cowley brothers, Harry Toffolo, Lasse Sorensen and Sean Roughan have all left Lincoln because the lure of Huddersfield was simply too strong to keep them at Sincil Bank. I think their frustration is compounded by their outsider’s impression that we also haven’t taken good care of their prized possessions once we’ve acquired them. I find this mentality a bit weird to be honest but they are entitled to their opinions.
But if Lincoln fans see Huddersfield Town as the footballing equivalent of the child catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, then it might be worth taking a closer look at their better players in this currently overperforming team. Reeco Hackett and Adam Reach both stood out to me as players that would probably improve our squad if we were able to get our hands on them.
Their manager, Michael Skubala, has been linked with us in the past too. Given the rate we hire and fire managers, he may be worth keeping track of the next time we’re shopping around for a manager. Looking at the way Lincoln attacked fluently with pace, fought hard in midfield and pressed us on the ball, he’s basically doing the version of Northern Football Lee Grant promised us but on a smaller budget with players that aren’t as good (on paper obviously, in practice Lincoln are objectively better than us given their superior league position).
Any other business
Murray Wallace robbed of the Man of the Match award – The club decide their man of the match by sending out a tweet with a poll attached, with the game’s top performers listed so fans can vote on their favourite. For some reason, Murray Wallace was omitted from the options in this poll after the game. Alfie May was the actual winner but plenty of fans felt that Wallace was unfairly missed out. Given how much strife there is in the world right now, I’m so pleased that some people have nothing better to get worked up about than this sort of thing. I will happily award Murray Wallace the TerrierSpirit.com Man of the Match award, which might go some way to address this imbalance.
Brown nosing in-house interviews – Another minor quibble that has been increasingly irking me over the course of this season has been the interviews the club conducts on its own media channels. I occasionally see criticisms of the Town press pack being too soft in their interviews but Oggy’s encounters with Lee Grant look like the Frost-Nixon interviews compared to the club’s in-house efforts. Obviously Town’s own employees aren’t going to haul the manager over the coals but the softball questions they lob up to Lee Grant both before and after games are really not helping anyone, as they are positive to the point of delusion at times. Given Lee Grant’s tendency to “accentuate the positives”, it would benefit everyone if he was given trickier and more honest questions to get his teeth into.
Alves and Redmond are getting closer to returning – While he didn’t play in the match, it was very encouraging to see Will Alves return to the matchday squad for this game. I’m pretty sure I saw Zepi Redmond warming up as our spare man in the build up to Port Vale too, so he must be close to match fitness too. With Miller injured, Roosken’s experiment as a winger mostly failed, Castledine better as a number ten and Harness repurposed into central midfield we’re very short of wingers. If these two become fit and available it could prompt another system change from Grant to accommodate one or both of these two. Though our recent uptick in form has coincided with switching to a wingerless system, so it might be better to try and find a place for them in the existing system. With Low, Feeney, Kane and McGuane also approaching match fitness, it may be hard to work out where the squad needs strengthening in January (though a big awkward striker will forever remain on my wishlist).
Ramadan Sohbi going to prison – He barely played for Town but our ex-winger has been sent to jail in Egypt for 12 months (with hard labour). His crime was getting someone else to do an exam for him, which is obviously a bit naughty but this seems like extreme punishment. His spell inside won’t stop him playing football though, as he was already serving a 4-year ban for breaking anti-doping rules.
Always good to read you, TS, and, more often than not, I’m in total agreement with you. But not today. Having read your pretty upbeat review and having seen Steven Chicken’s scoring of individual performances with a large scattering of 7s and 8s (as bad as hearing the perpetual “six seven” from my grandchildren), I wonder if I watched the same game (on TV I should say).
First, the team selection. I’m not a huge fan of Sorensen at right wing back but playing him anywhere down the left has to be a huge no-no. Lincoln could immediately ignore Town’s left wing as it offered no attacking threat.
Second, in an important away fixture in front of big away supporters, surely you want your team to come out of the traps with fire in its belly? Town could very easily have been 3-0 down inside 6 minutes and 5-0 down by halftime. Town looked like a team that had no clue at all.
Thirdly, it wasn’t just the passing that was woeful (particularly in the first half), it was the failure to win any second ball and the half-hearted attempt at a press. Rudolovic and Castledine looked knackered from the start.
Because of Lincoln’s woeful finishing and one excellent save from Nicholls, Town somehow got a point.
As often happens, we’d talked ourselves into “this is a difficult game” syndrome. Somehow we are the league’s top goalscorers which surely means you play to your strengths and give Lincoln something to think about. Town had a negative mindset from before the kick off with a bizarre team selection.
What infuriates me most? It’s this focus on the playoffs. The playoffs are a lottery. Four teams gives a 25% chance of success. Nine times out of ten, if yesterday’s match had been a playoff semifinal, we’d have been history inside 10 minutes. The aim is to get out of this horrible league. There’s only one way to be sure of that and that’s to get into the top two. The way you get there is to beat the teams above you. This was a golden opportunity to close the gap, assert some pressure. Risk losing if needs be because one point gets Town no nearer the top two.
If you are right that Alves is getting close to a return, then that has to be excellent news. Another attacking threat and we won’t see Sorensen playing down that left side again.
Thanks for your comment Simon. I think draws, by their nature, are always more open to interpretation than wins or losses so it makes sense for there to be a variety of opinions on how good a result this was. My impression was that we struggled in moments of this game but it was because Lincoln put us to the sword more than any other team has recently. We struggled early on but I thought we grew into the game, even if we were much more cautious in this game than in our recent victories.
Michael Skabula said that their first half was the best they’d played this season. Perhaps our slow start facilitated this but I think it was the other way around, and they basically blew us off the park with some good play. Though there was one chance that came from a weak attempt at a foul resulting in Roughan giving up on tracking him man and he strolled into the box unmarked, so that one was of our own making.
I’d really love us to get automatic promotion this season and right now it looks like the second automatic promotion slot is available for whichever team can find consistency over the next four months. But consistency has been something sorely missing from Town up until now, so we’ll need to improve to challenge for the top two. But even the indifferent form we’ve had in the first half will get us close to the top six spots, so that feels like a more realistic target.
Are you finding League One horrible? I wouldn’t say I’m loving it but after so many years in the Championship and struggling, it’s quite nice that we’re winning much more than usual, even if we’re still not winning as many as I’d like. The games against teams like Northampton, where the other team turn up to spoil the game and grind out a result are really dull to watch, but most games I’ve found entertaining to watch and the drop in overall quality is slightly offset by Town being typically being the team with most skill in any given game.
Beating the teams above us is definitely on the bingo card of things we need to make this a promotion season for sure. Similarly, we’ve not had enough late winners either, and they always seem to be a hallmark of teams that go up. I’d like to see us do what Bolton did to us and came from behind to win a game in the dying moments.
Following the logic, you’d be happy watching Town play in League 2 or National League if Town were winning regularly?
No, of course I know you don’t mean that and yes I agree the last few seasons in the Chalpionship were definitely not fun! But, that said, the standard of football in general in League 1 is dreadful. It’s why Castledine’s goals stand out like a beacon – they show real skill.
We are spoiled with such a rich diet of Premier League football. It imprints in one’s mind and it accentuates the gulf between the leagues. Not that the Championship is all that great but it’s a step closer.
In general, clubs find their right level. So for example, on the commentary for the Lincoln match, I’m sure the commentator said that Lincoln hadn’t played at a higher level than League 1 since 1962! They are without doubt a League 1 club/team. If they get promoted this time, they’ll make a quick return to their right level. Town is, or should be in my view, a mid-Championship club. So the club is underachieving in League One. I can live with being mid-Championship. But you don’t get there if you set your stall out to just get into the League 1 playoffs. Well you might but the odds are 4/1 against. Town’s strategy for the second half of the season should be to set our stall out to prioritise and win every match against teams in the top 10. Throw caution to the wind. Yes we’d lose a few but we might win enough to have a shot at the top two places. I’m confident we’d pick up enough points against teams in the lower half so it would still provide a chance in the playoffs if we came up short.
We need to be bold and stop thinking that a draw against a team higher than us ok. It won’t achieve the objective.
I had to go to Lincoln in order to take my tally up to 83 grounds plus 9 in the National League; that’s what a lifetime of support offers! As I am no longer a season card holder, to ensure possession of a ticket I signed up to the Lincoln website and found the perfect seat in the upper GMB stand positioned right on the halfway line. I determined to keep my mouth closed as I seem to recall reading that one isn’t supposed to do this; my resolve was sorely tested by the woman, I believe, who complained vigorously whenever a decision went against her team. The rest of the crowd were neither complementary nor critical about our performance except for the expected stick handed out to Roughan particularly, Sorensen and the routine timewasting. The away support was occasionally very impressive, certainly more so than the home equivalent.
As you mentioned TS we did well to survive the first half helped by Nicholl and Lincoln’s profligacy when opportunities were presented to them.
The two wingbacks and midfielders bar Ledson were each guilty of at least once losing the ball whilst attempting to dribble past an opponent when passing options were available, often in defensive areas, fortunately these errors were not punished.
May did remarkably well to create the goal for Castledine but less so when presented with an opportunity to score himself, waiting for the ball to settle was a big mistake. I couldn’t see clearly the chain of events leading to the equaliser, later viewing offered little in mitigation for anyone in a Town shirt.
Given the severity of the test when compared with recent matches I felt on the balance of play we only barely deserved a draw. We gave the ball away, for a variety of reasons, far too frequently and we consistently align ourselves too deep, thus surrendering two-thirds or more of the field to the opposition. I agree with Simon’s comments about SC’s bloated scores and your comments about tame questions being asked of LG which encourages him to present himself as the bore no one wants to meet.
Only rarely did I feel we looked like a team destined for promotion, automatic or otherwise, but as you mention in your closing comments TS there are a lot of options about to become available, although some we know very little about.
Wow, that’s an impressive number of grounds to have notched up. Not many to tick off until you have the full 92 league grounds. I’ve been in the home end for Town away games on a few occasions. Our first season in the Premier League I paid way over the odds for a ticket in the home end at Anfield. I was worried it might be a bit aggro but the area I was in was packed with tourist lugging bags of gear from the giftshop. It was more like being at DisneyLand than a football match. To blend in, I stood and politely applauded when Liverpool scored but was sickened on the inside.
I may have been overegging it when I said we just about deserved a draw in my article. Though finishing chances is a part of winning games, just as much as creating them is. But they had four or five very good chances and a couple of decent long range efforts that caused issues too.
Huddersfield very lucky 🍀 not to be 3-0 down within 20 minutes of the first half. Second half was better.
Against a better finishing side , etc: Cardiff , Bradford. Huddersfield would have lost convincingly.
Midfield is the problem, which it as from day one. We are constantly out muscled. Out fought . Out thought.
Grant still in my view , should be sacked eventually , replaced with Lincoln City s manager.
Futher down the line continue to buy Lincoln City’s better players. Reach for one ☝️.
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I agree that our early problems were down to Lincoln outworking us in midfield. We tried to play a short passing game in midfield and they shut it down and forced us into mistakes. It took us a while to get into the game but, like you say, we got better as the game went along.
I think Marcus Harness gives us a lot as a creative midfielder but when we’re defending he often looks like a winger trying his best in midfield. Not that Herbie Kane’s return would improve us on that score, as he’s just as bad for not tracking his man. Maybe Marcus McGuane will be an answer to the problems in this area but we’ve not seen enough of him to know either way.
I’d be happy if we brought in Skabula the next time we’re shopping for a manager. He’s got his Lincoln team playing exactly the way we want Town to play and on a much smaller budget. I get the feeling we’re always looking to pull a rabbit out of a hat with our managerial appointments but maybe just picking someone experienced at this level might be a safer route.
Happy New Year TS and Terriers on here.
I was keen on Michael Skubala before Lee Grant was appointed (even though he’s ex-LUFC).
Funny thing is that Lincoln fans have been calling for him to go – just shows where a bit of patience can take you.
Agree that his style of play is great to watch and that Town were riding their luck in that first 30 minutes, but we’re still learning and still improving. If we can beat Exeter this could turn into a very big point. Never dull is it?
Thanks Jay, happy new year to you too.
I didn’t know Lincoln fans had been calling for Skabula to go. It shows how fickle fans can be, few more so than the average Town fan!
Winning against Exeter would give us four wins and a draw in our last five, so we’ll have turned a couple of good results against poor teams into an actual good run. You’re right that it’s never dull, unless you listen to Lee Grant’s press conferences!
My first observation was that Sorensen played on the left. Why? Just why? An underperforming Roosken would have played much better than Sorensen who looked like a fish out if water all night.
And as for the “you are getting sacked in the morning?”. Not everyone was thinking that at the Wigan fans and there was certainly nothing coming out of the club to suggest that was the case. The same fans were cheering when Town were 1-0 up against Wigan and then Lee Nicholls makes an error NOT Lee Grant. Some fans appear to be anti-everything at the club and want to say black is white just so they can have a moan but in my opinion they are fickle and appear entitled to the point of looking ignorant.
I totally agree with you about the Sorensen pick. Has Grant explained himself?
Grant has to be SACKED.
Tactics throughout the season have been
Debatable, to say the least .
Losing at Burton ???
With this squad ?
Over paid players , turning out , No pride ,
Nagel throwing money 💰 on this shower .
Time to wake up and smell the coffee . You are being taken for a ride pal. 👍😉⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️
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Why dinit Huddersfield buy Castledine for a Million plus ???
Huddersfield turning into a. Club of very limited ambition. !!!!
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After the loss at Stockport. Town were very lucky 🍀 to be 0-0 as of the 95Th minute. Recruiting requires a big overall. We are at least 4 class players short of completing for a Top 2 Spot. Personally we require a new manager , I vote for Lincoln City’s . 👍😉⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️🤞🤞🤞🤞
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