Huddersfield Town head coach Michael Duff says it is simply a case of his players running more as they look to recover from a shock defeat against Northampton Town.
The Terriers went into Saturday’s clash at the John Smith’s Stadium full of confidence after sticking four past Bolton Wanderers in the previous fixture. However, the performance was in stark contrast to that witnessed in the North West as they suffered a lacklustre 3-1 loss.
An own goal from defender Michal Helik opened the scoring for the Cobblers after just 18 minutes, with the visitors doubling their advantage just seven minutes later through Cameron McGeehan. Tariqe Fosu made it three shortly before the hour mark and despite a solitary strike from Josh Koroma and a sending off to Northampton’s Akinwale Odimayo, Huddersfield suffered their second defeat of the season.
It’s a result which sent the Yorkshire-based side down to sixth, although other results meant that the damage was limited. Charlton Athletic failed to take advantage against Blackpool, whilst both Lincoln City and Stockport County dropped points below them.
Duff will see a revitalised Blackpool come to town tomorrow night, fresh off the back of back-to-back league victories under Steve Bruce. It’s a game in which the former Barnsley boss is hoping to see a vast improvement from his team after identifying the key issue from the weekend’s loss:
“That’s my job to not too get to carried away after last week (a 4-0 win over Bolton) or too down after this week,” he said, via the Yorkshire Post. “It was quite simple fix – run more.
“Sometimes when you get absolutely played off the park and when you’re all over the place tactically, that’s a different thing.
“The players just needed to run around a little bit more.
“I don’t think Lee (Nicholls, the goalkeeper) has had anything to do, which sounds strange when we’ve conceded three goals but we’ve only conceded three goals in the previous five (league) games.
“I think I speak on behalf of most Huddersfield supporters. You can handle getting beaten but there’s a way to get beaten and that wasn’t it.”
Duff continued, saying he hopes to see his side react in the best possible way tomorrow night:
“It was lethargic all over the pitch from minute one – I don’t know why. It’s the best week’s training we’ve had in terms of the quality and the things we were doing.
“Hopefully it’s a bad day at the office and they react properly. Hodge came on and made an impact and did well, apart from that there wasn’t a lot of credit.
“The reality is 12 points from six games. There’s going to be bumps in the road, you’re not going to get it all your own way and we’ll finish where we deserve to finish.
“It’s just trying to flatline it a little bit – not get too up, too down, too emotional – and not make rash decisions which is why it’s good to leave it 24 hours before you watch a game back so you’re not still angry.”
Writer’s View
Huddersfield started the season so well, winning their first three games before defeat at Rotherham United. It looked as if that reverse was a blip with their thumping win against Bolton, but the manner of their loss against Northampton will be a cause for concern.
Duff states he isn’t getting carried away just yet. He has seen the best and worst of his side in the space of just a week, but the reality is that they have lost four of their last five in all competitions. Blackpool look a different animal under Steve Bruce and will be a tough test tomorrow night.
As the head coach says, it is imperative that he gets a reaction. It’s still early in the campaign and they are still in the play-off places, but it won’t be long before their promotion rivals start to take full advantage of any slip-ups, whilst they could soon lose ground with the top two.
Head of Writing
