Huddersfield Town: December 2009

Hello my friends and welcome to the latest Huddersfield update.

Just a quick note to say I forgot to save an image of the league table and I’ve already go on into January so my apologies for that error.

The month started on a positive note when energetic midfielder Youcef Sekour was handed the young player of the month award and I thought it was well deserved as he’s just been outstanding and settled in the team really well.

The first game of a long month was at home to Tranmere who also found themselves at the wrong end of the table. Jordan Rhodes could have put us ahead after 15 minutes but his effort hit the post and was scrambled away before Sekour could pounce on it. Both Gasmi and Pilkington had chances that should have been buried and defensive midfielder James Berret inexplicably squared the ball to the left flank instead of unleashing a shot which he’s done in the past. All the drama unfolded in the last ten minutes when right back Antony Kay’s intended cross swerved into the back of the net to give us a 1-0 lead though Tranmere who had barely been in our half somehow found another gear and the equalizer one minute from time.

Next up was a trip to Elland Road to face league leaders Leeds United. The first twenty minutes or so was a fairly even affair until a poor pass from Sandrinho was intercepted and Beckford put Leeds ahead. They quickly added a second two minutes later and the game was over before halftime. We never really threatened the Leeds goal and an error by want-away goalkeeper Alex Smithies added a third to Leeds tally which in effect rounded off a very poor performance by the whole team.

As usual I was under pressure from the press before our next game at home to Gillingham. We took the lead inside 15 minutes when Robbie Simpson scored on a twisting shot after intense probing from our midfield duo of Sekour and Berrett. Gillingham found their equalizer from a stunning free kick from 30 yards out that Smithies never saw and so it was all square at the interval. With the light rain turning into a downpour conditions became difficult to play in but our switch to more direct passing paid off when none other than Sekour found Pilkington un-marked in the box and it was 2-1 with nine minutes to play. A few minutes later right back Lee Peltier under no pressure whatsoever astonishingly played a square ball across the penalty area straight into the path of Rene Howe who easily taped it in to make the score 2-2 and more points given away. Darn!!

The following game was our JPT semi-final against at home to Accrington. Both Brandy and Baxters short term loans had come to an end as well as injuries to Gasmi and Pilkington ensured a somewhat different line up. At the end of November I had secured a short term loan with Newcastle for Nile Ranger just to act as coverage. We attacked the visitor’s right from the start with both Simpson and Rhodes hitting the bar in the first two minutes. Reserve striker Theo Robinson had been drafted in as a make shift right winger and his pace paid off with a cross that found the head of Simpson to make it 1-0 after 10 minutes. Further attacks failed to pay off and Accrington began to get back into the game with their five man midfield limiting our creativity. Sandrinho though got the better of their tactics and his vision set up Rhodes who made it 2-0 on the stroke of half time with a neatly placed shot. The second half was less exciting until Accrington’s Billy Kee unleashed a screamer from forty yards on the hour to pull one back and we immediately adjusted our tactics. Kabous managed to get himself sent off being the last man in defence after the team got caught on the break as we looked for a third goal to kill the game. We closed out the match with some resolute defending and advance to the Northern Final of the JPT.

Norwich game…total bore

We stayed away from home for our next game with a trip up to Carlisle. The home side made the early running and opened the scoring from an innocent looking cross that Muniesa failed to deal with and allowed an easy tap in to put Carlisle ahead. It took us a good 20 minutes to get into our stride with Rhodes and Simpson both hitting the post and central defender Krystian Pearce going narrowly wide from a headed corner. Rhodes though would get the equalizer six minutes from the interval using his strength to barrel through the Carlisle defence after picking up a pass from Sekour. We came out from the break looking for the go ahead goal but it was again a story of missed opportunities and we fell behind from another piece of poor defending by Muniesa who failed to pick up Hurst running into the box. Sandrinho came on for the tiring Sekour and he immediately set up Roberts to make it 2-2 and could have easily scored the winner but failed to hit home a great chance.

The final game of 2009 was at home to MK Dons and we had now gone six league games without a win. Romain Gasmi returned to the line up following his injury and he tormented the MK Dons defence for much of the first half and was instrumental in setting up the opening goal for Sekour who raced into the box to head in his cross. It was 1-0 at the interval.  Twelve minutes of sloppy marking allowed the visitors to grab the equalizer and take the lead after the hour and so heading towards the final whistle the end looked in sight for my job until Marcin Kikut’s cut inside following an inspirational run down the right flank resulted in a dramatic injury time equalizer and rescued another point.

So I’ve made it to the end of the year still in charge and we’ve actually moved up one place in the table to 15th without winning a league game. Cool!!

Thanks for reading and see you in 2010 :)