Huddersfield Town: January 2011

Hello my friends and Happy Victoria Day! Yes, it’s a holiday weekend in Canada as we celebrate Queen Victoria’s birthday and the unofficial start of summer.

Results at a glance

The first game of the new year was the 3^rd round of The FA Cup away to Burton. I thought that was a slice of luck really as I felt confident of victory and a win would bolster our finances. Sixteen year old Andy Nowlan got us off to a dream start smashing in a Roberts cross from the right wing after only four minutes. Nowlan’s through ball found Moguena six minutes later and he coolly slotted home to make it 2-0. From the ensuing kick off Goodwin robbed Burton of the ball immediately and his lob into to their half found Moguena who didn’t need to be told twice what to do with it. Moguena’s completed his first half hat-trick picking up the ball from about 30 yards out and went on a run reminiscent to Maradona’s 86 World Cup goal against England and scored in similar style. Burton manage to pull one back before half time but the game was effectively over. Charlie Austin put the icing on the cake scoring on the turn from a well placed ball by Gasmi into the box. This was a great way to start 2011. Following the victory we were given a home tie against Chelsea in the 4^th round.

Our next game was a league encounter away to Stockport and after the thumping of Burton in the previous outing expectations were high but in the end the match turned out to be a bit of an anti-climax as we struggled once more to get the ball into the net and the only goal of the game came from a corner headed in by Steve Gohouri in the second half.

The following game was at home to Bury and with first choice striker Rhodes looking to leave I left him out of the team altogether. We again created all kinds of opportunities up front but it was almost half time before we finally got the breakthrough with a lovely twisting and turning goal from Simpson. The second half was a repeat of the first with all the action in the Bury half but one of their few attacking moves created the equalizer after 75 minutes. Moguena whose game was seemingly being affected by media pressure was replaced by Neilsen who immediately scored from a Pilkington cross and gave us the deserved victory.

Our unbeaten start to 2011 finally came to end against Charlton at The Valley. Despite having outplayed them we again failed in front of goal and one lapse in concentration allowed the home side to score and secure all three points. It was another frustrating afternoon and we left wondering about what could have been.

Next up we travelled to Walsall for the first leg of the Northern JPT Final. We couldn’t have gotten off to a better start when McGlinchey played a lovely through ball onto the chest of Moguena who controlled it first time and whacked it into the net. Although Walsall had their moments at our end of the field Morten Neilsen added a second just before half time from neat little flick by Moguena. Before the referee had time to blow his whistle for the interval Kikut added a third from a Nowlan cross. The second half we easily controlled and we added to the tally through Gasmi and Austin as we stretched and tormented the Walsall defence. It was a great performance by the mostly fringe players and baring a huge upset we should be on our way to Wembley again. We can’t get too carried away as up next is Chelsea in The FA Cup.

We went into the game against Chelsea with cup fever having gripped the town for the last several days. In front of a capacity crowd at The Galpharm Stadium the visitors got off to a nervous start which allowed us to go close to a goal through Morten Neilsen and right back Martin Kelly. Chelsea though began to settle and took the lead through Landon Donavan whose trickery and speed proved too much for my central defenders. Once ahead Chelsea began to control the game and although it was basically one way traffic we did give a good account of ourselves and they were only able to get one other goal in the second half. Although we are out of the competition we have nothing to be ashamed of in our performance.

After being eliminated from the cup it was back to league action at home to Rochdale. Theo Robinson returned to the line up as Anthony Moguena had picked up an injury against Chelsea and will be out for seven weeks. It was very much an uninspiring performance played out in the pouring rain once again and what should have been an easy victory turned out to be the opposite though our blushes were saved by a converted penalty kick right on full time that gave us all three points and moved us back into a play off spot.

Next up was an away game to MK Dons. Marcin Kikut who had been in great from recently opened the scoring after finding himself all alone on the right side of the penalty area. He was picked out by James Berrett whose delicate through ball found him for a placed shot into the net. Austin headed in our our second when The Dons keeper rushed out to the edge of the area to gather a long ball into their half but Austin beat him to it to make the score 2-0. Steve Gohouri headed in the third from a corner just before half time effectively ending the game. The second half was all about control which we easily did and ended the month with a morale boosting win.

On the transfer side of things most of the activity was involved in players out with Rhodes finally leaving for Falkirk of all teams. I did get less than I wanted for him but he wasn’t happy so I let him go cheaply just to get him off the roster.

I made only one new signing that being Icelanic striker Kolbeinn Sigborsson whose got good finishing and composure and he can cross the ball too.

Current League Table

We’ve now moved up to 5th place in the table which is just great and hopefully February will be a consolidation month for us. I think coming in second will be a bit of a stretch but a play off spot is becoming more realistic.

February Fixtures

Finally I picked up the manager of the month award which I’m quite please about because as you know it’s been a bit of a struggle for the most part at Huddersfield.

Thanks for reading and have a safe weekend.