Huddersfield Town: March 2010

Hello my friends and greetings from a cold Canada. Yes, -2C yesterday morning in Toronto and it was snowing in Montreal. Poor them :)

Anyway here’s my lates update on Huddersfield….

Our first game of the month was away to Gillingham and although the final score suggests otherwise this was a hard fought game which we won on the back of two crucial penalty kicks thanks to the speed of Theo Robinson who enticed the Gillingham defenders into making wild tackles. Left back Robbie Williams neatly put away both spot kicks to get him on the score sheet for the first time this season. Jordan Rhodes got the other hitting a superb volley from a low driven cross which was supplied by Kurkit on the right flank. Three more points towards the play offs.

Next up was a home game against Norwich who had started to drift down the table. Theo Robinson opened the scoring after Gasmi had played a lovely through ball into the box from the left flank. Poor marking from a corner kick allowed Norwich a well deserved equalizer just before half time. Although we were having the greater possession Norwich were creating more chances from their attacks and we were having a hard time closing them down. Robinson though would get his second of the game dribbling passed three defenders before firing home just after the hour. Three minutes later Alex Smithies committed an horrendous error by failing to deal with a back pass and miss-kicked the ball into the path of Cody McDonald who made it 2-2 and that would be the final score. A valuable two points dropped.

The following game was a trip to London to face Orient. The first half an hour we struggled to get going but we finally found our rhythm with Sandrinho and Berrett working well together in midfield. Their persistence paid off with Berrett hitting the post first but then a lovely move between the two of them set up Robinson for the opening goal. Robinson would again put himself on the score sheet this time by a neat little lay off by Rhodes after he controlled what looked like a wayward cross by full back Lee Peltier. Emmanuel-Thomas rounded off the afternoon with his first goal for the team with a well placed shot in the right hand corner of the net.

The next game was at home to Charlton and I was expecting a difficult evening against them. However and fears I had were soon dismissed when after a clearing a Charlton corner Robinson picked up the ball inside the centre circle ran past two defenders and fired home from 20 yards out. He produced similar run 12 minutes later though this time Robinson laid the ball off to Rhodes and it was 2-0. Romain Gasmi made it three as Charltons poor defending continued when Pilkingtons cross landed at the foot of Gasmi for an easy tap in at the far post. Pilkington then produced the goal of the season making a darting run down the right and then cutting inside beating three defenders before placing in the corner of the net. We were leading 4-0 at half time!  Pilkington added another on the hour in similar style but not quite as dramatic as the first to round off a comprehensive victory and ensure moral is high going into the JPT Final.

The final game of the month was the JPT final against Southampton and it was my first ever trip to Wembley. We got off to an encouraging start with Rhodes hitting the woodwork from a Pilkington cross in the opening minutes. Southampton created their own chances as well and found the upright twice in the first half an hour themselves. They were looking the stronger team and their defence was tight and organized and we ended up taking shots from distance. Southampton took the lead from a corner kick ten minutes before half time and following the interval continued their domination and subsequently were awarded a penalty which they converted after a lunging tackle by full back Robbie Williams. We never really got into this game and the big occasion proved to be just too much for us so it was a bitter disappointment as the expectation for victory was high.

Current League Table

Next Months Fixtures

So even though we had some good league results we are still in the mid-table zone which no doubt is where we will finish up. The JPT final as already mentioned was a disappointment because I thought we would do a lot better. Time now then to finish out the season and see how the cards fall.

Thanks for reading.