Huddersfield Town: November 2009

Hello my friends and welcome to the next installment of my story

As I entered into a new month the Board of Directors added their 10 cents worth of comments to my inevitable dismal openly showing their disappointment at my performance as manger.

Our first game of the month was away to Oldham who we were also going to face later on in a JPT encounter. With the pressure mounting I needed something spectacular and along came Fabian Brandy with a memorable hat-trick fashioned by the skills of Seckour and Gasmi. All three goals coming from delicately placed through balls which Brandy delights upon and so my head is off the old chopping block once again.

Up next was a home tie in the FA Cup First Round against non-leaguers Stocksbridge. As we were facing Oldham again in midweek I changed out the current team for the fringe players and they delivered with a five goal salvo. Although the opposition was much weaker I’ll take any victory at this point and scoring five has boosted morale to its highest point yet in the season. Robbie Simpson had an excellent game as the target man capturing a brace along the way and Jose Baxter looked comfortable being thrown out on the right flank. Sandrinho was simply brilliant setting up four of the goals and James Berrett once more hit a thrilling long ranger into the roof of the net.

We stayed at The Galpharm stadium for our JPT quarter final game with Oldham. The visitors were much better prepared than in our league game and were organized at the back to break down our attacks. Fortunately they weren’t offering much at the other end of the field. The only goal of the game came from Jordan Rhodes, heading the ball in from a Gasmi cross just after twenty minutes. Both Gasmi and Brandy squandered easy one on one chances created by Sekour so I was a little disappointed with the final score line.

Another home game followed the Oldham victory and this time we were to face Wycombe in the League. My job as it is before every game now is on the line. We got off to a flying start with Robbie Simpson heading in a Pilkington cross after only a minute taking full advantage of Rhodes being again on England duty. A typical through ball finish by Brandy made it 2 – 0 inside twenty minutes and Simpson volleyed home the third just after the half hour. Following the interval Pilkington unleashed a rocket of a free kick and we four up and looking comfortable. Fatigue however started to set in which allowed Wycombe to claw back two goals in 5 minutes but a change in tactic helped us see out the game without further incident.

Our fourth home games in a row saw bottom of the table Hartlepool visit The Galpharm Stadium and from early on I realized that this was not going to be an easy game. With a string of victories behind us it looked like a bit of complacency had sneaked in and it took us a long time to get into our game. Eventually Robbie Simpson gave us the lead on the stroke of half time being to first to get his head to the ball in a goalmouth scramble. Gasmi doubled our lead in the middle of the second half with an easy tap in from a Pilkington cross. Gasmi though went quickly from hero to villain after his lazy pass was intercepted allowing Hartlepool to pull one back and they managed to get an equalizer from the spot when a tired Kabous tripped Ritchie Jones in the box and he leveled the score himself. We should have really won this game.

We were finally on the road for our next match which meant a trip to Wiltshire to face Swindon Town. The game was played at a frantic pace and as usual we had the greater possession but were unable to turn it into goals. Fabian Brandy came the closest and unbelievably missed an effort from only 7 yards out. With a game at a stalemate well into the second half I was forced to make a triple substitution due to fatigue and that seemed to unbalance the team and Swindon created the only goal of the game as we were getting settled. It was another disappointing result.

The last game of the month was our FA Cup Second round clash with rivals Rotherham at their Don Valley Stadium. Winger Gary Roberts put us ahead after only 2 minutes having darted into the box to latch onto a Sekour through ball. Again we had huge amounts of possession but try as we might luck was against us and we had to wait until the end of the game until we finally got our second from a diving header by Jordan Rhodes. In the end it was a comfortable win and we are through to the third round where we will face Wigan at home.

Current League Table

December Fixtures

So I feel I’ve had my best month but not out of the woods by any means and every game brings the threat of being fired. Next month sees a full slate of games with two difficult encounters against Leeds and Norwich which could prove pivotal  if i am to remain in charge.

Thanks for reading and keep your fingers crossed for me!