Huddersfield Town: September 2010

Hello friends and greetings from a chilly Canada. I had snow on my car Sunday morning. Yuk!

Onto the game then and the new month started at home to MK Dons. We took the lead early on thanks to some great hold up play by Jordan Rhodes at the edge of the box who laid off to Roberts on the left flank to hit home. Our pressure continued into throughout the first half but we were unable to add to that lead and a missed penalty by left back Joe Skarz didn’t help matters. After the interval the game swung more in the favor of MK Dons and they got a well deserved equalizer. Both Rhodes and Austin had great chances up front but couldn’t finish off and substitute striker Morten Neilson managed to miss from four yards out so we had to settle for a draw.

Next up was an away game to bottom placed Rochdale and I gave 19 year old goalkeeper Oscar Jannson his first start in the team. The home side though played anything like what their standing in the league suggested and Jannson pulled off a string of fine saves. At the other end we were still have trouble with scoring and we returned to the dressing room empty handed at the half. We switched to a more controlled game and that seemed to improve things and Kyle Bartley gave us the lead off a lovely glancing header, having stayed forward from a cleared corner that Pilkington swung back into the box. Theo Robinson made it two with his typical poacher’s goal from a through ball by Sekour to take home all three points.

Going into our following game at home to Carlisle striker Charlie Austin must have been reading my mind as I felt he was turning into a half million pound flop and was about to dump him in the reserves. He came up with a stunning hat-trick. Austin got us off the mark inside a minute with Sekour being the provider into the box. His second followed twelve minutes later latching onto a cross from Andy Nowlan and in between Robinson had scored from a Pilkington through ball so we were three up inside 15 minutes. Carlisle though didn’t give up a tried to get back into the game but once again Jannson put in a fine performance between the posts. As in the previous match I switched from attacking to control for the second half which worked fine with Robinson making it 4-0 off a lively run from 25 yards out beating two defenders in the process. Austin who had played his heart out hammered home his third goal from a Gasmi cross and Jannson was unfortunate to keep a clean sheet with Carlisle scoring from a corner in injury time.

Having scored five in our previous game morale was high for the trip to face 2^nd place Southampton at St.Mary’s Stadium. For the first 15 minutes things were looking great with both Austin and Robinson having attempts going narrowly wide. Then things started to fall apart as Southampton went ahead from a corner and then proceeded to score three more either from a corner or from a cleared one. Adam Lallana was playing an inspired game for the home side and we just couldn’t stop him and our central defenders were both having a nightmare game. Austin pulled one back for us just before halftime and Pilkington added another just after the interval. I thought a fight back was on until Lambert added a fifth for The Saints and killed off the game.

The final game of the month was away to Gillingham and due to some minor injuries I had Rhodes starting up front with Austin again. They seemed to complement each other immediately when a Pilkington cross from the right found Austin who laid back the ball nicely for Rhodes to hit into the roof of the net. In similar style Rhodes teed up Austin who instead of shooting squared the ball to Sekour who neatly place it in the corner of the net. Gillingham however where not perturbed at being 2-0 down and Jannson pulled off a couple of good saves before the home side scored easily from a cross ball. Gillingham continued to have the upper hand into the second half and the equalizer came after Simeon Jackson managed to dribbled past three of my defenders before scoring. We fought back and in the last ten minutes hit the post and Austin missed a sitter from 6 yards out heading narrowly wide so I was a little upset to have dropped two points.

September results at a glance

Current League Table

October Fixtures

At the end of the month then we’ve dropped a place in the standings and we have tow games coming up against other teams in the top six. Hopefully we can do better than we did when we faced Southampton.

Thanks for reading.