Huddersfield just can't stop the goals going in

While AFCB were taking on Derby County on Tuesday night, Huddersfield Town were trying to dent Wolves' play-off ambitions, but suffered a heavy setback themselves. Getting back to back wins has been a bit too difficult for Huddersfield to achieve all but once this season, back in October with wins over Millwall and Wolves. To get a double win over Wolves would have been a big thing for the Yorkshire club and a sign that they are progressing well under Chris Powell, but they slumped to a 1-4 defeat at home.

Huddersfield players on the first day of this season.

Since the turn of the year Huddersfield have had some strong results with wins over Watford, Wigan and Millwall. They are edging towards safety and starting to ease any relegation worries, but before their recent win against Wigan it was back on 22 November against Sheffield Wednesday when they last recorded a clean sheet. Two clean sheets since mid-November is not a great record to take into a game against the division's highest scorers.

Still, Huddersfield are scoring goals themselves and Nahki Wells is already up to 11 this season, although he is still suspended for this game having been sent off against Millwall earlier in February. Before the Wolves match, James Vaughan's last goal came from the penalty spot and he only has four goals all season, so he might be struggling to score from open play as frequently as he should. They also signed Ishmael Miller though in the January window and he is as unpredicatble as they come for strikers. Harry Bunn and Jacob Butterfield are the midfield pair that have been supporting the strikers with quite a few goals - 12 altogether.

Losing Lee Peltier to Cardiff City can't have been something that Chris Powell would have wanted. However, the return of Tommy Smith at the back last match, after a head injury in the Leeds game, will have been a boost for them. Murray Wallace was back in the defence against Millwall and Wolves. Wallace is their top fouling player with two reds and five yellows - makes Arter look like a saint! Powell is also giving the youngsters a chance so be prepared for the odd surprise among the subs.

So what have we got here? I think Huddersfield are doing okay despite some really bad luck with some injuries. Their new manager has made them more competitive in games. Keeping AFCB out though is going to be one of the toughest tasks they have had in 2015 and it would not surprise me if they play just one up front for this game.

Huddersfield Away Form
LDLWW

AFCB Home Form
WWWLW

The low-down on Huddersfield Town

Mark Robins wasted no time in releasing quite a few players early in May including captain Peter Clarke and former Cherry Anton Robinson. Players coming in include Coventry keeper Joe Murphy who is 32 and signed a two-year deal. Their key capture though in my opinion is Lee Peltier from Leeds Utd on a three-year contract. He used to play for Town and was a captain at Leeds. One of their newest signings is the season-long loan deal for Nottingham Forest's Radoslaw Majewski, a Polish midfielder. Conor Coady also joined Huddersfield this week from Liverpool on a three-year deal. The 21-year-old is a midfielder who is said to be aggressive and combative on the Yorkshire club's website.

Pre-season has brought 3-1 wins in early July against AEL Limassol and Doncaster Rovers, followed by a 4-1 win against Guisley, but defeat came for the Terriers against Scunthorpe 1-0. Mark Robins' team got back on track with a 0-1 win away at Bramall Lane with Huddersfield employing a 3-5-2 formation against Sheffield Utd. Their next game was against Oldham last Saturday when they slipped up 3-1 and this was followed up with a mid-week match on Tuesday against Newcastle Utd which they drew 2-2.

Adam Clayton will be a big miss for them as he is expected to sign for Middlesbrough, according to a local paper. Jacob Butterfield of Middlesbrough could be heading the other way to Huddersfield in return. We may find that James Vaughan is not quite up to speed with any luck as he has had some calf problems. Players AFCB will have to watch closely are Adam Hammill who caused all kinds of problems against the Cherries last time at the John Smith's stadium. Nahki Wells will also be looking to make more of a mark this season.

It does not look like Huddersfield will have had long to integrate all their team ahead of their first league game against AFCB which just might be helpful for the Cherries.

This afternoon we will have a Rival Lines interview with HTFC-World.

Huddersfield are ones to watch

I know we had a bad experience last time AFCB played the Terriers. That scoreline still resonates in my memory banks, but I have to admit Mark Robins and his team intrigue me. This January he has really been splashing the cash, not on experienced players but on youthful talent. It may be more in an attempt to build for next season than to have a dash at the play-off this time around, but I like his thinking.

New signing Joe Lolly from Kiddermister Harriers is set to make his first start for the Terriers having singed a 2.5 year deal with a six figure transfer fee. Lolly is 21 years-old and has 11 goals in 25 games this season. Whether he can make the step up is perhaps give a bit of credance by his FA Cup goal against Peterborough on a week or so ago.

The real poucher I have heard about is Nahki Wells who was a regular scorer at Bardford City over the last two seasons. The transfer has broken the club record so even a player from League One is not cheap to pick up at the moment - think about that a moment those of you who still want Leon Clarke at AFCB.

Robins has also brought in Sondre Trondstad a Norweigan U18 international and Harry Bunn, a 21-year-old striker who was on Man City's books - I expect they could spare a few players with their squad. So is Robins building for the future? I think so. It looks like he believes they are heading towards safety this season and that he can give some young players a chance to get used to the Championship. It could be a good move for next season as long as the results keep coming in for Robins.

Against AFCB though I would expect a strong side from the Terriers with at least one of the new signings starting and some more of them on the bench. Wells has been getting an opportunity right away and he scored a good goal against QPR. Vaughan remains the big threat though as we know all to well. We may have to tell the ground staff to reinforce the corner flags with his goal celebrations!

But at the back too they been pretty measly with letting in goals. Their defenders include Calum Woods at left back who was signed a couple of seasons ago from Dunfermiline, while Paul Dixon also came from Scotland when his contract ended with Dundee Utd. Peter Clarke though is the player at the player at the back that I remember power his headers against AFCB in the League One play-offs a couple of years ago. He is strong and a real handful when he comes up for corners.

It is reported that winger Adam Hammill is a doubt for the game and will have a fitness test. He scored the opener against Bournemouth last August if you remember and basically ran the match with Vaughan.

It is only the top teams that have been knocking Huddersfield over. Everyone else has found the Terries a difficult team to get a result against. Still Bolton was their last away win back on 3 December and they have found things more testing away from home.

Bournemouth will be looking to improve on their last home league draw against Watford. Goals are becoming a bit hard to come by for the Cherries and they need to find more of a goal threat pretty quickly. I am confident that AFCB can hold Huddersfield but they really need a win to kick-start their 2014.

Huddersfield Away League form:
WLDLL

AFCB League Home form:
DLWDD

Also check out the blogger pre-match interview with Thrice Champions at Rival Lines.

Cherry Chimes interviews Huddersfield blog Thrice Champions

Match Preview
AFC V Huddersfield
Blogger Interview - Thrice Champions

Cherry Chimes speaks to Greg Marah, editor of Thrice Champions - a Huddersfield Town blog, who has been keeping tabs on all the new players arriving at the Terriers while also being adamant that the Terriers can hold off Premiership interest in to their inform striker James Vaughan.

CC: You ran Burnley and QPR close in recent away games so how do you feel about how Mark Robins has set the team up away from home?

TC: Robins' has set up not to nullify the opposition like some do away from home, rather play our own fluid game. Whilst we didn't play that well away at Burnley we were unlucky not to get a point. In the QPR fixture most fans felt happy in the overall performance, its just we didn't take our chances unlike QPR. Had we taken those we would have come away from Loftus Road with 3 points.

CC: Are you pleased that Huddersfield are signing young players like Harry Bunn from Man City, Joe Lolley from Kidderminster Harriers and Sondre Trondstad, a former IK Start player from Norway?

TC: Personally I'm delighted we are focusing our transfer policy on young hungry players rather than signing has beens who are looking for one last payout.

Lolley will be involved in the first team squad primarily, while Tronstad and Bunn will be involved in the development squad with the aim of pushing for the first team. Hopefully as we continue to sign young players we find a couple of gems who either take us towards a play-off charge in the future or go for a large sum of money like Jordan Rhodes did.

CC: Huddersfield may have something against newly promoted sides having thumped AFCB and Yeovil 5:1 - were they similar games?

TC: The only way they were similar was the scorelines. Against Bournemouth we clicked and took our chances while AFCB did ask a few questions of us. The Yeovil game was a walk in the park for Town and we won at a canter without getting out of second gear. Realistically had we taken all of our better chances and played better than we did, it could have been 10-1.

CC: Do you think the Terriers can still mount a play-off challenge or is mid-table okay for you this season?

TC: The heart says we could scrape the play-offs but in this division everyone has to be realistic. From surviving by the skin of our teeth on the final day of last season, mid-table would be good progress. A top half finish would be a brilliant season for us and isn't unrealistic but anything better than 10th and we have really overachieved, but that is testament to Mark Robins' terrific management and a shout to the work of Ross Wilson and Dean Hoyle behind the scenes.

CC: Do you think a bid is likely for James Vaughan in the summer if it does not come in this January?

TC: He won't be leaving in this transfer window, our chairman has said that and he doesn't lie! However, just like Jordan Rhodes, if a ludicrous bid comes in for him then we can't say no and there are plenty of teams sniffing about including Celtic. Vaughan was a shrewd signing and only cost us 600k, so to potentially get millions for him, especially with his injury record we would be mad not to say no. However, without that injury record he wouldn't be at Huddersfield Town as he is Premier League quality.

CC: Is there a player that has done better than you expected this season for Huddersfield, not counting Vaughan?

TC: Everyone has improved from last season but the one stand out is Tom Smith, our young defender. We signed him on a free transfer from Man City and he was a stalwart for our development squad for 18 months until he got an opportunity with Peter Clarke being injured. He's come into the side and hasn't looked out of place, in fact was our best player away at QPR and is one of the first names on the team sheet.

CC: Which game do you think was the best performance for Huddersfield this season and why?

TC: Burnley at home where we won 2-1. Again we could and should have been 4 or 5 up at halftime but didn't take our chances, but for 65 minutes totally dominated the then top side in the division playing fantastic football. We just need to do that for 90 minutes and ensure we score when on top.

CC: Which three teams do you expect to go down?

TC: Yeovil - nice story that they got promoted but that squad just isn't good enough. Barnsley - one season too far of relegation scraps. Charlton - Just a sneaky feeling as they lack an out and out goalscorer.

Although I've put a quid on Blackpool at 33/1 as they are in free fall. Sacking Ince may have saved Blackpool's season.

CC: What do you think Mark Robins has got right this season?

TC: Playing passing fluid football, it's good to watch. Also having interchangeable formations within games, we primarily start with a 3-5-2 formation but depending on the opposition and the state of the game can play 4-4-2, 4-2-3-1, 4-4-1-1 or 4-5-1 with the same starting line up... he's a clever one is Mark Robins.

CC: How do you think new signing Nakhi Wells might do for you - he has already scored I hear?

TC: Two goals, two games. A natural goalscorer with pace and a snip at £1.3million plus add ons. He can help us towards a top 6 finish... next season.

CC: Thanks for your input Greg. Huddersfield Town is certainly a team that is building its squad up and Mark Robins seems to be making a successful go at manager's job. As a former striker it looks like he has an eye for young forwards and with the strike force that he is assembling it is likely that some clubs will be watching the progress of Huddersfield's front line. I only hope that they draw a blank at Dean Court and help AFCB start to move up the table a bit.

As for those you suggest are going down the Charlton comment worries me a little if we are to pick up Yann Kemorgrant, not someone you rate I suspect, perhaps we will hear more on that topic today from AFCB. I heard that Huddersfield were all over Charlton in the FA Cup tie but it was the Addicks that got through. No backlash please! 

To read more about Greg's thoughts, visit the Thrice Champions blog.