Huddersfield came to the SoL and deservedly shared the points in a 1-1 draw that was frustrating in the extreme for our fans, as we got our decision-making all wrong in the final third. Perhaps exacerbated by a rather strange formation, too many Lads had a bit of an off night as we shot when we should have passed and passed when we should have shot, particularly in the second half when we spent a good deal of time in and around the visitors’ penalty area but huffed and puffed without blowing any houses down. The single point pretty much killed off any lingering hope of a play-off place – but we said that after the Hull game, didn’t we? With three games to go we’re only a single point off sixth and have the team occupying that position – WBA – to play on Sunday. Never say never, as they say.
As we pondered the team selection in the Roker End café, we discovered that Mowbray’s Mystery Injured Man was Michut, and there was a suggestion that refs should be replaced at half time, swapping places with the assessor – actually, not a bad thought, especially (spoiler alert!) when tonight’s game would bring us three bookings from ten fouls while the visitors got two from twenty one. Anyhow, we lined up:
Patterson
Hume Batth © O’Nien Gooch
Neil
Roberts Amad Pritchard Clarke
Gelhardt
And a bench of Bass, Lihadji, Ekwah, Ba, Taylor, Anderson, and Watson
We set up defending the North End, and the Terriers kicked off. It was apparent from the off how they were going to play it – like Yorkshire Tea. No messing about, no faffing on with passing it out from the back, they got it as far forward as possible as quickly as possible, and this gave us problems straight away. Push men forward to chase their defenders and that would leave big gaps for them to hoof it into, or sit back and let them move forward a bit before picking a pass. It didn’t help that Neil was basically the lone central midfielder, even if he and Pritch did link up quite well – with nobody by his side, he was relying on the fullbacks to take turns trying to help him out and they had enough on their plates dealing with the balls over midfield.
With the weather the polar opposite of the reverse fixture, there was no wind to upset anything in the air and we put together a decent attack five minutes in when Pritch (roundly booed by the visiting fans all evening, although I don’t know what other shape a boo could be) fed Clarke and when Jack’s shot was blocked, whacked the loose ball over the top. We blocked a shot in return, on ten minutes, bringing the first of many Huddersfield corners which Patto took. A few minutes later a 50/50 near halfway brought a proper challenge, but somehow the ref decided Neil should be booked – I really do wonder what goes through their heads at times, as that one was nothing more than two players hitting the ball at the same time.
Anyhow, they won another corner from the free kick, which we got away with and Clarke, who was proving our regular outlet to get forward, took another ball from Pritch and won us a corner of our very own. This was played to the near post, where the lurking Luke hooked it across – and wide of the back post, somehow failing to entice any of our players to stick out a boot to apply the necessary touch. When Huddersfield launched another one down the wing, Gooch got his header all wrong and they burst forward, forcing Patto to tip the low shot away from the foot of his left hand post for another corner which Batth headed away. Clarke then got into the box and along the byline, creating a chance – but we had two shots blocked and couldn’t convert the resultant corner.
There was a short religious break on 27 minutes after Clarke had fouled an opponent, Patto claimed yet another high ball, quickly (for once) pinging it to Amad – who, for reasons unknown, had stopped on halfway and the ball flew harmlessly towards the corner flag. Strange, but it probably put our keeper off trying it again. Clarke then set up Gooch for a shot that was saved, and when it soared towards our box Luke played a mad back header that needed Patto to nick off a forward’s head. Crazy stuff, but in an effective if rather worrying way.
However, things took a turn for the better soon after when Amad charged forward from halfway and found Joff in the inside right channel, who carried it a few paces to the edge of the box, cleverly jinked inside his marker, and whipped a low left-footer beyond the keeper’s left hand and into the corner of the net. Relief, although we’d managed to recover from three errors before getting it to Amad as we somehow got it out of defence through the middle. Still a goal’s a goal and, on 34, we were more than happy with it. It didn’t really open the game up any more, as the visitors couldn’t come at us any more than they had been since 19:45, but it was us who should have got the game’s next goal. Pritch and Joff carved the Terriers’ defence apart, but when Pritch elected to lay it off instead of pulling the trigger, Amad scooped it horribly over the top. Bad miss, but it should have been in the net before he was required to have a pop.
Two added minutes were announced, and Clarke so nearly claimed a goal but shot across the goal and inches wide. Immediately, as ever, they were at us and a shot from distance had real power but a few inches’ too much elevation and whizzed just over.
A single goal up at the break was about fair, but we’d had a couple of decent chances to double our advantage, and we had to thank Batth for a few crucial defensive headers and Patto for taking a string of high balls under pressure, and with great confidence.
No changes for the second half, and there was an early foul, and yellow card, giving us a free kick 25 yards out in the inside right channel. Unfortunately we made nothing of it as there was a push, or something else I couldn’t spot, and it was a free kick to them. A Huddersfield shot flew across and wide before they got another corner and my nerves began to hint that they might get something - which they did, but a push in the box meant that it was ruled out. Yet another high one was taken by Patto, and we got it nicely up the field but a poor first touch in the box by Pritch - much to the delight of the North Stand Upper - meant that there was no second touch and no shot.
With the hour approaching we allowed them to carry the ball forward – to press or not to press, and we chose not to – and a shot from the edge may or may not have taken a slight deflection to help the curl as it flew high beyond Patto’s right hand. Not good at all.
Amad and Roberts weren’t hitting it off as a pair like they usually do, but the former did squeeze through a similar shot to Saturday’s winner, with the keeper this time getting his fingertips to it. Huddersfield cleared the corner, and on 72 Joff was a bit unlucky to be the one to make way for Lihadji, with Amad trying his luck more central for a while before reverting to the wing again – where it was getting a bit congested before Roberts moved inside for a while. Worryingly, Hume stayed down after we cleared another corner, but thankfully recovered – the last thing we need is another broken defender. Clarke was getting more of the ball on the left, and when he cut inside for the umpteenth time, we had three men unmarked on the edge of the box, queuing up for the layoff – but Jack elected to shoot. Wide, with insufficient curl to hit the target.
Another two shots took deflections to fly wide of the target, but both times it was our own player who was hit by the shot.
There were about five minutes to go when Batth was booked, and about four when he took a knock – what was that about broken defenders? Tommy Watson then replaced Roberts, and took up position on the left wing alongside Clarke. However, it was Town who threatened next, with Patto having to charge out to pull off a brave save. We needed a good tackle from Gooch on the line to prevent another break, then Batth eventually gave up pretending not to be hurt and was replaced by Anderson. Three added minutes were announced, Clarke got booked for basically crawling up his opponent’s back, we tried a few more breaks and made a few more wrong decisions, then it was all over – both the game and probably our playoff aspirations. Or not – glass half full or glass half empty?
In hindsight, perhaps Ekwah alongside Neil would have made young Dan’s 100th game more productive by taking some of the pressure off him – but hindsight's always 20-20, and I’m not the one picking the team. We still produced lots of the quick interchange of passes that’s become our trademark, but tonight we simply didn’t pick the right option when we got into the danger area. Of the eighteen shots we took, only three were on target. Not exactly a bad day at the office, more a day when it looked like a few had overdone it at the office party, especially after the break, when we got a bit sloppy.
Man of the Match? Batth was again outstanding, O9 was generally effective in the most unorthodox ways imaginable, but simply for getting into the Guinness Book of records for the number of high balls taken, including most of the eleven corners we conceded, and producing a couple of vital saves, I’ll give it to Patto.
