Month: February 2025

An away win at a venue which has very often proved too challenging for Huddersfield Town teams of the past, serves as a balm for the painful and bruising recent events. 

While temporarily soothing the worries of supporters as a very disappointing run of results was halted, it will take far more convincing performances than this one, and a lot of them, to assuage the massive doubts still hanging over the club.

The frankly ridiculous Q&A session midweek possibly made things worse and certainly failed to dispel increasing mistrust of the management of the club, as much by the questions which were not asked as the softballs which were.

Victory over a very poor Barnsley side was vital, however, and only a cold heart would fail to recognise the disastrous injury roster Duffy has to manage while never having the luxury of picking a settled squad, never mind team. Brodie Spencer’s 10th booking of the season only adds to the woes with another important player missing for 2 games.

For the first 15 minutes at Oakwell, the home side capitalised on Town’s woes, dominating play and Humphries forced a save from Nicholls when Spencer and Lees were easily beaten down Barnsley’s right. 

Town’s early play was error strewn, with passing particularly poor and inaccurate, though new boy Chirewa looked bright from the off and, along with the hard working Marshall, provided the only positive signs in a dismal first half.

Perhaps over exuberance by the energetic Marshall caused him to collide with Kasumu high up the pitch which led to ex-Terrier Russell strolling towards a retreating Town defence who allowed the languid midfielder all the space in the world before first Balker and then Kane were bypassed easily. 

Lees lack of reaction prevented a block of a shot which beat Nicholls a little too easily.

The concession was ominous for a team in the depths of a horrible run which has put paid to any thought of automatic promotion and plunged play off credentials into significant doubt.

Inadvertent collision with team mates spread to Lees and Spencer, who nearly let in the hosts for a second which would have buried any hopes of revival. They will have been relieved to see O’Keefe’s shot clear the bar.

Barnsley’s threat vanished after this effort and, to their credit, Town slowly improved into the game and missed two very presentable chances to equalise with Chirewa firing over after being put in by Marshall and the disappointing Charles taking a terrible second touch when freed by the Northern Irishman to allow the Tykes’ keeper to gather.

Chirewa also had a decent long range effort which curled wide and though Town were often careless in decision making and their passing, they had gained an encouraging control over proceedings as the half progressed.

This did not save them from the hearty boos of a huge travelling support. The position of the tunnel at Oakwell is unforgiving for under performing visiting teams and, if it is any consolation to the current Town team, quite a few others have suffered that walk of shame before.

Duff made the obvious half time change by replacing Charles with Koroma, and the decision paid off handsomely in a 20 minute period which saw Town overwhelm their South Yorkshire neighbours, who crumbled at the first sign of adversity.

Coming out of the traps with energy and intent, The Terriers seemed determined to turn their fortunes around and for the first time in far too long, imposed themselves on  their opponents and forced them to crack.

Koroma should’ve equalised from a cross from the left but his header slipped past the far post with an open goal gaping. By this point, Marshall, who put in the cross, could have had 3 assists and if some of his team mates even approached his energy levels, perhaps our promotion hopes wouldn’t be so questionable.

The equaliser came shortly after that miss, though, with Koroma fully atoning with an excellent finish after a superb ball to him by Sorensen caught Barnsley flat footed on the break following Town thwarting a free kick at the edge of the box. There was a hint of a foul to win the ball which an inconsistent referee may have given, but, as it was, the speed of the subsequent thrust brought the reward.

Ironically, Town’s winner came from the failure of yet another short corner – by this point, Barnsley were conditioned to expect it and were easily dealing with them – but as the ball broke forward threateningly a very poor touch gave possession back to Town who promptly won a free kick wide on the left.

Wiles struck a low, curling and speculative ball into the box, presumably to miss the 3 rather large centre halves representing the home team, and Marshall’s clever dummy fooled the goalkeeper for a crucial second as the effort snuck in a the far post.

By fluke or design, Town had deservedly turned their dominance into a lead and, to the credit of Duff’s timely and astute substitutions, easily held Barnsley at arm’s length. 

Kasumu and Chirewa both suffered from cramp and were replaced, but the disruption wasn’t felt as Hogg (who replaced Kane) and Ruffels provided defensive competence, while the comedy stylings of Ladapo were utilised in the place of the righteously exhausted Marshall.

It could be argued that a true contender for the top 2 in this division would have sought to finish off a clearly demoralised and malfunctioning opponent, but with resources scarce, and further thinned by suspension, a professional annulment of threat did the job and the jeers of half time, which were a tad over the top but understandable in context, were replaced by the cheers of a moderately satisfied, if not especially convinced, away support.

It is to be hoped that a cold, grey day in Barnsley will be the start of an overdue revival, but the first stage has to be to grasp a play off spot again. It looked secure on Boxing Day, but a short few weeks later, this away victory proved to be absolutely essential with results elsewhere.

As things turned sour in that brief period of time, so a few consecutive wins could reignite a season in serious risk of implosion and recrimination.

(And it’s goodbye from me until April as the San Juan mountains in Colorado beckon again).

Without a home goal in 2025, and with the last one scored being an exceptionally fortunate gift from the opposition, Town’s imploding season is beginning to limp well below acceptable levels.

A long overdue change in formation failed to provide any substantial answers as a promising opening 20 minutes faded into the usual miasma of mediocrity, particularly in the final third where decision making floundered as the grip of anxiety tightened.

The visitors looked as poor an opponent as any seen at the stadium in the first half, yet Town quickly ran out of ideas as the Royals found defending increasingly easy in the face of two small, energetic but barely threatening front men, despite some positive front foot play in build ups.

New loan man Chirewa had a promising debut despite fading quite a while before he was subbed after the hour mark and provided some much needed impetus on the left without finding the right final ball or shot.

The predictable return of Nicholls in place of Chapman, whose performances have slightly dipped, provided extra experience at the back but the number one keeper’s distribution was several notches below his young colleague’s usual quality.

He was barely called upon to thwart a Reading side, however, who took a long time to realise that their opponent was fragile, lacking in confidence and prone to anxious error. When they did, they looked the better side in a spell in the second half which could have been disastrous but for their finishing, which matched Town’s own profligacy.

An increasingly disillusioned home crowd could only look on in frustration as their injury ravaged team failed to turn their only period of superiority into a lead, with Charles firing wide on two occasions and other promising situations disintegrating on contact with a reasonably solid visiting defence, and with Sorensen consistently failing to find a man in the box.  

A first half of genuine endeavour was an improvement on recent outings, but at no point was there a hint that a moment of quality would lift it from the mundane. 

From the off in the second half, Reading finally took the game to Town and wasted several good opportunities without troubling Nicholls, though their first effort had him scrambling as it flashed by the far post.

Koroma replaced the spent Chirewa  on the left and added some spasmodic threat, including a reasonable drive kept out by a save which was parried to an offside Charles who, predictably, headed wide.

Kasumu also made a welcome return and looked reasonably sharp in a too often malfunctioning midfield but was unable to find a way through the visitor’s stubborn rearguard despite a couple of trademark bursts.

The crisis bubbling away at the club as injuries bite and disrupt was starkly illustrated by the late appearance of Ladapo, an alleged striker we thought had been consigned to either history or the B team over a month ago. 

Elevated to 6th choice striker with Radulovic’s welcome departure, and a rare source of entertainment of entirely the wrong sort for the dulled John Smith stands, he nevertheless came close to providing the winner when he shimmied in to the area following a defensive error but chose an unorthodox shot, easily saved, rather than squaring to the better placed Marshall.

He soon reverted back to his comedic role when he beat the keeper to a through ball, was pushed out too wide and decided to cross. His effort rocketed backwards at great speed and out for a throw. You had to laugh.

Two largely ineffectual, plodding teams who would barely break out of mid table if League One had any depth of quality fought out an entirely forgettable goalless draw featuring two saves in total, with one of those being more of a collection.

It would be unkind not to acknowledge just how debilitating an injury crisis of this depth and longevity has on performance and consistency, and Duff at least shifted away from, effectively, a 6 man defence at home and, however unsatisfactorily, the losing streak was halted.

It remains to be seen if Town can recover the confidence which carried them through a long unbeaten run, but in the absence of an upturn, and soon, the minimum objective of an immediate return to the Championship is looking increasingly unlikely.

It is difficult to make a case that promotion would be particularly beneficial in any case. 

Without momentum, a massive clear out of playing staff and with the fading goodwill of supporters, we look many, many miles off being able to compete at a higher level when we are barely hanging on to a play off place in a desperately poor quality division.

On to another mediocre opponent in Barnsley at Oakwell next week backed, remarkably, by over 4,000 for what promises to be another exercise in drudgery.

Oh, to be entertained