Month: December 2025

Ending the year on the up

With a third win in a row against opposition who could be described as the bad, the grim and the ugly, Town enter 2026 with renewed optimism, sitting in the top six and carrying important momentum that has proved so elusive for much of the season to date.

Lee Grant has now firmly grasped a lifeline thrown out by a very kind fixture scheduler but, like the majority of us, will understand that knocking over these limited opponents will mean little if the much sterner challenges ahead are not met with significantly more success than in the first half of the campaign.

Despite fielding what looked like an overly defensive starting XI, with little guile evident, Grant is managing a packed schedule and could quite reasonably argue that Northampton’s physicality, experienced very recently in a dreadful encounter, had to be matched from the beginning to deliver a result.

He was proved correct in a first half of attrition as a limited but well-organised Cobblers side sought to spoil and disrupt at every turn, with no little success apart from a bright ten-minute period for the hosts which created pressure and chances, including a spectacular overhead kick by Balker that was very well saved.

Castledine, possibly in his final appearance, should have done better with an opportunity at the end of the best move of the half as May and Sorensen combined well down the right.

Wallace, excellent throughout, along with the much-improved Low and Balker, rather easily snuffed out the little threat carried by the visitors and built a good platform for Town’s greater quality to come to the fore, while Kasumu and Ledson worked hard to win the midfield battle.

The sole moment of concern was a missed chance at the back post from a flick-on, which served as a warning that if their limited opposition could sneak a lead, the task ahead would have been magnified.

The increasingly annoying tactic of a mysterious goalkeeper injury was, predictably, employed, allowing the visitors some breathing space and new instructions. Had Town not done exactly the same in other games, they could have legitimately complained, but pot, kettle, black applies.

Just as Northampton looked like thwarting their previously free-scoring hosts, Town took the lead shortly before the break when Low stayed forward and was left all alone to connect with a very good Sorensen cross, which he despatched nicely with a downward header.

The simplicity of the goal will undoubtedly have hugely annoyed Nolan, the visitors’ manager, who saw 45 minutes of resilience and dark arts ruined by a lack of concentration and organisation.

It was a little surprising that Low was replaced at half-time by Roosken, with Roughan moving to a more defensive role. Whether it was a tactical move, injury, or planned management of his game time, the oft-criticised Low had completed his best half of football for some time.

Taking the advantage into the second half in the context of a tough, uncompromising contest reduced pressure on Town, forced Northampton into greater adventure and opened up a dour encounter, albeit only to an extent.

For all the Cobblers’ obduracy, Town should have wrapped up the points on several occasions in a slightly more entertaining second half, with both strikers guilty of bad finishing.

First, Alfie May was on the end of an excellent Roosken cross but, as he had done at Exeter, his connection was rushed and inaccurate, with the ball flying over. The front man has made some good contributions in recent games since being restored, but scoring goals is what he is paid for and more are required.

However, great work by May on the byline to set up Radulovic should have earned him an assist, but the Serb got his finish wrong and his attempted clip cleared the bar harmlessly from close range.

Roughan then found Castledine with a great ball into the area, which he took down well but mishit his strike to force only a routine save when he should have scored.

The importance of a second goal was emphasised late on when a push in the back of Roughan went unnoticed and allowed Swyer to bear down on Nicholls before Balker slid in with perfect timing to quell the danger.

Other than that, threats from the visitors were sporadic and unconvincing, but it only takes one slip or stroke of luck. There was a brief period when Town were penned back and conceding too many set pieces.

Ironically, the elusive second goal came when Northampton were trying to apply pressure. A long clearance by Harness from an attempted cross was fought for and won by substitute Charles, who did very well to resist the attentions of two defenders before rolling the ball into the path of Radulovic, who sealed the three points.

Despite the limitations of the last three opponents – and Northampton were easily the best of those – this was the type of game Grant and his team were losing or failing to win earlier in the season, and not so long ago, so progress is being made.

Having, hopefully, learned how to despatch the lesser lights of a generally poor division, the vital next step is to compete with nearer rivals, and they could hardly face a tougher test than in-form Lincoln at the dawn of 2026.

Grant has faced justified criticism this season, and questioning the advisability of appointing a manager with no experience and too much control remains valid, but he deserves some praise for a revival in fortunes, however bad, grim or ugly the opposition.

He now needs to double down and motivate a deep, highly paid squad to turn around their underachieving season in the second half. We really shouldn’t be viewing Lincoln City – admirable as their marshalling of more limited resources has been – as a mountain to climb, and the same goes for Bolton, Stockport and Bradford, who are all on the horizon.

Time to start truly punching our weight.

Town hammer the less than Valiants

Three bursts of intensity buried an abysmal Vale side to give Town a potential platform for an assault on this mediocre league in 2026.

One game remains of a dismal 2025, with another win on home soil surely within fairly easy reach for a confident squad finally showing their obvious, but so far almost entirely elusive, quality.

The uncertainty of Castledine’s loan spell is the only cloud in the Terriers’ immediate future. His blossoming talent has come to the fore in the past few weeks, providing threat, goals and genuine excitement to a labouring team desperate for a turning point.

Following hot on the heels of the equally rancid Rotherham, the visitors from the Potteries provided the perfect opposition for a manager whose career looked to be hanging by a thread just two weeks ago, as they duly rolled over for a festive thrashing.

Starting quite brightly, Vale had their best spell of the game in the opening three minutes and saw a Waine effort hit the side netting before their hosts had woken up.

It didn’t get any better for them in the next 87 minutes and, once they allowed Castledine to run at them without challenge following a ball from Harness, who had won a midfield battle, the Chelsea loanee steered home an easily placed shot to give Town a lead they never looked remotely like losing.

Within ten minutes, that lead was doubled when Castledine, who was in the thick of everything, was fouled on the left and Ledson got in front of the flimsy Vale defence to flick home.

It should be said that the referee, who let a lot of debatable challenges go throughout, missed a possible foul on the halfway line before the phase of play which led to the goal, but there was little stopping this revitalised bunch.

No stopping them until, that is, there was, and after the second goal went in, Town entered one of their rather weird flat periods, during which time little happens. The danger is that against more capable opponents, the drop-off can and will be punished.

Just before the half hour, however, Town stepped up the pressure again and Vale had to face a torrid final 15 minutes.

Eventually, the pressure paid when Castledine was again allowed to run at the beleaguered visiting defence and his deflected shot could only be parried by Amos into the path of Radulovic, who tucked it away with ease.

The overworked keeper had to be alert to a flicked header from May, which looked bound for goal, and smartly blocked the same opponent’s attempt to set up a colleague from the byline after following up on a weak stop from a Gooch shot.

Gooch in particular tormented the visitors and one fabulous run and pull-back set up Castledine for a snap effort, only lacking enough power to test the rather flaky Amos in Vale’s goal.

That effort was the final assault on the traumatised visitors, who were probably thankful for only being three down, definitely relieved to be going in to regroup and, you would imagine, looking forward to Darren Moore’s inspirational team talk.

A half-time switch by our erstwhile coach gave the Valiants more of an aerial presence, if not threat, in the second half, but two early and quite fabulous goals sealed their fate before they had any chance to readjust.

The first, Town’s fourth, came as a result of a carelessly conceded corner when Low got into a curious mess trying to play the ball back to Nicholls from near the touchline, only to skew it over the dead-ball line.

Vale’s attempt at a short corner was easily repelled, as was the second phase following the initial clearance. Gooch carried the ball out of the area and found Radulovic, who raked a perfectly weighted cross-field pass to Roughan, who had a lot of acreage in front of him.

Accompanied by May overlapping on his left, the Irishman waited for exactly the right moment to set up his colleague, who placed his shot past Amos with ease.

Even better was to come when an incisive, fast raid involved Balker winning the ball, Ledson moving it on to May who, in turn, found Castledine to maraud forward yet again.

His ball into Radulovic found the Serb with his back to goal, but he returned the ball with a flick into the path of Castledine’s continuing run, allowing him to take it in his stride and stroke it into the top corner for a quite excellent finish.

Who knew that quick, incisive passing and getting the ball forward rapidly to two strikers, supported by progressive midfield players, would bring success?

Pragmatically, Grant made four substitutions after the hour, with the excellent Radulovic being replaced by Charles, followed ten minutes later by the withdrawal of the other main architects of Town’s emphatic win in Gooch and Castledine.

A change of shape allowed Balker to withdraw, though Roughan at left-back with Roosken in front of him reduced Town’s threat down that side (Ashia’s late cameo confused things further), though Sorensen added something different down the right.

Understandable as the changes were, they immediately disrupted Town’s flow and the game as a spectacle suffered. A nicely weighted Alfie May cross to the far post, headed over by Sorensen, and a clever run by May which nearly created an opening were the only bright spots of the final 20 minutes.

Churlish to complain, perhaps, after a five-goal victory, but the paucity of entertainment on offer throughout this calendar year perhaps deserved to be recognised with the side in relatively sparkling form. Hopefully, curtailing the rather disappointing crowd’s entertainment will pay dividends in the crowded days ahead.

More importantly, Grant’s belated but welcome conversion to a shape allowing two strikers, and a reduction in the sterile passing around the back, seems to have created momentum. Losing Castledine will be a blow if it happens, but we should never become attached to loan players.

The platform for a successful season should now be in place.

Happy New Year everyone.

False dawn klaxon?

Somehow, Lee Grant has survived yet another run of poor results with an expensive, misfiring squad still searching for form and consistency in a league of muddled mediocrity, but now handed a set of extremely favourable fixtures.

First up was a visit to the New York Stadium to face a Rotherham United side in even worse shape, emerging from a disastrous Steve Evans era – a perfect example of never reheating a soufflé.

Two fed-up fanbases gathered in a half-empty stadium. The visitors were reduced to offering pay on the day just months after taking over 4,000 to South Yorkshire, and both sets of supporters hoped forlornly for an upturn in fortunes. Expectations, though, were dulled in a dreadful opening 20 minutes devoid of quality.

Charitably, Town might have been “earning the right” to play at a ground they last won at nearly nine years ago, and they had to survive a scare when Nicholls, for some reason, allowed a corner to sail over him to the back post, only for the referee – overly fussy throughout – to intervene.

That proved to be the Millers’ only real threat until the dying embers of a game they comprehensively lost, undone by one of those familiar, tantalising bursts of cohesion from the Terriers that brought three well-worked goals.

We have been here before. The inherent quality in Town’s squad occasionally bubbles to the surface, sometimes bringing reward but mainly against the division’s poorer sides.

The first spark saw Radulovic head straight at the keeper from a decent Gooch cross, but better was to follow.

In the 26th minute, Castledine played an excellent ball forward, controlled instantly by Radulovic’s chest to take him into the area, before he picked out Gooch, who clipped home the opener.

Town scented blood and, four minutes later, Castledine again drove play across the pitch before finding Gooch. His forward ball, probably meant for May, instead found the Spanish-Serb, who executed a beautiful lob over Dawson.

The hosts were sunk before the break. Once more, Castledine’s determination kept possession high up the pitch, Gooch collected on the right, and his cross was met by the unmarked Castledine to head home yet another goal of his loan spell.

That gave Gooch a goal and two assists as Town’s first-half dominance brought reward -and much-needed relief – for the beleaguered Grant. His overdue pairing of Radulovic and May had worked perfectly, even if May’s main contribution was largely in the press.

The least said about a turgid second half the better. Rotherham’s often comically incompetent attempts to claw their way back provided only accidental entertainment.

Town were content to sit deep and soak up what their blundering opponents could muster, which was very little, and poorly executed.

There was little to enthuse the travelling support, though Radulovic nearly grabbed a fourth when he latched on to a long ball. Dawson blocked, but the rebound fell to substitute Charles, who might have done better than shoot too close to the keeper.

Annoyingly, a long-overdue clean sheet was lost at the death when Nombe took advantage of hesitant defending by the otherwise much-improved Low and Balker to fire past Nicholls. It was their first shot on target.

Still, it was a well-deserved win, and with three of the next four games favourable, this run may yet become Grant’s pivot as 2026 looms.

His failure to build on previous flashes of hope, and the more ominous inability to beat sides in the top ten, do not augur well. But the chance remains for him to rescue a stalling Huddersfield Town career that seems to survive mainly for want of an available alternative.

Merry Christmas all.

False dawn klaxon?

Somehow, Lee Grant has survived yet another run of poor results with an expensive, misfiring squad still searching for form and consistency in a league of muddled mediocrity, but now handed a set of extremely favourable fixtures.

First up was a visit to the New York Stadium to face a Rotherham United side in even worse shape, emerging from a disastrous Steve Evans era – a perfect example of never reheating a soufflé.

Two fed-up fanbases gathered in a half-empty stadium. The visitors were reduced to offering pay on the day just months after taking over 4,000 to South Yorkshire, and both sets of supporters hoped forlornly for an upturn in fortunes. Expectations, though, were dulled in a dreadful opening 20 minutes devoid of quality.

Charitably, Town might have been “earning the right” to play at a ground they last won at nearly nine years ago, and they had to survive a scare when Nicholls, for some reason, allowed a corner to sail over him to the back post, only for the referee – overly fussy throughout – to intervene.

That proved to be the Millers’ only real threat until the dying embers of a game they comprehensively lost, undone by one of those familiar, tantalising bursts of cohesion from the Terriers that brought three well-worked goals.

We have been here before. The inherent quality in Town’s squad occasionally bubbles to the surface, sometimes bringing reward but mainly against the division’s poorer sides.

The first spark saw Radulovic head straight at the keeper from a decent Gooch cross, but better was to follow.

In the 26th minute, Castledine played an excellent ball forward, controlled instantly by Radulovic’s chest to take him into the area, before he picked out Gooch, who clipped home the opener.

Town scented blood and, four minutes later, Castledine again drove play across the pitch before finding Gooch. His forward ball, probably meant for May, instead found the Spanish-Serb, who executed a beautiful lob over Dawson.

The hosts were sunk before the break. Once more, Castledine’s determination kept possession high up the pitch, Gooch collected on the right, and his cross was met by the unmarked Castledine to head home yet another goal of his loan spell.

That gave Gooch a goal and two assists as Town’s first-half dominance brought reward -and much-needed relief – for the beleaguered Grant. His overdue pairing of Radulovic and May had worked perfectly, even if May’s main contribution was largely in the press.

The least said about a turgid second half the better. Rotherham’s often comically incompetent attempts to claw their way back provided only accidental entertainment.

Town were content to sit deep and soak up what their blundering opponents could muster, which was very little, and poorly executed.

There was little to enthuse the travelling support, though Radulovic nearly grabbed a fourth when he latched on to a long ball. Dawson blocked, but the rebound fell to substitute Charles, who might have done better than shoot too close to the keeper.

Annoyingly, a long-overdue clean sheet was lost at the death when Nombe took advantage of hesitant defending by the otherwise much-improved Low and Balker to fire past Nicholls. It was their first shot on target.

Still, it was a well-deserved win, and with three of the next four games favourable, this run may yet become Grant’s pivot as 2026 looms.

His failure to build on previous flashes of hope, and the more ominous inability to beat sides in the top ten, do not augur well. But the chance remains for him to rescue a stalling Huddersfield Town career that seems to survive mainly for want of an available alternative.

Merry Christmas all.

It’s Over

The latest in a litany of errors and missteps during Kevin Nagle’s tenure is surely about to come to a head, with Lee Grant heartily booed by a worryingly thin crowd, thoroughly unconvinced by a novice manager cruelly exposed in a tough, demanding league.

After a bright, if not wholly convincing, start that featured four wins in August and encouraging League Cup performances, the deterioration in form and results has placed Grant in an ominous and likely untenable position, with Nagle facing yet another managerial crisis.

It would not be especially surprising if the owner were to show erroneous patience with the latest of his long list of coaches and managers, given his previous obtuseness: the sacking of Duff earlier this year was premature, the dismissal of Moore took far too long, and the farce of his Warnock dealings will demean his legacy whatever is in store for the club in the future.

A new sound system will not drown out the rancour of a bruised fanbase yearning for some basic competence.

Having endowed Grant with very significant power to rebuild a failing and unpopular squad without the guiding hand of a sporting director in his first senior management role, Nagle took an extraordinarily high risk that has backfired spectacularly.

Perhaps an experienced number two could have helped his fledgling recruit, but the overwhelming suspicion is of a young man too wedded to coaching theories, with a lexicon increasingly baffling to a support yearning for bold, risk-taking excitement – a far cry from Nagle’s ill-advised “Northern Football” epithet.

Should this home fixture against a capable, if unspectacular, Wigan Athletic prove to be Grant’s last — which it surely must — the dull and pedestrian second half that pushed the crowd into visceral displeasure rather neatly summed up his Huddersfield Town career.

By any definition, and even accounting for the never-ending injury list, this squad should be capable of competing at the right end of what is proving to be a mediocre division, and there are few, if any, excuses for Grant’s failures on multiple levels.

Reasonable performances have been thin on the ground and mainly consist of 20-minute spells when players offer a glimpse of their potential, punctuated by extremely sloppy defending, ill-discipline and an on-field cluelessness pervading a seemingly confused and unconfident group (it will be a relief not to hear the word “group” again and should be a prerequisite for the next mug through the doors).

Having adopted a new back-three approach – seemingly out of nowhere, but probably in reaction to an awful performance at Luton, where a 15-minute spell of decent play was not enough to compensate for a bizarrely narrow and inappropriately staffed midfield – Grant restored former prolific scorer Alfie May to the front two.

Rather than pairing him with the limited but tall Radulovic, he was placed alongside the prolific spurner of chances, Charles, fresh from blazing several opportunities into the Northamptonshire skies.

Veteran Murray Wallace operated on the left of the back three, with Low central and Balker on the right, and could easily have been sent off seconds into the game when he followed through on Fraser Wallace, leaving the Wigan man in a heap. Consulting his linesman first, the referee showed the Scot a rather generous yellow card, much to the chagrin of the visitors.

It was the first of several dubious decisions favouring the home side, but Town laboured to take advantage, despite some good prompting from Gooch down the right, who had a progressive first half before failing to have any impact in the second. Several good crosses found far too few bodies in the box.

A drab first half looked likely to end goalless until it briefly picked up in the final 15 minutes, with the home side making a breakthrough when a generous free kick for a challenge on Castledine was swung in by Gooch onto Wallace’s head. The reprieved centre-back headed down and well, giving Wigan’s keeper no chance.

The lead was not particularly deserved but did prompt the visitors into more adventure than they had previously risked, with one excellent ball into the box badly miscued when a better connection could have tested the under-employed Nicholls.

As the half came to an end, a robust – and possibly illegal – challenge by Roughan on an opponent was waved on by the ever-generous official and led to an excellent Ledson effort which was, unfortunately, too central and tipped over reasonably comfortably by the appropriately named Mr Tickle in the Lancastrians’ goal.

So far, so good for the beleaguered Lee Grant, with a one-goal advantage over a well-organised but not especially dangerous opponent.

His fate, however, was sealed by a poor second half in which the lead was quickly relinquished by way of a long ball behind Gooch on the right, the fatal hesitancy of joint number one Nicholls, and his invitingly open legs.

Raphael slotted home what was far from a masterpiece, but the same player struck an excellent curling shot onto the bar not long afterwards, which would have confirmed the worst fears of an increasingly restless crowd.

Being pegged back sapped the already low confidence of the home side and, despite occasionally threatening the visitors’ goal, such attempts were few and far between. Low should have done better when free at a corner, Charles comically miscued a header in a good position and substitute Radulovic forced a half-decent save from Tickle with a good effort, but Wigan should really have taken greater advantage of their hosts’ frailty and the crowd’s displeasure.

Grant’s belated substitutions then began. The switches of Ledson for Kasumu and Sørensen for Gooch were reasonable decisions, if too late, but withdrawing Castledine for Wiles and Radulovic for May (instead of Charles) enraged the crowd and appeared to be the actions of a stubborn, tone-deaf manager.

In search of a saviour, Ashia was brought on for a mere four minutes – another vexatious decision in the eyes of a stadium now brimming with resentment.

Low and diminishing crowds, mediocre football, mid-table obscurity beckoning despite a top-two wage bill, unfathomable managerial decisions and yet more wasted money compensating failure make for a very poor report card once the sheen of infrastructure developments fades as we languish in our lowest league position for years.

Grant’s nascent managerial career looks likely to be in tatters, and yet another rebuild will now be undertaken should he depart.

It is to be hoped that Chris Markham has both the connections and the credibility to attract the right person to finally revive this stagnant football club – and the wisdom to ensure that Mr Nagle has no influence over the choice ahead of them.