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As Desmond battered away at Cumbria and Scotland, England’s second city was blown away by another powerful, energy packed performance by a rapidly transforming Huddersfield Town side roared on by a support brimming with belief in the style imposed on a formerly dispiriting and dispirited squad who seem to revel in the freedom granted by sheer hard work and excellent planning.

Even allowing for occasional individual errors, every single player contributed to a comfortable and thoroughly deserved first victory under what is beginning to look like inspired management from a man (and his team) settling quickly and easily in to Yorkshire life, and an equally brave and bold appointment by Dean Hoyle.

The progress made with substantially the same players whose inferiority complex under the previous manager was palpable has been extraordinary. Comfortable in possession, relentless out of it and coherent as a unit, this first win for Wagner is a massive step forward for what remain evolving strategies but which improve with practice and phenomenally increased fitness levels.

As each game passes, the team develops personality. Aside from the immense and incomparable Whitehead – who has been magnificent all season – we now have genuine heroes to follow. They may not be the best players we have ever seen (though don’t put it past this bloke making them that), but the effort and teamwork is something to behold.

There isn’t a great deal of fancy stuff – though Paterson’s skill to release Huws on the wing early in the second half was worth the, very reasonable, entrance price – it is more about supporting the player with the ball, perpetual movement and a relentless error inducing pursuit of the opposition.

While never quite reaching the heights of some of last week’s play against far superior opposition, the debilitating fear which seemed to infect our pre Wagner play has virtually disappeared and replaced with a confidence and occasional swagger which you just know is going to become a feature of our immediate future.

For all the bad luck endured in the first two defeats – particularly last week – the stars aligned nicely for a trip to a team suffering from significant injuries and evidently low in confidence after what may well have been a gravity defying start to the season. Rowett has done a good job reviving the Blues since Lee Clark’s struggling tenure, but there may be bumps on the road they are keeping on to the end of if this game is anything to go by.

A goal inside the first minute was a mighty help, but it epitomised Town’s new philosophy as a sweeping move from the left back position, involving two decisive passes and an excellent low ball from the impressive (at last!) Scannell was dummied by Wells for Lolley to bundle home a little scruffily.

What marks out the goal was the comfort in possession of Cranie and Chilcot at the start, Wells’ defence splitter to Scannell and Lolley’s determination to run pretty much the length of the pitch after his initial ball to Wells from halfway in his own half. Wagner must have been purring at the pitch perfect execution of the ideas he has been installing in the players in his few short weeks in charge.

The boost of the goal, which must have released a lot of tension, allowed Town to take control of the game, dominate possession and create more moments of danger for the home defence, with Lolley coming closest to adding a second when another great ball from Scannell found him alone only for his side footed attempt to deflect off a defender.

Birmingham rarely threatened though Steer (solid throughout) had to make a smart if routine save at his near post and was as relieved as the rest of us when a rare moment of midfield sloppiness allowed the home side to counter quickly down their right only for Brock-Madsen to poke wide from close range.

Otherwise, any threat from the Blues was elegantly thwarted by Whitehead’s uncanny game reading as the player of the season to date cruised through another first class performance until, worryingly, a second half injury curtailed his day. Pray for his recovery!

As was the case last week, Town hurried the opposition in to unwise and ineffective long balls with Wells and Paterson working tirelessly up front to force errors. Throughout the game, the visitors deprived their hosts of space and time, rarely loosening their grip on a team with pace but little guile.

The second half followed a similar pattern, though Town’s share of possession decreased. Their resolve did not and a solid defensive performance was only let down when Toral found space in the box only to fire straight at Steer, who blocked. Otherwise, the home side were comfortably contained and Town’s counter attacks were threatening but not executed clinically enough until the irrepressible Scannell made a strong run down the right, shrugging off challenges before feeding Wells to finish the game off from close range. It was a well deserved goal for the front man who had worked tirelessly without much reward until his drought was finally broken.

Scannell himself had threatened to double the lead but could only collide with the far post following excellent work by Paterson and Huws.

A late Paterson effort which was deflected wide following a good run by substitute Carayol (who provided an encouraging cameo going forward if a little suspect defensively) would have added gloss to a very good day, but Town had to see out 6 minutes of injury time – fairly comfortably as it transpired.

While I refuse to resort to calling the revival a “journey”, Wagner grasped the zeitgeist of the travelling support at the end as he insisted that all players came over to show their appreciation. He knew, as we did, that while there is a lot of work to be done (the performance was encouraging but far from perfect) this was an important moment for everyone involved.

He knew last week that the fans appreciated the efforts of him and his team and knows that we also have a part to play with patience and encouragement – while we can be a dour bunch at times (not altogether without reason!), supporters know effort and execution when they see it, and we are definitely seeing it.

The last time Town won 2-0 away in this division stretches all the way back to Elm Park in March 1998 (fun facts brought to you by Daniel Gee) and it is with not a little hope that this one is the harbinger of some very good times ahead.

As for performances; Whitehead barely needs further deserved praise and his recovery is vital, Chilcot shone in a solid defence, Paterson added flair and movement, Scannell was at his unplayable best at times and contributed hugely to a welcome clean sheet, Nahki’s hard work and much improved general play was rewarded with a much needed goal and Steer was a solid and comforting presence throughout.

But this was, above all, a team effort and the supporters felt part of it – loud, encouraging and increasingly enthused, it won’t be long before this new brand of football encourages back the many who have fallen by the wayside through the numbing struggles since we arrived at this level.

Finally, and an indication that Wagner won’t be following accepted wisdom, Miller came on as a late substitute. Now if he can transform Ishmael, he really is the Messiah. Would you put it past him?

Starved as they have been of excitement and attacking intent, Town fans warmly applauded a defeat against a dour but highly effective Middlesbrough at the end of each half.

While the sympathetic appreciation was well deserved following a first period of verve, adventure and creativity, the rather plodding second half consisting largely of repeatedly banging their heads against the brick wall of a composed and largely untroubled Boro defence was perhaps more to reflect the hard work of a side trying valiantly to put new ideas in to practise.

The disintegration witnessed at Hillsborough after an hour was not repeated, though another late goal which killed the contest had a similar, puncturing effect.

It is still too early to assess the magnitude of the calculated risk taken by Dean Hoyle, particularly as Wagner has been pitted against 2 likely contenders for the top 6, but it is also too early to dismiss the possibility that there may be an element of Emperor’s new clothes about a style which has yet to translate in to goals or points.

To focus on the positives, however, Town repeatedly reduced their more experienced opponents to hurried and wasteful long balls in to touch or returned to the home back four, and their dangerous players, particularly Downing and Adomah, were entirely neutralised. A quite remarkable 75% possession statistic was testament to the players’ ability to carry out a key component of Wagner’s philosophies; while it could be argued that Boro’s ultra conservative approach contributed to Town’s dominance of the ball, it may also be that one of the division’s best sides was forced in to containment for fear of ceding space near their goal.

The visitors were allowed the luxury of defending in depth and numbers by virtue of an early goal which owed a little to luck but also, indirectly, from a poor ball from Cranie which found Downing. His attempted cross resulted in a corner which appeared to have been dealt with routinely, only for the ball to fall to Clayton who evaded an attempted block by Wells before cleverly beating Huws and Chilwell. His shot took a wicked deflection off Whitehead but it can’t be denied that his thrust in to the area from an unpromising position, including having to recover from a slip after getting the better of Wells, was a worthy effort.

Coming after just 8 minutes, there was a danger that a potentially fragile team, haunted by far too many defeats, would shrivel in the face of adversity. Shrugging off the setback, however, Town went on to produce their best football of the season and the lack of reward was cruel and undeserving.

As Boro retreated, rarely to be seen as an attacking force again, Wagner’s men began to manipulate space with multiple passing moves and while this became occasionally stilted, their opponents’ resilience was increasingly tested. Unfortunately, any semblance of fortune eluded the team in the final third and 3 potentially game changing moments were to determine the outcome of the whole game.

A foul on the lively Paterson on the edge of the area, given by what we can only presume to have been reluctance by a quite appalling referee who missed numerous offences by the visitors while punishing Town at every opportunity, presented the first chance just minutes after Boro’s opener.

Wells curled an excellent effort against the bar with Konstantopolous (who shall be referred to as “the keeper” from here on in!) well beaten.

Shortly afterwards, Huws found Scannell with a lovely, raking pass from his own half which exposed the visitors defence to a rare moment of vulnerability. The winger’s sweeping ball to Wells was ever so slightly over hit, forcing the Bermudian to stretch to receive the ball taking him to his left and allowing Boro’s keeper time to smother an attempted clip.

The best move of the half was still to come. A quick throw by Chilwell to Whitehead was pushed forward to Paterson who back heeled for Chilwell to put in a low, dangerous cross met by Scannell but well blocked by the keeper’s legs.

Had any of the 3 chances resulted in an equaliser, it would have been the least Town deserved and the game would have been very different. An ambitious Boro side would have become more expansive – which, of course, could have seen them imposing their quality more effectively or, alternatively, provided Town with the space they found increasingly difficult to find in the second half.

Paterson also had a shot well saved, though it had been preceded by a foul on Wells on the edge of the area predictably ignored by the referee.

Frustrated as they were by an undeserved deficit at half time, home supporters had seen how the new style of play was in stark contrast to the caution to which they had become accustomed and there was a palpable air of optimism around the place as the players left to an ovation.

Sadly, the promise of the first half rather withered in the second. Boro were still being forced in to losing possession with ugly clearances and energy levels didn’t dramatically wilt as they had 7 days ago, but it became increasingly difficult to penetrate a resolute defence content to contain.

Poor crossing – particularly from the otherwise impressive debutant Chilwell – didn’t help and the visitors became increasingly comfortable with Town playing in front of them.

Promising build up play, including surging runs by Smith, Lolley and substitute Holmes (who put in a mature performance of some potential) floundered at the edge of the area, some clever interplay was unable to produce the necessary penetration and a reluctance to shoot from distance made an equaliser increasingly unlikely.

Wagner’s other substitutions failed to create the impetus Holmes provided. Dempsey found it difficult to get in to the game on the left while Bojaj’s promise is likely to remain embryonic for now – he doesn’t look ready – though he had the best chance of the half when good work on the left created a rare decent ball in to the area which he could only scuff when close in.

Despite their reluctance to get forward, it was inevitable that Boro would attack at some point and, for once, they got the better of a tussle just inside Town’s half and a good ball up to Forshaw was cleverly flicked by the substitute in to the path of spellcheck nightmare Nsue to finish nicely.

While the final result was harsh on Town, and whatever luck was available throughout the 90 minutes fell Boro’s way, the lack of striking options available to Wagner (reduced further by Vaughan’s departure) is a severe handicap which can’t be solved, if it can be solved, until January.

Having said that, many less resolute teams than Boro will crumble in the face of the intensity shown in the first half, the transformation to the new style has been remarkably quick and there is time and room for much further improvement.

Sometimes, it is worth heeding the words of an outsider, and while Karanka was speaking from the perch of victory, there was a sincerity in his advice;

“It was not a good performance but sometimes games are like that.
“Huddersfield looked like the top team, not us. Huddersfield played really well and I expected that.
“I saw Huddersfield at Sheffield Wednesday and it’s no surprise how well they played.
“David Wagner may have lost his first two games but he should keep going with his philosophy. When I came here I lost two of my first five matches but Middlesbrough trusted me and if Huddersfield trust him they will do well.”
Patience still needed.

As new Teutonic philosophies were unfurled at a bitterly cold Hillsborough, including the jettisoning of some familiar names unable to fully train in the first two weeks of David Wagner’s tenure, the new manager faced a daunting first test against an expensively assembled Wednesday side who look certain to be challenging for promotion after years of desperate under achievement.

However much Chris Powell’s constant refrain about the money spent by rivals began to grate, even a cursory glance at the home team’s bench exposed the reality of his special pleading. One time Town target McGuigan sat there alongside the highly rated Joao and recent loan signing Hooper and the options for Carvalhal were deep and were to prove to be transforming.

For the visitors, the absence of Lynch, Paterson, Vaughan, Davidson and Miller (well, maybe not the last one) forced changes of both personnel and positions which were to be felt late in the game.

With Cranie moved alongside Hudson, Tommy Smith reappeared at right back and, perhaps most surprisingly, Dempsey was converted in to a left full back; an almost certainly temporary move with the loan signing of Chilwell a couple of days before the game sending a rather blunt message to the Australian incumbent deemed unready for action after his international travelling.

It was also a surprise to see the restoration of Carayol, whose languid performances in the past did not scream gengenpresser, to say the very least.

So, an unfamiliar line up, playing a style adopted over the past two weeks and requiring high levels of fitness against a shrewdly assembled and settled home team in good form. What could possibly go wrong?!

It would be a little unfair to invoke the phrase “putting lipstick on a pig” over a performance which had signs of promise but which was ultimately let down by familiar failings.

A higher tempo, some good quality possession and clearly evident desire couldn’t disguise the largely absent goal threat and a defence which eventually creaked like a shithouse door.

In the warm up, players went through passing routines to get the ball wide and in to dangerous areas quickly and, without the inconvenience of opposition, there was a reasonable level of competence.

Whether it was dictated by having a relatively tiny centre forward or is part of the blueprint, it seems that building from the back rather than lumping it up front is to be the way forward. Despite a clumsy start to this style – Murphy was exposed more than once by back passes and was also guilty of some poor judgement – it eventually worked, with some more comfortable at it than others.

As the half wore on, a surprisingly limited Wednesday intent on feeding off the huge Nuhiu were comfortably contained, and there was a noticeably higher energy about Town’s play. Unfortunately, none of the pressing and quite staggering levels of possession was converted in to goal scoring opportunities, though there were one or two moments of misfortune when good runs by Scannell and Smith were ended by small misjudgements.

The impressive Dempsey – surely a certainty for a more telling role in midfield once the new loan signing is bedded in – had a decent shot routinely saved, but the home defence was largely untroubled. Murphy made one regulation save and Hudson eased the irritating Forestieri away from a heading chance which he could only guide wide.

A scrappy first half wasn’t helped by an increasingly annoying referee whose decisions infuriated both sets of supporters. He also infuriated Whitehead, with the consequences being felt later in the game when he had to be withdrawn before he became a double victim of the card happy Boyeson.

Having yearned for a different approach to Powell’s occasionally effective but often sterile game plans, the away fans were largely appreciative of a performance which denied Wednesday possession, nullified their pace and forced them in to predictability. All of the players worked hard and strained to implement the new ideas, even if it looked alien and a little forced from time to time.

For the second half, Wednesday replaced the ineffective Helan (an old favourite of ours who was once booked twice and still stayed on the pitch) with Joao, a Portuguese who has been something of a revelation in the Championship and destined for a big future.

Within minutes, the substitute was causing problems with his strength and pace and almost opened the scoring at the back post only to find himself at too acute an angle to convert a good cross.

Shortly afterwards, Hudson’s under hit back pass put Murphy in trouble and he only just beat Forestieri to the ball and was injured in the process, which undoubtedly affected him as the game wore on.

Despite their scruffy start to the half, it was Town who took the lead. A free kick by Smith was half cleared and found its way to Dempsey on the left. The youngster delivered a great cross to the far post for an unmarked Scannell to head in from close range.

For 10 to 15 minutes thereafter, Town, while never looking entirely in charge, looked capable of holding the lead and even adding to it. The best chance to do so fell to Huws, who was thwarted by a good save. Doubling the lead at that point would have potentially put the game to bed, though you never can tell with this Town squad.

As it was, the let off proved a turning point in fortunes, exacerbated by the voluntary but sensible withdrawal of Whitehead who had had a running feud with the referee (at one point he was rightly incensed that an advantage hadn’t been played, he contested decisions regularly and is prone to the occasional rash challenge).

Having had little joy from the aerial power of Nuhiu, Wednesday replaced him with Hooper having already thrown on McGugan.

The pressure from the home side increased inexorably and Town survived several close calls before Forestieri skipped past Hudson in the box only to see his shot saved on the line by Dempsey. Unfortunately the ball broke to Joao who swept in the equaliser.

In the lead up to the goal, Forestieri had also walked past Hogg – Whitehead’s replacement – and it was difficult not to think that his progress would have been quelled at source before the substitution.

However, Wednesday’s pace, power and quality was now in full blossom and the visitors looked increasingly unlikely to be able to resist the onslaught. A winning goal duly arrived and, again, the Owls’ Italian caused the damage, skipping past Hudson and firing a shot that Murphy could only parry back to him to lay on for Lee to convert.

In the space of just 10 minutes, the withdrawal of Whitehead had been ruthlessly exploited by a team whose own substitutions were game changing.

To their credit, Town didn’t crumble, but tiring personnel were unable to create chances (hardly surprisingly – they hadn’t created much when at full throttle), and a disappointing cameo from Lolley, on for Scannell, was capped with him losing the ball on the edge of Wednesday’s area allowing them to break on a forward committed Town. The powerful Joao curled in an excellent third to bury any lingering hopes of a Town equaliser.

Wednesday’s eventual dominance gave them the right to the points, though a two goal margin was possibly harsh on the experimental team put out by the visitors.

It would be ridiculous to be too cynical about the new style and the capability of some of the current squad to adapt and, indeed, there were promising signs for the future, but all of the problems Powell faced were on display again – not least, the well resourced opposition. While they brought on 2 forwards of proven, and in the case of Joao, developing talent, we brought on young Wallace to play up front. It is a struggle to remember Wallace actually touching the ball.

Without the exceptional Whitehead covering in front of them, our defence is hopelessly exposed, with one or two of them probably not, or no longer, up to the standards required. Up front, Wells simply doesn’t cause enough problems for defenders. He worked hard enough and some of his link up play was good, but he rarely makes anything happen for himself.

It is to be hoped, nay expected, that Wagner has some answers to these depressingly familiar problems – a run of difficult matches, culminating in the visit of Middlesbrough next, has seen Town drop to within a few goals scored of the relegation zone and while there is still plenty of time, our 3 victories to date have been against clubs in the same trouble as we are.

An interesting few weeks lay ahead.

In a disheartening and largely successful attempt to overshadow the musings of amateur match reporters (!) Huddersfield Town announced the departure of Chris Powell as manager on the morning after a decent, if somewhat streaky, point at Reading.

Apparently bored by a man who provided a professional approach to keeping the team in a division largely consisting of better supported and financially stronger clubs by adapting his limited resources to making Town harder to beat than in previous struggling seasons at this level, the club is now putting faith in a new philosophy of creating the necessary edge on opponents through the apparently magical production of young players and doing a lot of focused running.

According to several sources, incoming manager David Warner pronounced after 30 minutes of what was at the time a largely dour, error ridden Yorkshire derby that the players weren’t fit enough. For all the revolutionary tactics and methodology we seem to be being promised, it was rather comforting that our experiment with German/American ruthless efficiency has begun with a cliche beloved of many new managers.

It is, all at once, an attempt to sully the previous regime and justify the change, the buying of the time necessary to attain the required fitness levels and giving the impression that everything is back at square one.

While unconvinced and sceptical that the brave new world of gegenpressing will be implemented quickly enough to stave off a desperate relegation fight, if successful at all, it should be said that Chris Powell rather sleepwalked in to his dismissal. It is hard to believe that, for example, his defensive and largely ponderous pursuit of survival points would not have been helped by the energy and skills of Dempsey, and his belligerent persistence with Miller (and Smith before him) betrayed an orthodox and conservative approach flying in the face of the evidence in front of all of us.

So Dean Hoyle, as is his absolute right, has decided that not only was change necessary, but radical and risky change. Having lost his FFP battles against more powerful vested interests, he began to change direction some time ago with a clear out of fringe and unwanted players, acceptance of good offers for Smithies, Coady and Butterfield and a hardening attitude towards expensive but non productive assets like Gobern and Vaughan.

Unsurprisingly, Town have been weakened from an already precarious existence in a hugely difficult division – a thin squad, a distinct lack of consistent threat up front and dwindling attendances (as the bored or impatient have drifted away) has created the impression of a bleak future where success would be measured by not finishing in the bottom 3 and the realisation that this attempt to defy gravity would almost certainly fail at some point.

Powell’s tenure will not be looked back upon with much warmth but can’t be categorised as a failure. By the end of last season, the team produced some good performances and even occasional excitement as safety was achieved much earlier than an opening day thrashing would have suggested. Pathetic cup displays denied the club any surge of interest, however, and the trait was continued this season with another weakened team falling meekly at the first hurdle of the League Cup.

So, a new era is about to begin but before it could start there was the small matter of trying to reverse a depressing run of defeats against those lovable neighbours, Leeds United.

Mark Lillis took over for this game and perhaps with a nod to the new mood, named a side with no loan players in it and a squad packed with youth. Some of this was forced through injuries to Lynch and Paterson, but the omission of Steer and Huws was genuinely surprising. Unfortunately, Billings good start to the game was curtailed by injury following a brave challenge on Bamba.

The ongoing soap opera at Elland Road may have reached its nadir at home to Blackburn recently (but don’t count on it; at all). This was followed by Cellino offering to sell the club to fans only to withdraw the offer days later in predictable style. It could be suggested to the fans that they should consider this a good bullet dodging week.

Putting aside distaste of a club with a murky and unedifying history and a following which is widely disliked for very good reason, it remains a mystery why an investor hasn’t been found who can capitalise on a large, modern and much improved city with just one club, a huge nationwide following and, at the very least, the basis of global support.

A succession of shady owners have somehow been attracted to the rotting would be behemoth with the latest staring at another ban under fit and proper rules (and, even if this one is enforced following his appeal and only lasts until June 2016, other troubles in Italian courts remain in the future).

Tumultuous events at both clubs added some interest to what has become a waning fixture through familiarity – Town hoping that the presence of the new manager would incentivise their young team to reverse a poor run of performances against their neighbours while Leeds looked to build on a rare home win in midweek.

For much of an error strewn first half, both teams struggled to create meaningful chances and neither looked anything other than lower table strugglers. For Town, Dempsey stood out with his eye for space, energy and fearless tackling. Lolley occasionally got the better of his markers, too, but was unable to create real danger and his preference for cutting inside on to his stronger left foot is too easily read.

A nasty injury to Cooper who collided with a teammate before a corner held up the game for a long time, and the 8 added minutes were to shape the result of the game.

Just after the injury time board was held up, the previously booked Wooton fouled Huws crudely on the half way line and a second booking seemed to be a formality. After long deliberation, the referee called over Leeds’ captain presumably to warn him that a 3rd bad foul would elicit the red card from his pocket. It was a very poor piece of refereeing – you wondered if he’d been watching too much of the recent Rugby Union World Cup – and became exceptionally costly when the same player put a ball down Town’s left towards Dallas which was not dealt with by an out of position Davidson and this left Wallace exposed to a one two with Wood – Antunucci swept the ball in from close range.

The Australian is becoming a regular liability defensively and Wallace had already cleared up a couple of his positioning errors before the fatal one.

Worse was to follow as a long ball flicked off Huws’ head, wrong footing Cranie and flying through to the troublesome Antunucci who drew Murphy, went round him and tried to feed Cook. To his credit, Davidson had got back and cut out the pass only for it to fall to Wood to crash home.

It was barely believable that one of two poor teams had a 2 goal half time advantage when they should have been handicapped by a sending off, but poor defending is still inexcusable.

A spirited Town revival in the second half was tarnished by poor quality in the final third – even the prospect of Dortmund style pressing won’t help a side without a confident, regular scorer and the sight of Wells failing to connect when completely unmarked in the very first minute was just a foretaste of what was to come.

Had he converted that chance – and there were other opportunities in an enthusiastic response following the break – the game may have changed, but Leeds then put the result beyond doubt with a goal of genuine beauty.

A poor throw in by Davidson to Wells lost possession and Mowatt, who had scored a long range effort against Cardiff days earlier, advanced unchallenged before unleashing a vicious curling shot beyond Murphy.

Vaughan replaced the ineffective Wells shortly after and was to force a couple of good saves from Silvestri (as did Bunn) and, in truth, the home team played reasonably well without creating enough opportunities against a largely comfortable Leeds side who had capitalised on every bit of good fortune which came their way.

Holmes came on for a nice cameo.

While 3-0 was harsh and the refereeing blunder a significant turning point, Town’s woes in front of goal – the otherwise impressive Dempsey unsuccessfully tried to lay the ball off to Vaughan when clean through late on – have to be resolved and quickly.

With another intrusive international break giving David Wagner the chance to assess everything before a daunting looking trip to Hillsborough in two weeks (Town are taking the players to Spain in the break), we can only hope that he finds some answers.

Auf Wiedersen for now.

As Town’s young, much changed team finally succumbed to Reading’s incessant probing, conceding a second equaliser with just six minutes to go, the verve and control so in evidence in an excellent first half display had long gone.

Visibly exhausted, Town clung on, deservedly overall, to a valuable point against opponents easy on the eye but prone to over complicating their attacking play and thankfully profligate once they became sharper and more dangerous in a one sided 2nd half.

Missing Whitehead, replaced by Billing, the team which finished so well against Burnley took the field and continued where they left off at Turf Moor with an excellent start as Wells played a one two with a Reading defender before feeding Paterson to finish smartly.

The Forest loanee – who has added flair to a team that can be moribund for extended periods – also brought a good save from Al Habsi following an incisive run by Bunn which was halted in the area by a tackle which created the chance.

Over elaborate hosts rather played in to Town’s hands for much of the half and the midfield trio of Huws, Billing and Dempsey were comfortable in possession and solid defensively while Wells, finally playing a striking role rather than one mixed with midfield duties, linked effectively with Bunn and Paterson – though high balls to him were sometimes inevitable, they weren’t dominant and there were spells of attractive passing from the visitors which must have confused anyone who had been on a scouting mission for Reading.

It was a disappointing shock, then, when a free kick out on the right was mishit by Norwood and caught out Steer at his near post. The mixture of error and fortune was more than Reading deserved and the Northern Irishman’s gesture towards a meagre away support – largely comprising southern exiles and people who had judiciously arranged business trips (!) – was unnecessary.

Rather than spur the home team, the leveller seemed to inspire the visitors who regained midfield dominance and easily quelled any attacking threat from their hosts.

On 25 minutes, the lead was restored when a flick from Paterson to Bunn in to space allowed him to put a lovely ball through to Wells who finished excellently.

The goal epitomised Town’s first half – fluent and incisive – and the home crowd were as frustrated as their team as the whistle blew.

Defensively solid apart from one goalkeeping lapse (Steer has been excellent during his loan period, so can be forgiven one ricket), comfortable in possession and occasionally dangerous, Town looked a different proposition to the stiff, unenterprising and, frankly, dull outfit in evidence too much this season.

As the teams returned, Paterson wasn’t amongst them and an enforced reshuffle brought Lolley on to the right wing. The absence of Paterson’s finally recognised talent was a blow and it showed in a torrid second half for the Yorkshire outfit.

From the off, Reading bombarded their opponents with increased pace and purpose.

Hudson looked to get away with a tackle from behind in the box which fell to Blackman, whose shot was deflected on to the post by Steer and crashed over the bar by Sa.

The escape from an immediate second half equaliser was welcome but portentous – Reading spent the rest of the game creating danger and repeatedly pressurised a Town team which couldn’t gain any possession or respite for long, nervous spells.

With Norwood pulling the strings with his range of passing (the home fans should savour his ability while the weather remains unseasonably good; he isn’t one for challenging conditions, Oliver) the visitors were frequently stretched yet largely resolute.

Inevitably, Town began to look for breathers and their time wasting irritated the home fans on several occasions – as we looked on through our fingers, it wasn’t hard to sympathise but it was the only way the visitors could gain any respite.

Rare forays up field usually involved Lolley whose judgement didn’t match his ball holding ability – particularly on one occasion when Cranie was completely free on the right and in a great position to deliver a cross.

But the turning point of the game wasn’t any of the several dangerous efforts on goal, blocks and Steer saves; it was a miss by Hudson who blazed over from 6 yards after Lynch had challenged Reading’s keeper in the air following a Bunn cross which had looped off a defender’s foot.

We will never know if the referee would have blown for a foul on the keeper, but a goal at that stage would have deflated resurgent Reading and sealed 3 points.

As it was, the inevitable equaliser came when Cranie and Lolley didn’t react quickly enough when the ball found its way to Ola John on the left. The substitute turned smartly and fired in from a quite acute angle, perhaps raising a further question of Steer.

Reading deserved their goal, and perhaps more, for an excellent second half display of far greater fluency and incisiveness than they showed in the first period, but Town’s dogged resistance, coupled with their first half enterprise also deserved reward.

While our inability to stem the home side’s dominance of the second half was worrying, it should be said that this was a very young team missing Whitehead’s experience and the rearguard action, while somewhat on the edge, was exhausting but largely successful.

All in all, the team and manager can take pride in the display.

Managers can be strange individuals, shaped by often ridiculous pressures but also prone to clinging stubbornly to systems and players long after the wisdom of crowds has delivered its damning verdict.

There is a case for making a bruising, bustling centre forward the focus of attack with a squad lacking goals and even for pairing him with the player bought to score those goals, but both of these experiments have crashed and burned in recent weeks – the big man has bustled to little purpose while the goalscorer has been pressed to do a job further back which he is incapable of practising and blunted his ability to be in the right place at the right time.

Turf Moor will surely prove to be the graveyard of Miller as anything other than an impact substitute, but managerial obduracy is not only possible, but quite likely.

Facing a very good side for the second week running – Burnley lack the quality of Derby in most areas other than the rather important front line, where they are better – most fans understood that the task was going to be difficult and that the home side’s promotion ambitions, built on relentless hard work and a touch of quality are genuine.

The less forgiving amongst us, however, are worried that the team can be beaten before they begin because the manager gives them a license to fail before a ball is kicked.

Chris Powell may feel that this is unfair; surely we understand the disadvantageously sloping playing field in this division? There is no doubt that lining up against a player, Andre Gray, who cost more than Town’s eleven combined, and a team newly minted from their Premier League relegation is daunting, but that is the job.

Town’s pedestrian first half performance – illuminated from time to time by the excellent Paterson – was made even more frustrating by the fact that they had decent spells of possession rendered meaningless by a lack of movement up front; if Miller has a strength it is to occupy central defenders to create space but it was as if half the team had a different game plan to the other half.

Burnley must have sensed this as all they had to do was maintain a disciplined shape and wait for the ponderous passing in front of them to fizzle out when one of the visitors tried to break the mould of moving the ball from one side of the pitch to the other but invariably, and desperately ironically, there was no moving target to hit in front of them.

When the home team attacked, it was with contrasting purpose to their opponents’ constipation.

The first meaningful thrust in to Town’s territory brought the first goal. Andre Gray twisted Lynch inside out before being brought down by the Welshman’s desperate lunge (though later viewing suggests what looked like a nailed on foul in real time was not entirely convincing on review) and dispatched the penalty past Steer.

Gray was a constant threat and fed our old nemesis Boyd to bring a good save from Steer after pretzeling Lynch again before latching on to a good ball from Vokes late in the half to give the hosts an ominous 2 goal lead.

Paterson, pretty much the only positive for Town in a dismal first half, created a chance for Miller soon after Burnley’s opener but, predictably, he shot wide and for all the slightly built forward’s probing the only reward was several, badly delivered corners. Tom Heaton, Burnley’s highly regarded custodian, nearly contrived to push the ball in to his own net from one of them but, otherwise, the visitors rarely troubled the defenders in front of him.

The booing cascading down from the away end as the half time whistle blew wasn’t harsh. Being 2 down through the efforts of the talented Gray wasn’t a cause for shame but self defeating tactics centred around a limited and failing big man up front was. Fans aren’t stupid and their verdict on the manager’s decisions were loud and clear – his team were not functioning, seemingly endless square passing was not entertaining and chances, let alone a goal looked as elusive as ever.

Being a manager, Powell made no half time changes which seemed positively obtuse in the circumstances and while Miller had a half decent effort early in the half which went wide, the team was crying out for change.

On the hour, and to the rather cruel but predictable cheers of the away fans, Miller was replaced by Wells, whose name had been sung repeatedly from midway through the first half – not, one suspects, out of any belief that he would break his dry spell but merely for relief from the increasingly ugly tactics engendered by his teammate.

A couple of crude challenges had halted Gray’s attempts to inflict further and fatal damage (Whitehead was booked for one of them and misses the Reading game) before the acclaimed substitution and Steer was called in to routine but well executed action to stop shots from Barton and Vokes.

Slowly, however, Town found a way of being more competitive and threatening with a foothold suddenly seeming possible.

Too much of the improved work was wasted by some terrible corners by the ever louche Carayol – he has talent but lacks anything approaching urgency – though one of them indirectly lead to a half chance for Bunn who could only steer his effort wide as the ball bounced up just a little too high for him.

Powell’s next substitution gave 20 minutes to Kyle Dempsey to show us what he can do; an opportunity he grasped with both hands with a cameo of great energy. To be fair to Powell, Dempsey has been ill recently and while early glimpses of the ex-Carlisle man were reasonably encouraging they were somewhat over shadowed by a propensity for errors exposing us defensively.

He made an immediate difference. While Burnley’s defenders easily had the measure of Carayol, they seemed panicked by Dempsey’s surges and ability to provide the missing link between the holding midfielders and the attack.

It was Paterson, however, who conjured Town’s best chance of the game with a fantastic ball to Wells. The striker did well to make good contact with a ball dropping over his shoulder but could only lift it over the bar. The chance served notice to the hitherto comfortable home team that they still had work to do to secure the points and, at last, the small flame of hope which had been building in a better, if far from perfect, second half gained some traction.

Shortly after his attempt, Wells turned and shot to bring a good save from Heaton and this was followed by a Hudson header (from one of Town’s unfeasibly large corner count) and a narrowly wide Paterson effort.

It was very late, but the energy and drive of Dempsey had inspired some belief in to the Town team and while they had to be wary of Burnley’s pace on the break and had to survive a massive scare from a corner which really should have settled the game once and for all, most of the last 20 minutes belonged to the visitors.

Huws, who performed much better than in recent outings, had a shot heading for the top corner well saved, and Cranie (again, a composed presence) may have done better with a header before another decisive run and low cross by Dempsey was turned in to his own net by Duff before it could reach Wells.

Town piled on the pressure in search of an equaliser which had looked barely likely for much of the game and the final chance fell to Bunn who fired over when a little composure could have brought an overall undeserved point.

The late rally was, it is to be hoped, a wake up call for the management team. It took Chris Powell 6 games before his patience with Tommy Smith ran out, only for it to be rewarded with consistently excellent performances from Cranie – we can only hope that his stubborn persistence with Miller (still seemingly benefitting from an effective performance at Charlton and some flat track bullying of a poor Bolton side) is finally over and he will put more emphasis on youth and craft.

Wells can be frustratingly inconsistent and wasteful, but playing behind Miller has only served to emphasise his faults and negate his redeeming, and quite important, ability to score goals. It is time to put some trust in him, play him in his preferred position and allow him to feed off the energy that Dempsey and Paterson showed they can supply.

It’s also time to turn what sound like excuses (thin, inexperienced squad up against expensively assembled teams) in to challenges. Powell only needed to look 10 yards to his right to see what can be achieved by a young, motivated and collegiate squad lead by a strong character who brooked no excuses.

In fact, Dyche was faced with similar problems with a team treading water in the division and almost waiting for the inevitable drop – they were amongst the favourites to go down and went up. Though somewhat trite (you can’t just replicate a success story), it is time for some positivity and bloody mindedness against the odds to come from Huddersfield Town. He may have stumbled on the foundations of that in the second half of the second half yesterday.

As Town’s mini revival came to a predictable end, the close score line may appear to reflect a tight, perhaps even unfortunate defeat. But it actually masks the fact that a talented Derby side should have left with a far more comprehensive victory; which they would have done but for the excellence of Steer, who made a succession of very good saves.

With only a single score separating the sides, despite a wide gulf in class, the keeper’s heroics may even have rescued an underserved point as time ran out and Derby felt comfortable enough to let Town come on to them more, possibly encouraged by the preceding evidence that a mismatched forward pair carried barely no threat.

In fact, disturbingly, the Rams played large parts of the game seemingly in second gear and while most of the home team worked hard, the ease of passing and moving of the visitors contrasted sharply with Town’s lack of fluency, propensity for launching long balls to the much maligned Miller and an absence of guile.

After a poor but winning performance in midweek, no changes were made to the starting eleven and this was Chris Powell’s big mistake. We were to be regularly overrun in midfield or forced in to allowing Derby space and time in front of us – fine against a limited MK Dons team but fundamentally flawed against one of the best squads in the division.

With the Miller/Wells combination showing no signs of working and, worse, Wells being asked to play in areas of the pitch where he is barely competent, the answer was surely to either bring Billings in to the middle – oh, how we could have done with Hogg – or replace Wells with Paterson who can be trusted in possession outside the area?

Of course, Powell would then have been taken to task for playing one up front at home (and these reports have done that in the past), but with limited options – Miller is, after all, supposed to be third choice – and a dearth of goals from the current incumbents, a chance for someone else to try and shine was missed on the altar of the adage about not changing a winning team.

The orthodoxy of 4-4-2 creates exponential problems, particularly with our personnel. At the risk of going all Lawrenson, the system needs to change quite regularly within a game to 4-4-1-1, and Wells is utterly incapable of fulfilling his part in this – he is a goalscorer, not an auxiliary midfield player. This, in turn, pushes us too far back and coping against a 3 man midfield with 2 central midfielders becomes extraordinarily difficult, no matter how much work Whitehead puts in to compensate.

Despite a couple of early corners, Town were soon on the back foot but the visitors were being fairly comfortably contained until a fortuitous opener rewarded them for being the more expansive team. A cross from the right was headed out to Russell whose mishit shot squirmed through to Martin and he slotted home with some ease. Town’s appeals for offside were, rightly, dismissed.

Shortly after going behind, Town lost the services of Scannell and his replacement Carayol started very brightly, delivering 3 decent crosses in a short space of time, the last of which created an unlikely equaliser as Miller’s effort was pushed on to the underside of the bar by Carson only for Bunn to clip in.

After a great save by Steer who acrobatically tipped over a close range Shackell header from a corner, Town finished the half quite strongly but weak shots from Huws, Wells and Davidson undermined some decent preceding play.

Although it was a little bit of a stretch to believe that Town deserved to be level at half time, the first half performance had been dogged if uninspiring and should have been the right platform to take more initiative in the second period.

Unfortunately, the second half started badly, and the problem of Wells came in to sharp focus as he lost the ball very easily a third of the way up the pitch leading to a Derby corner. While Butterfield’s delivery was cleared by Lynch, it fell to George Thorne who took one touch then smashed an unstoppable shot in to the top corner.

It was a high quality strike, though Huws may have done better to close down the space, and his slight hesitation rather summed up another fairly anonymous performance from the man who had transformed our season with his goals in his early games.

Town themselves had a good chance from a corner which found Cranie unmarked, but he could only head straight at the keeper.

With Derby playing within themselves, Town couldn’t take the initiative. Long balls became far too frequent, though they did get down the sides from time to time and Bunn, in particular, found some joy taking on the visitors’ defence without ever being able to create chances. On the other side, Carayol’s impact had faded badly and his languid style became increasingly frustrating (on the plus side, he did offer better defensive support than previously evident).

Jed Steer then came in to his own with good stops from Russell, Christie and Martin, with the last one being an excellent block from the Rams’ marauding centre forward made possible by a slightly poor touch giving him the opportunity to decisively smother the shot.

The save seemed to galvanise Town from their hitherto plodding performance and the introduction of Paterson – for Bunn; a pretty unfathomable decision given Wells’ travails – added more spark to their forward play.

Despite their quality and superiority, Derby started to display some nervousness by trying to slow and see out the game with minor time wasting and Town responded by, finally, throwing caution to the wind. Paterson fired narrowly wide and looked disappointed at the effort while another chance fell for Davidson to spoon over.

Even Steer got in on the late flurry of action, going up for a corner and getting his head to it (in time honoured fashion, Derby then broke away and with Steer stranded took a shot from distance which didn’t have the power to get past the covering, no surprise here, Whitehead)

Of course, it was all too little, too late and the visitors (surely Premiership bound after several years of massive investment) deservedly took the points.

Defeat against a club who can assemble a side with Darren Bent on the bench, multi million pound players across the pitch and an injured roster which would grace any other team in the division is neither shameful nor indicative of the rest of the season, but it was difficult not to believe that a smarter team selection would have increased our competitiveness.

After a decent points haul in recent weeks, it doesn’t take much to stir underlying disquiet at how the club is dealing with the challenges of a difficult division. Some of this ignores the financial disparities which seem to widen every year, but there is little romance in survival and when the club hasn’t addressed the problem of an injury prone and occasionally brainless first choice striker, they bring unnecessary grief down on themselves.

It took Chris Powell too long to recognise that the consistently excellent Cranie was a far better right back option than Smith and he seems to be in denial over the Miller/Wells pairing – maybe the difficult looking trips to Burnley and Reading will finally break up the failed combination in favour of incorporating Paterson; we shall see.

It will also be interesting to see what Powell does with Huws. His form has dipped alarmingly – Whitehead is covering a lot of his sins – and it maybe that an extra man in midfield could free him up to play further forward.

With most fellow strugglers unable to win over the weekend (and Charlton fell to another heavy home defeat and sacked their manager), there was no immediate harm done but, again, it is not much consolation when we are constantly looking over our shoulders to get relief from poorer rivals.

With a daunting late October/November on the horizon (Derby, Reading, Burnley, Leeds, Wednesday and Middlesbrough), Town’s home game against likely fellow strugglers MK Dons assumed significant importance and it was essential that 3 points were secured.

The same 11 who had battled dourly at Portman Road for a well earned point took the field, but, on the bench, Vaughan, Dempsey and Carayol were replaced by Holmes, Bojaj and Boyle for varying reasons; while the changes were enforced, it was a fitting reward for 3 players instrumental to impressive u21 results of late.

Town’s offer of a £10 admittance was rewarded with another poor home crowd – it was slightly above average and probably made a difference of around 2,500, so it proved reasonably worthwhile without convincing that the townsfolk were suddenly enamoured of a team which tends to lack personality or an efficient but pragmatic manager who rarely encourages expansive football.

A bright start saw Scannell skin the veteran left back Lewington (we seem to have been playing against him forever), but his decent cross narrowly evaded Miller’s “leap”, brushing harmlessly off his head.

Miller’s next, and best, contribution was a shot smartly saved 25 minutes later as Town struggled to make any impact on the visitors whose possession stats were as impressive as they were pointless.

One low cross evaded a striker on the far post and an attempted lob following a lucky deflection was easily gathered by Steer – otherwise, Town’s back four were to have a relatively easy night with Lynch and Cranie barely putting a foot wrong.

Although Hudson generally did well, he looks a much better player away from home, which has been the case for all of his career with the Leeds Roaders so far. Davidson fared much better again, but still needs to truly recapture the early form he showed.

In the face of the over passing of their opponents, Town soon descended to launching balls up to Miller which were rarely won and sometimes not even competed – the constant looking for non existent fouls is reminiscent of our erstwhile non scoring centre forward, Alan Lee and he is not getting the crowd on his side with such antics.

It could be said that MK Dons simply played in to Town’s hands – their ineffectiveness was pretty to watch at times but they lacked the pace or guile to fashion opportunities as the home side did, at least, keep a good shape without the ball for all but a few fleeting, unpunished moments.

A spectacle, however, it did not make, and with the forward players wasteful – Bunn in particular but he was far from alone – no momentum was built and a drudge of a first half was epitomised by some terrible corners and free kicks by a well below par Huws.

With the second half following a similar pattern, goals seemed unlikely and neither keeper was unduly troubled as both teams struggled to exert meaningful pressure and whatever atmosphere had existed in the ground fell flat once more. Even the dedicated North Stand found it hard to muster much enthusiasm for what had become an ugly pastiche of a game.

The visitors insistence on trying to play their way out of every situation while never looking quite good enough to achieve anything was to bite them very hard on the arse. Under relatively mild pressure from Miller, McFadzean mishit an intended back pass in to the path of Wells who finished his chance very well.

The gift was undeserved if welcome and may provide a boost to Wells’ confidence on a night where he had struggled to make much contribution. Just two minutes later, Wells was found by a good first time ball from Scannell and the striker’s turn and thrust towards goal opened up space for a ball through to Miller. Characteristically, the subsequent shot (hit after taking one too many touches) sailed over the bar when composure would have sealed the points.

With a lead, Town could rely on the ineffectiveness of their opponents, though the rearguard action became increasingly nervy and possession was conceded far too often. As ever, the driving force – and pretty much the only one – was Whitehead, who got through mountains of work up and down the pitch. He is proving to be a shrewd and massively valuable signing and easily took the man of the match plaudits, again.

While it won’t get the crowds flooding back, Town can at least be commended for swamping their opponents in the last half hour, forcing most of the passing to be in front of them and the visitors’ ineffectiveness was bordering on tedious.

Jake Forster-Caskey tried to liven proceedings up by aiming a head butt at Davidson and, remarkably, stayed on the field with a yellow card. If Vaughan was at the game, no doubt his head was in his hands at the inconsistency of referees.

Town made some forays forward down both flanks but decent approach work by Scannell and Bunn was let down by poor delivery and though another goal didn’t seem vital given the limitations of the opposition, and the game had barely deserved one goal never mind two, a second would have eased nerves considerably.

We were treated to a rare glimpse of loanee Paterson (on for Wells rather than the increasingly comical Miller), and he showed one or two signs of flair without altering the pattern of the game as the visitors tried to break through without the luxury of anything resembling a plan B.

Powell’s next two substitutions were transparently time eating – Scannell wandered from the far side of the pitch with all the urgency of molasses to be replaced by Smith and Miller made way for young Bojaj, illustrating the manager’s faith in youth (!).

The Albanian’s first and only 2 minutes of senior football were quite eventful. He was immediately in the action and managed to extricate himself from trouble under pressure on the right wing with a back pass before latching on to a poor pass from the Dons’ keeper intended for the wretched McFadzean and feeding Paterson to seal the points with a flattering second goal.

Consecutive clean sheets, two gifted goals and 3 important points made it a good night for Town, though the entertainment starved crowd had little else to cheer from a game devoid of excitement and lacking incident. Nevertheless, and regardless of the manner, this was an important win with the significantly more difficult challenges laying ahead.

After a worrying first 6 games garnering just 2 points (somewhat harshly), the next 6 have seen one defeat and 11 points – we can always hope that Town’s recent tendency to play well against more illustrious opposition is maintained; they will play much better than this and come away with nothing.

It’s easier to get to Ipswich these days. The last 30 miles or so used to involve inevitable queues behind lorries, tractors and other slow moving vehicles to such an extent that you had to add an hour on to estimated journey times.

This ease of travel appears to have inspired the town’s football club to add a convenience charge to their ticket prices, unless there are other reasons for them to hike up the cost of entry to an eye watering £35. Perhaps the promise of the sparkling football invariably served up by Mick McCarthy lead teams adds a premium?

In a week when the BBC released a study of football match ticket pricing that Goebbels himself may have balked at releasing, swathes of empty seats at Portman Road suggested that clubs have some way to go before they get their message (pay up and be grateful) across.

Yet another intrusive and disruptive international break meant that Town’s horrible performance at Wolves festered much longer than would normally be the case and another difficult assignment, a long way from home, had to be negotiated against an Ipswich side not quite living up to last season’s play off campaign.

Town were boosted by the news that their highly paid and oft injured striker would be finally fit enough to make the squad as a substitute.

When James Vaughan finally appeared from the bench to replace the infuriating Miller, it was a full 20 minutes later than many amongst the fleeced away support thought appropriate.

Poor Miller manages to combine undoubted strength with clownish ineptitude; he rarely makes the right decision on the ball, has little apparent football intelligence and there are few signs that a goal is going to arrive any time soon.

It’s not lack of effort and there are even glimpses of ability from time to time, but a battering ram is crude when effective and can be damaging to a team when not.

Sadly, it has been a long, long time since Vaughan has offered anything a great deal better in the increasingly rare times when he is available for selection, though we can generally rely on him to exhibit flashes of stupidity and ill discipline to add to his impressive record of bookings and sendings off. It’s little wonder that the owner’s patience was already exhausted with a player who collects a significant wage while nursing a string of injuries and allegedly plays little or no part in extra curricular club activities (important when immersion in to the community is pretty crucial).

By the time Vaughan had stupidly, if gently, bounced the ball in to the face of an Ipswich player, a decent point had nearly been secured. A point which could and probably should have been 3 points after a first half of excellent containment ruined by a wasteful attack who had plenty of opportunity to further antagonise a disgruntled home crowd.

With loanee Ward returning to Bournemouth for an injury to be assessed, captain Mark Hudson returned to the defence and Carayol made way for Wells to join Miller up front.

Hudson had an excellent game and lead a solid back line – Davidson, who appears to have dispensed with his top knot in a surprise move, wasn’t flawless but his Molineux nightmare wasn’t repeated. The impressive Cranie continued his good form and with Lynch working well with the returning captain, a mundane home side were comfortably contained in a decent first half display.

With little to worry about at the back – Steer was hardly involved – Town were able to break quickly on several occasions only to falter, yet again, in the final third.

7 or 8 promising attacks lead to opportunities which floundered on poor decision making and slow execution. It wasn’t just Miller who lacked composure up front – Bunn had a great opportunity to shoot inside the box but decided he needed to beat one more man and Scannell broke clear but rather than drive in to the box tried to pick out Wells with a lofted lob in to the keeper’s arms.

The best chance fell to Wells. A flick on by Miller bounced a little high for the Bermudian to get much purchase on the ball under pressure from the keeper and Berra cleared from off the line – another opportunity spurned.

Of all the attacking players, Nahki was the pick. He worked hard and tried manfully to link with Miller and at least resembled the player he can be. Scannell’s form continues to frustrate. The ability is still there but his final ball isn’t.

A lead at half time would have been deserved. The home side were lethargic and toothless, and catching them on the break was quite easy; if only we were able to capitalise.

The second half was a different story. While the Tractor Boys were still labouring, they did at least quell Town’s ability to get forward regularly and a dour 45 minutes ensued.

Steer was called in to action more frequently, mainly dealing with less than threatening shots but towards the end the previously composed defence started to become more ragged. A scrappy passage of penalty box play allowed an Ipswich player to turn on the byline and deliver a dangerous low ball which was turned over the bar when it looked easier to score.

While Vaughan’s eventual dismissal would over shadow it, a piece of gamesmanship from the home side also created danger. Steer had put the ball out of play for an injury to Lynch only for Chambers to throw it to Maitland-Niles to put in a cross which was headed over. Remarkably little fuss was made of this on the pitch, though the away support was furious.

Town came back in to the game towards the end and created their only real chance (though Lynch had headed wide from an earlier corner) when Huws – again effective – found space for a shot which the keeper parried to Wells. A mishit attempt by the striker fell sharply to Lynch who could only fire over.

The home side then had their best chance when the ball fell to McGoldrick only for Steer to instinctively turn his shot round the post with his leg.

A defeat would have been harsh on Town, but the attacking failures (10 goals in 11 games is somewhat flattered by 4 against a desperately poor Bolton) are becoming a crisis and lack of firepower is going to keep us towards the relegation zone unless something is done, either through reorganisation of existing resources – which seems unlikely to be successful – or the loan market now that there is another loan space available.

Vaughan is clearly not the answer if he manages to curtail an already hugely interrupted career with stupidity as he did in injury time. Some, perhaps many, have clung to the hope that he would come back to resolve our problems up front (based on little evidence over the past 18 months) and while the sending off was, on review, a little harsh, the petulance was the last thing we needed from him.

So, two uninspiring teams fought out a largely drab goalless draw but, thankfully, at least the cost of witnessing it hasn’t risen since last season. Other than the £10 extra it did cost which, I guess, will be explained as being on the wrong side of the averages.

I’m cheating this week. Thankfully, I decided some time ago that a lunch time kick off in the Black Country was an absurd waste of time and effort with the game being on TV. It looked like the players agreed with me.

As pleasing as a 7 point haul from the last 3 games has been, we rode our luck at Charlton, beat a poor and crumbling relegation candidate and should have been 2 down before rescuing a point against Forest – it was far from being the foundation of an assault on the top half of the table and, deep down, most Town fans knew it.

Still, we had hope dangled before us in the first 20 minutes of this game and had we possessed anything like a cutting edge, a flat and unconvincing Wolves could have been under great pressure from a quiet, grumbling crowd who were audibly displeased at their team’s poor passing and hoofing.

In contrast, Town played with confidence and some fluidity but the familiar and unresolved problems in the last third saw good work peter out in tame shots (other than one half decent effort by Carayol) and a wilting threat.

In the opening period of hope, at least the front men pressured Wolves in to long punts forward easily defended and turnover of possession was regular, and with more composure, Bunn could have given the visitors what would have been a deserved lead.

Then it all fell apart. Cranie, who was otherwise one of very few of the side who came out with any credit, tried a strange lofted ball inside catching Huws static (sadly, this became a feature) and MacDonald drew Whitehead in to a missed challenge, played a one-two with Henry which took Lynch out of the game, strolled forward and hit a shot past Steer from 25 yards for a shock lead.

Other than a good run by Huws – pretty much the only time he got ahead of the forwards – which fizzled out with a tame shot when both Bunn and Miller were better placed, neither side looked threatening and a largely dull game was played out until half time.

The second half was worryingly poor from Town. Miller disappeared and while he had only offered nuisance value on the whole in the first half, he couldn’t make his presence felt at all in the second.

But of all the poor performances in a desperate second half, none were as inept or damaging as Davidson’s. From being nutmegged early on which should have lead to a goal from a near post header, to a suicidal back pass which 99 times out of a hundred would have resulted in a penalty and a sending off to losing the ball for Wolves’ icing on the cake 3rd, the Australian was simply awful and a massive liability.

While his unconvincing first half could have been excused by Carayol’s reluctance to help out, the presence of Bunn as auxiliary after the break removed that excuse, and it is to be hoped that this will prove to be temporary incompetence.

By the time Davison had played in Le Fondre, Wolves were already 2 up – guess who was playing Le Fondre onside to set up our old friend Afobe for a tap in?

Afobe, who had a terrible first half, outpaced Ward for the final goal and an abject display was rightly punished by the worst defeat of the season.

There were few, if any, straws to clutch at in the performance. An increasingly frustrated Whitehead worked hard alongside the languid Huws, who should have been replaced earlier than he was and Cranie did little wrong, but after that it is hard to point to any Town player who remotely performed to an acceptable standard.

Had Town scored in their dominant first 20 minutes, things may have been different – a sparse looking Molineux seemed pretty grumpy until the goal – but that failure in itself exposes the limitations of a team reliant on Huws for goals in the mini revival.

In a contest between two distinctly average sides (and this is showering Town with hyperbole), Wolves only had to increase their intensity to sweep their opponents aside, and by the end they looked a mile ahead of us as they forced their way in to the top 6 for at least an hour or two.

A late effort by Wells was the only trouble caused to the home keeper throughout the second half and it was all summed up by a dreadful corner delivery by Patterson (on for one trick pony Bunn – his turns are telegraphed before the ball even reaches him).

I’m as thankful for the international break as I was for not having to trail down to Wolverhampton – but another tough trip to Ipswich follows, and there seems little likelihood that the striker problem will be resolved by then, especially if the answer to the question is Leon Best.

Maybe Vaughan’s clearly strained relationship with the club will be eased, but even he isn’t much of an answer if his form last year is anything to go by, and Scannell’s regression continues to be another worry to heap on Powell’s shoulders.

I’m now preparing for more TV disappointment with the England rugby team, but it won’t hurt anything like this display.