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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.

Town’s dogged victory at Charlton and second half stroll against a poor Bolton side saw them take the field with an unfamiliar surge of confidence; the rebuilt team, boosted by some smart loan signings and the blossoming of some of the summer ones is rapidly erasing the memories of a terrible pre season and a forgettable, if not altogether disastrous, early winless run.

Losing Butterfield has forced a change in style and the squad has adapted very well, which is no mean feat in itself, with more emphasis on wing play allied to perhaps a little too much reliance on Miller’s muscular presence which is too often executed clumsily. However, the excellent Whitehead now protects a far less vulnerable back four which has been boosted by the form of Cranie and increasingly harmonious centre half pairings.

Nottingham Forest have also had their problems. An apparently unstoppable start to last season withered as the pump fisting management of Stuart Pearce disintegrated in to an almost unfathomable mess given the money spent (a lot by his predecessor, to be fair to old Psycho) and a combination of long term injuries and FFP penalties suggested an unfamiliar season of struggle for them.

The enforced penury (though to put in to context, one of the penalties was that they can’t pay more than “only” £10,000 per week for loan players) seems to have worked oppositely to what was intended as Dougie Freeman has made some shrewd signings and marshalled his supposedly inferior squad in to an effective and dangerous unit. Following two away wins, Forest were the better team in their defeat at home to Middlesbrough and, once more, it seems that necessity is, indeed, the mother of invention.

This augurs well for Town’s self imposed financial constraints – we all get excited at the prospect of expensive players coming in to transform our fortunes, but this often proves illusory. It is the moulding of a team which should excite, and we do seem to be on the right track even if our attacking threat is a little limited at the moment.

Watching football on a Thursday to accommodate a television company is far from ideal, but it’s unlikely to be repeated until we force our way in to the Europa League so the best thing to do was embrace it and rejoice that there will be only one work day to go until the weekend rather than the usual 3 following a midweek game.

Town started much the brighter of the two teams with good spells of possession and a desire to take the game to their once illustrious opponents. For the first 20 minutes, Scannell and, especially, Carayol, were prominent and threatening – one mazy run from the former took him in to the area only for him to fail to deliver at the right time, while the Boro loanee worried Lichaj in to an early booking.

A few corners were forced and some decent passing witnessed, but Forest’s defence was solid and strong and a goal looked a little unlikely.

For their part, Forest were restricted to playing high balls up to O’Grady and presented little threat, until they forced Town in to conceding a rather unnecessary throw in on the left as Cranie – who was otherwise excellent and later a hero – opted for safety first rather than getting the ball back to Steer.

Whitehead couldn’t prevent a cross which looked over hit and would have been dealt with had Carayol tracked back properly with Lichaj, whose clever header found the otherwise quiet Mendes to fire home to round off the visitors’ first attack of any substance.

As much as the goal was against the run of play, it also exposed, in quick succession, slight but crucial lack of familiarity between team mates. While Cranie can’t really be faulted for opting for safety, there was a lack of confidence to pass back to the keeper which will perhaps be more natural when the team is fully bedded in. Carayol’s failure was less forgivable and also marked the point in the game where he lost his effectiveness.

Rocked by the goal, which was a little cruel, Town faded and resorted to too many heaves forward towards Miller, who found Forest’s central defenders far more resolute than Bolton’s and beside a presentable chance for Ward from a corner which he mistimed, Town finished the half quite poorly, lacking the cohesion they had before the opening goal.

Special mention should go to Forest’s summer signing from Derby who, in football parlance, can only be described as a “niggly bastard”. In a short spell in the first half, he incurred the wrath of Town fans on the Kilner Bank side with antics which, remarkably, didn’t earn him a booking. He was to repeat his offences (delaying throw ins, annoying fouls and generally being a lot of a knob) in the second half in return for one mild rebuke from the referee.

The second half saw Forest, rather surprisingly given the obvious quality in their team, happy to concede possession and territory to Town. They had clearly decided that their impressive defence would hold firm confronting the home side’s rather ineffective front 3, and there was some merit to their thinking.

At the heart of the visitors’ defence, Wilson was outstanding and ably assisted at his side by his central defensive partner and the classy Mancienne in front of them.

They were a little less secure down the sides and a Scannell run picked out Bunn to fire in a shot that Wilson deflected over for a corner.

That chance was a rarity, however, with Town impressing in build up only for attacks to wither against Forest’s defensive rock.

Half way through the second period, Powell replaced the increasingly ineffective Carayol – he rarely used his pace or found enough space to threaten – with Wells to give the lively Bunn a role on the left and, presumably, in the hope that the Bermudian could rediscover his scoring boots.

Despite the change, the pattern of the game continued and an equaliser still looked unlikely, with the added and ominous spectre of a Forest breakaway starting to rise.

The visitors had been restricted to one rather tame effort from O’Grady and seemed not unreasonably confident of completing a classic away win as Town’s attacks continued to promise but fizzle out.

The annoying Ward was replaced by a frequent nemesis, Chris Burke, and as another attack broke down, the ex-Birmingham winger sprang the offside trap to hare towards goal. Steer started to come but realised he was in a Boycottesque corridor of uncertainty and retreated. Burke, who could have passed inside to the better placed O’Grady, opted to try to curl the ball past Steer but only managed to hit the post. The rebound fell invitingly to O’Grady who smashed a shot goalwards only to see it kneed off the line by Cranie.

The full back, mysteriously overlooked in the first six games in favour of Smith, capped another composed display with his heroics and denied Forest what would have been a game ending 2nd.

With the game reverting to type after the scare, Town still looked unlikely to grab a deserved equaliser but resumed their pressure.

When it came, the leveller was somewhat out of the blue. Huws, who had a quiet but effective game in a slightly withdrawn position from that he adopted against Bolton, ghosted past a defender and tried his luck from distance. Catching the ball perfectly, the shot appeared to be arrowing in anyway but took a deflection from a defender and just crossed the line off the bar.

With 4 goals in 3 games now, the classy if subdued midfielder is covering the weaknesses of our front line and proving to be a very shrewd addition following Butterfield’s departure – when he is fully recovered from his long injury lay off, we can look forward to increasingly effective contributions (until someone buys him from Wigan in January. Hopefully us)

Switching to offensive mode, Forest won a cheap free kick on the edge of the area immediately following the restart but Lansbury wasted the last real opportunity of the game with a wild attempt.

While 3 wins in a row continues to prove elusive, this was a hard earned and deserved point against a very strong Forest who look likely to be challenging at the top end of the table if they resist the urge to go mad once FFP restrictions are lifted in January.

For Town, a much improved defence and a Whitehead inspired re galvanised midfield has elevated us back to competitiveness.

The ability to score however, notwithstanding the brushing aside of a weak Bolton side on Saturday, remains a problem. Miller offers presence and awkwardness but neither genuine quality or goals, and in an ideal world we would be turning to him later in games to try something different rather than him being the focal point throughout.

Carayol is clearly going to frustrate us. His pace and ability has been seen but far too inconsistently – again, a player coming back from a long lay off should be given time and extended patience but of all the new arrivals, he is the one who hasn’t quite integrated, particularly defensively.

Having said all that, even a narrow defeat wouldn’t have obscured encouraging progress. We were defensively solid, Whitehead continues to defy the naysayers with consummate performances, Cranie has added experience and composure and Bunn appears to be recapturing last season’s early form.

Our mid table spot appears eminently achievable and, if we can hold on to Huws and strengthen or improve up front, we may even start to dream a little higher.

Today’s pre match little known fact was that, scarcely believably, Town hadn’t won a Saturday home fixture since January (against Watford and courtesy of our old friend Mr Daniel Gee).

It would be useful if Danny could dig out the last time we won a home game on Thursday in advance of the horribly annoying slightly later than midweek game against Forest.

Following the relief of a hard fought midweek win in the capital, Bolton Wanderers looked an eminently winnable fixture given the struggles of the Lancastrians against enormous debts and Lennon’s severely restricted funding. However, The Trotters have had a reasonable start to the season and, in particular, they have proved difficult to score against.

Powell’s unchanged team (though Hogg replaced Billings on the bench) needed to carry forward the confidence gained from their first win of the season to achieve what has been very elusive in our Championship seasons – back to back wins.

Not for the first time this season, a somnolent start was punished as a high cross field ball caught Davidson not only out of position but staring at its trajectory like a frightened foal. Whether the troublesome sun, which affected both sides throughout in our wrong way round stadium, unsighted the Australian or he simply judged it badly, it was taken down well and instantly by Feeney who had the easy task of advancing untroubled before beating Steer to give the visitors a gift of a lead.

The sense of “same old Town” was palpable – and it wasn’t to lift as Town spent the first 20 minutes creating no threat, conceding possession and allowing Bolton to dominate possession. In particular, movement was non existent, leaving players in possession with few options, and these were invariably bad ones.

Ponderous Town were lucky in those early stages as Bolton conjured up 2 or 3 presentable chances, with one being cleared off the line and shots flying narrowly wide. A second would have wounded the home team badly and made it difficult to turn the tide.

From about the 20 minute mark – and after the withdrawal of the injured Heskey – Town finally found their missing energy and started to curtail their opponents easy passage through the game by the simple method of closing them down , moving the ball more quickly and matching Whitehead and Miller’s eager desire.

An equaliser nearly came when Prince, who had a terrible day, sliced a clearance on to the bar and, at last, we began to resemble the team who had secured that overdue midweek win without ever looking particularly threatening; though Scannell headed across goal towards Miller who, inexplicably, didn’t attack the ball for what could have been an easy score.

The match turned in first half injury time, all one minute of it. Town won a corner, which Bunn shaped to cross only to find Huws 25 yards out to fire in past a defender and keeper to level.

It was pretty hard on Bolton who had rarely been troubled by a stuttering home team and, arguably, should have been more than one up, but Town’s loanee had picked the perfect time to add to his strike at Charlton.

As the 2nd half kicked off, the visitors were down to ten men as Prince had nipped off the pitch just before the restart and hadn’t yet returned. Illness was cited by Lennon later, which may or may not have been a euphemism – whatever the reason, it was just the beginning of a chaotic performance by him and his team mates in the second period.

From the start, Town rattled the Trotters’ back four.

Carayol, who had been, to put it kindly, enigmatic in the first half, stripped the left back bare before putting in an inch perfect cross for a diving Huws to head inches wide from close range.

Just a few minutes later, the Middlesbrough loanee put Town ahead when he cut in from the left after being fed by Huws and curled an excellent finish past Amos.

Miller, who had troubled the opposing centre halves for much of the first period but to little effect with his team mates either too far away or too slow to capitalise, tormented them again and tempted Derik in to another foul which finally earned him a booking.

Bunn had 2 attempts – one saved and one just wide – before Miller fed Carayol who put in an excellent cross missed by Bunn but swept in by Huws to give Town breathing space and a deserved enhanced lead. Bolton looked demoralised and only the scale of victory was in question.

The answer came when a tame corner was half cleared only for Wilson to dally long enough for Lynch to rob him with a sliding tackle, get up and crack the ball home.

The equally pitiful Derik brought down substitute Wells late on to earn a second yellow, before the misfiring Bermudian hit the goalkeeper from close range when he should have scored a confidence lifting goal.

A 5th or even 6th wouldn’t have flattered Town’s second half performance, which was a stark contrast to their listlessness in the first, and consecutive victories has not only lifted the club to mid table but also injected hope in a newly assembled squad after a difficult and disrupted early season.

Like he had at Charlton – and including his personal performance in the worryingly poor first 20 minutes – Whitehead was excellent. Strong in the tackle, economical with his passing and brimming with energy he dragged his teammates along with him, lifting them from their early lethargy.

Up front, Miller looked fitter than in the past and bullied the Bolton defence until substituted to a deserved ovation. His lack of goals continues to be an issue, but he provided an invaluable focal point for the team and, eventually, Bunn, Scannell and Carayol profited from his muscular presence.

Cranie looks as if he has resolved the troublesome right back problem – his assured competence replacing the erratic Smith and he is proving to be an astute signing, even if his introduction to the team has been too long in coming.

In Huws, we finally have a midfielder willing to get in the box – our threat from the flanks has doubled with Carayol but that has to be accompanied by team mates to aim for and the Welshman gets there.

A sterner test is coming in the shape of Forest, but, for now, our early season malaise has been banished and there can be genuine hope that the new look team can only get better with greater familiarity.

It occurs to me that this rather basic website doesn’t provide any background or context to the reports I have and will post up here, and since there are now quite a few people reading them who haven’t been on the htfc mailing list (see below) I think it is worth a bit of a summary.

I first became aware of this new Internet thing in about 1996. I’d read about it, of course, but also seen commercials on holiday in the US pointing people towards their http://www.com sites and the enormity of what was about to happen couldn’t be missed, even by a slow Yorkshireman.

When I got back home, buying my first computer became a priority and though I couldn’t tell you what type it was (other than bloody heavy), the dial up access to a brave new world now sat in the living room of my bachelor pad in Edgerton (which was handy for a Big Shop at the nearby Shell garage)

Football in general, and Town in particular, was the first priority. What would now be viewed as primitive football club fans’ message boards were of particular interest. Some of the relatively few participants would have impossibly glamorous jobs in far flung parts, and the quality of discourse was, let’s just say, a tad superior to today’s brutal social media zoo.

The other connection to like minded folk was via email groups and Town fans had been congregating in a few numbers for some years on a mailing list run from a server in a US university by a guy called Dyche who has since mysteriously disappeared (if you are reading this etc….) and I joined in, I think, 1997.

As a frustrated journalist (I thought seriously about it as I left school in 1978 but then found out the money they were on and opted for the excitement and thrills of insurance instead), here was a medium for writing polemic views and match reports to a limited audience who may not consider me a bit of a geek for doing so.

For going on 20 years, I’ve intermittently scribbled down my thoughts for either the entertainment of a limited and reasonably well known audience, or, perhaps, their bemusement. Whatever they actually thought – they have always been kind to me but you never know – I enjoyed doing them and must have written over 100 to date.

There is also an ex-pat Town mailing list and the reports were passed on to them before I was invited (it’s a much classier place than the domestic list!) to join it. I can’t tell you what opportunities and fun has come from that invitation – lets just say that I’ve profited enormously without ever earning a penny

Why have I exposed my ramblings to the wider world? Well mainly because it occurred to me that retrieving the ones I have already done is going to take a monumental effort (I’ve started but it’s laborious) so I wanted to save them in one place for posterity. And I’m an attention seeking whore these days.

So, just a few things about Town and the reports;

• I don’t take a notepad to games. That would be just odd
• Accuracy is an aspiration not an objective
• Town losing upsets me. But not for long
• Reports on defeats are generally easier to do than victories. Which is just as well
• I watch all home games from a box on the halfway line, courtesy of my brother who has had the facility since the stadium opened. So at least half of the reports are cheap opinion.
• I don’t go to all away games and nowadays I miss a couple of months in the winter as I escape the horrible British winter for a Colorado winter
• You may disagree with the report. I seriously don’t care and, in many ways, hope that you do
• in the end, does it really matter?

So, that’s me.

Hopefully, people will stick with it but if they think, “pretentious bastard who thinks he can write, but cant”  that’s fair enough too.

Bolton report follows. If I can be arsed.

Shall we now carry Chris Powell shoulder high in his moment of triumph? Laud his bold team selections and tactics?

Well, no.

We can be very happy for a professional, decent man who has had to cope with several changes in his Chairman’s direction, whether these will prove to be good decisions or not in the future, and who really, really needed this unlikeliest of wins.

In truth, there wasn’t a great deal of difference between this performance against a stuttering Charlton side who were still afforded enough chances to turn around a 2 goal deficit and the other games this season (other than the opener on Humberside which resembled an extension of pre season).

Unlike the other closely fought efforts – I didn’t witness Cardiff – we some how came out on the right side of this division’s very fine margins.

This may sound like faint praise, particularly when you consider several excellent performances in the team and the context of a squad and manager under not inconsiderable pressure after a frustrating and mildly disturbing start to the season, but successfully negotiating games often balanced on knife edges is exactly what is needed for survival and better, and they did it.

My lonely trip down south was accompanied only by massive doubts about the ability of this Town team and manager to gain anything from a tough looking fixture which had resulted in something of a beating last season.

In hindsight, Charlton’s reasonably good form to date had been rather punctured by an unconvincing home draw with lowly Rotherham – over 20 efforts on the Millers’ goal had resulted in a solitary, equalising goal and though it occurred to few, if any, at the time, this tendency to profligacy and the fairly consistent defensive performances of Town should have pointed towards more hope than acknowledged.

And then we saw the team. People can decide wether this was a desperate roll of the dice from an under siege manager or tactical adjustments to meet a new challenge against a frustrated and potentially vulnerable opponent, but the changes worked.

Davidson, not surprisingly, returned at full back in place of Smith who, again unsurprisingly, really isn’t a left back and hasn’t excelled at right back either so far.

Crainie, who has been excellent every time he has been given the opportunity, was installed at right back and fully justified his inclusion with a calm and consummate performance.

Carayol was also included in the place of Bunn on the left – a move which, finally, gives us much better balance and, crucially, an alternative threat to that posed by Scannell on the right.

Huws – who is not ready for a full 90 minutes according to the manager – took over from the injured Hogg, and Wells paid for poor form on the bench with the muscularity of Miller preferred alongside Bunn who was pushed inside and forward as support.

On paper, the changes looked bold and those who had travelled in some trepidation at least had the prospect of witnessing the emergence of the post Butterfield team which was never going to be about a simple change of player and more a change in shape and objectives, particularly from the flanks.

Town’s first half dominance was pretty damn impressive. Miller caused Charlton’s centre halves no end of problems and sewed a lot of doubt in a back four which looked distinctly discomforted for much of the game, even in the closing stages when Town’s forward play weakened through the weariness of Miller and their priorities switching to containment.

Huws looks an excellent player. Strong and positive, he formed an instant and very promising partnership with the excellent Whitehead whose experience was on full and dazzling display throughout.

With two wide men, Town carried much more threat than in previous games and the strength of the visitors’ display seemed to bamboozle the Addicks in to a laborious passing game which they didn’t shake off all night.

Scannell created the first goal by winning the ball in midfield from a dozing home player before firing a great ball in to Bunn whose fierce shot could only be helped in by Charlton’s custodian. It looked like a poor effort by the keeper but he was beaten by the pace and accuracy of Bunn’s fine strike.

Town didn’t rest on the lead and continued to take the game to their hosts with not inconsiderable menace at times. A Carayol drive could only be parried by Pope only inches away from the on rushing Scannell, which followed a weakly executed but presentable headed chance for Bunn.

At the other end, Town easily coped with their labouring opponents as Whitehead mopped up in front of an assured back four and an equally composed goalkeeper who had a fine game.

Miller’s tormenting of Charlton’s back line then paid dividends when he was barged in the back 20 yards out.

Huws stepped up and curled a superb free kick past the fallible Pope to cap an excellent but sadly truncated performance.

Before the blow of Huws having to retire hurt at half time, Charlton pulled a goal back to strike all the old fear and forebodings in to the away support (which was excellent all night).

A combination of Davidson and Carayol were adjudged to have fouled Charlton’s right winger by a linesman who had hitherto appeared scared of making any decision and his first looked like a poor one. That isn’t to excuse the defence of the free kick, though it was very well delivered to the head of Sarr by Gudmundsson for an ominous lifeline for the home team.

Charlton didn’t deserve the goal but the halving of the deficit signalled new and dangerous challenges to a team hardly imbibed with high confidence and it cannot be underestimated how the loss of the excellent Huws could easily have sunk a fragile Town.

Many have been asking for more bravery from Powell – his pragmatic approach tends to dull the team’s ability to surprise; that faith in the players to improvise and excite seems to be suppressed too readily, yet when confronting clubs with more money, more fans and arguably more ambition the capacity to spring the unexpected is surely an essential commodity.

It is hard to apply any adjective other than brave than Powell’s decision to replace Huws with Billing. At long last, an Academy product was on the pitch in a real game, not brought along to smell the changing room liniment or experimentally introduced 10 minutes before the end of a no pressure game. This is the real thing, Phil!

Raw, possibly nervous and with a small mountain of responsibility resting on his shoulders, his manager couldn’t have asked for more from the young Dane. While it would have been ludicrous to expect him to have the same influence on the game as Huws, he provided energy and, at times, not a little elegance to proceedings.

The whole team must have felt on the ropes in the first 10 minutes of the second half as Charlton finally injected urgency in to their attacking. Within seconds of the kick off, Ba fired a shot whistling past the post and intent was served by the hosts, though the next chance of note fell to Miller who headed disappointingly wide when well placed.

Town’s threat was diminishing and sparse in the second period, though Miller could have released the marauding Bunn in one counter attack which would have finished the contest.

As it was, Town were largely resolute against a mundane Charlton who, nevertheless can be accused of wasting a few decent chances with weak finishing and lack of composure – the factor we had all ignored prior to the game proved to be the difference between the sides.

The most pleasing aspect of the result was the context. This was a team which had never played together before and was pretty much unrecognisable from the one which represented us at Hull, 2 unproven players (Billing and Dempsey) were introduced and every one of them must have been feeling the pressure from an inauspicious start, to say the least.

There were good performances all over the pitch, from the goalkeeper’s calm and assured display, through a back four which was occasionally breached but largely resolute to the hard work in midfield and up front, even though Miller’s stamina is still up for considerable question.

But the undoubted star was Whitehead. For some reason – and probably related to his uncomplicated style – the ex Boro man has become a target for those among the Town support who are not happy without a scapegoat. Even his solid performances in early season have attracted criticism from this constituency, but his display at the Valley was flawless and, perhaps even more importantly in the circumstances of a newly constituted team, inspirational.

One win does not a season make, but there is a new platform for the manager to work with now. You would hope and expect that he will stamp on any complacency for the visit of Bolton – a team that may be far more resilient than their increasingly impoverished circumstances may suggest – and, at least, he can now work with one particular monkey off his back.

My eldest brother and I have watched football together since he reluctantly took me to a game under parental pressure (at 15, having to be guardian to a 9 year old was a mission many would have undertaken with a sulk), but whereas I was instantly hooked, the same scenario a couple of years earlier had failed to have the same effect on my middle brother. I often envy his non commitment.
Nearly 50 years later, his second match prompted the half time comment that he would leave it a bit longer for the third game, and you could fully understand why.
While the stifling heat was undoubtedly a factor in the lethargy of both teams, the sparkling weather was not nearly matched by the spectacle on the pitch.
Town’s dogged determination was admirable in a way, given the energy sapping conditions, but soporific in many more. Fulham were largely clueless, and their fans restless, forcing Murphy in to just one save beyond the regulation and the game was not helped by regular injury stoppages and an over fussy referee (who’s non-intervention, ironically, late in the game cost us 2 points).

Amidst the torpor, Town forced Fulham’s keeper in to 2 saves, and had the much discussed Butterfield’s shot fallen more kindly, Bunn may have put us in to an ill deserved lead.

Jacob, who was widely reported to be out of the squad (along with Vaughan, which also turned out to be false), showed us what we will be missing if Derby’s 4th offer is high enough. His intelligence and quick feet shone throughout – not only will it be a shame for him to go, you can’t also help feeling that, finances aside, his talent will be sidelined once the Rams get their full squad back and a player who possibly slightly lacks top division football quality through a lack of pace isn’t entirely convinced by the potential move either.

Thankfully, the first half drifted to an end – Fulham’s forwards had barely troubled dogged but sleep inducing Town defending and, yet again, deploying Wells up front largely on his own (against a huge centre half) never allowed us to build good pressure.

As they had against Hull, however, Town showed more ambition in a relatively lively second half. It was by no stretch of the imagination a classic , but both sides began to find more space and Town were showing more adventure.

Scannell had two back post efforts – a shot easily saved when Wells was better placed and a header the keeper did well to claw away – and the travelling support could see a little hope.

At the other end, Murphy made an excellent point blank save from a header and, along with a high quality stop from a McCormick free kick later in the game, has adapted exceptionally well to his new number 1 status. He is certainly not afraid to vent his frustrations at defenders – a sheepish Lynch was lambasted for giving away a cheap corner in the first half – and it is the type of organisational attention you want a keeper to show and which Smithies largely lacked.

The save at close range was pivotal – shortly afterwards, a Bunn surge on the right took him past a couple of defenders before the ball broke loose to Wells to slot home. It was his first goal away from home since the early part of last season at Ipswich and while he can still be unconvincing in general play (not helped by performing a now familiar but alien role), he looks harper in front of goal when rare chances come his way.

At this point, Chris Powell’s pragmatic tactics made some sense – soak up home side pressure then counter when they become frustrated – and further chances were created while Fulham simply didn’t look very dangerous despite having most of the possession following the goal. The best of these should have fallen to Miller (who had replaced Scannell to protect the talisman’s hamstring), but instead of playing the ball to him, Bunn elected to try to squeeze the ball in at the near post but the keeper was equal to it.

Butterfield was then replaced by Dempsey following a dead leg injury (inappropriate thoughts turned to an imminent medical) and much of our forward momentum was lost as eyes turned to the clock.

5 minutes of injury time were tortuous enough without the referee, who had favoured the home side throughout, refused what looked like an obvious free kick for 2 separate hacks at Bunn in the corner. Had Bunn been in a Fulham shirt, a game closing free kick would have been awarded but, as it was, a frustrated Bunn gave away a foul himself and the desperate Cottagers through up a long ball to their giant centre half to knock down to substitute Cauley Woodrow to equalise from close range.

The disappointment was palpable, but when the ire towards the referee had died down, supporters could reflect upon the fact that even a point seemed highly unlikely beforehand with the upheavals we are having to suffer in the lead up to the close of the transfer window.

A win, which we probably deserved, would have boosted us up an admittedly nascent league table of a division producing a surprising number of draws in the first weeks of the season, and it would have been a confidence boost for players, manager and fans.

While the football had been of fairly poor quality and the ending frustrating and disappointing, a summer visit to Craven Cottage and its gentrified surroundings was still pleasurable – though not enough to persuade my brother to experience the delights of Wolverhampton, Hull and Middlesbrough any time soon.