Huddersfield is a nice easy away game to get to. Except when everyone has decided to have accidents on the bits of motorway I need to use to get to Huddersfield. The satnav suggests a Top Gear road trip episode of a route taking me via Bowland and selection of the Radio Lancashire cricket score round up towns. The scenery is pretty and I have the added bonus of seeing a hipster couple in the middle of nowhere, wearing matching entirely green outfits, walking a poodle and (the hipster presenting as male only) possessing the kind of moustache that both everyone's 1970s dad and all of the 1980s serial killers had.
Finally we make it to what I like to call 'the industrial north's version of Bath' (cos it's in a valley like Bath and has yellow stone, like Bath) and find a car park. The team is less death or glory, all or nothing, devil may care, caution to the wind, we'll score one more than you and more 'we'll be probably about as stodgy as you are, try to break us down and we'll try and nab one on the break...'
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The first half follows a fairly mundane pattern. They pass the ball out of play quite a lot. We pass it about and don't get very far. It's a weird event - a Sunday game that doesn't have the 'we're on Sky so we'd better show off a bit for the telly factor' and people, presumably delayed by the same things that caused Google to reroute me through middle earth are still turning up in dribs and drabs through the first quarter of an hour.
Dom Thompson is lively on the left. The midfield is congested. Theo manages to drift through though and tries a speculative effort that is surprisingly close. More congestion, more passing out of play, more getting it, giving it away, getting it back and so on ensues. A Huddersfield player sets himself for a slide rule pass but slide rules it over the goal line to some muted derision. Town fans are already grumbling. Dom Thompson is in tight spot but his spin to get out of it is sensational. That doesn't cheer them up at all.
There's some great closing down... Jerry is through. He beats one, he does something that's either a cross shot, a cross or a shot but whatever it is (I'm low down and miles away so the other end might as well be in Hull for all I can really make out) it doesn't go in. There's a general gnashing of teeth at the missed opportunity.
Town make a few chances. They're not very good at most of football but they are decent at taking corners. Sorba Thomas is all cornrows and viscous inswinging delivery. There's general panic as one is glanced wide, lots of stretching of sinews as Marvin nods one away and then heads the ball wide again from the return ball. There's concern as Grimmy punches one, but also takes the striker's head with it. He lives. Thorniley, who is terrific today, throws himself at one and does really well to bullet it wide, not past Grimshaw.
Talking of terrific, Dan Grimshaw makes a couple of fantastic stops, one from distance, where he sees the shot coming, steps, loads up, springs, reaches and guides the ball round the post, the other, from a near post effort that again, he is supremely well placed to deal with, falling on it and killing a dangerous situation stone dead.
C'mon Pool! We're looking stand offish. Huddersfield really aren't up to much, but if you let Stannah under 9's play for long enough, they'll score against you sooner or later and we're giving this bona fide championship side way too much time. 'Get into the them!' hollers the bloke behind me, just as the ball breaks and Gabriel is in a footrace to win it. He clatters into the tackle in the way that makes him beloved of virtually everyone of a tangerine persuasion... He comes out with the ball, he's racing up the right flank, he's cutting inside, he's squaring to Poveda who buys a bit of space, shoots and, oh... the chance has gone... but no, it's rebounded to Theo who.... SCORES!!!!
Theo seems to do this. He. Just. Scores. No fuss. No faff. Just pops the ball in the back of the net when it comes to him.
We'll take that all day.
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It's all been a bit hot, sluggish and humid but a lead is a lead and better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.
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The flip side of being close to the front is that when the players have turned around, you can get a full close up of their wizardry. Poveda has lovely balance and seems comfortable receiving the ball and going either way with it. I like him. I like his song even more. POVEDA!!! Theo is a switched on CJ, his off the ball work much tighter but his sudden burst of pace and leggy running style similar. Jerry is linking really nicely and doing his usual angled running and little flicks.
We're doing pretty well (i.e. not much is happening and we're still winning) until they have a corner. It seems to take forever to take and next to me, someone says 'sooner or later they're going to have to put one of these in' - what happens next, is... they put it in. Fuck's sake. My head jerks back in that instinctive angry whiplash response to a goal from the other side. My head returns to it's normal position and whilst my ears are telling me that they've scored, my eyes are seeing Grimmy with the ball in his hands, setting Pool off for a counter attack. The ball is down the pitch... Poveda (POVEDA!) is haring in with the last man and almost getting through.
What the fuck just happened?
The most fun thing about the day, aside from the Poveda song (POVEDA!) and Theo's goal is pretending to celebrate imaginary goals for the next 5 minutes after their goal/not is declared not a goal.
We defend manfully. Connolly has a masterful trip as they break that earns a round of applause for it's well timed, clinical necessity. Williams gets booked for a lunge and then mistimes two more. He looks a bit like Marvin when he's shadowing his man back, but in about 5 minutes he gets more slide tackles wrong than Marvin has in his whole career. Jimmy Husband is always ready to come on and when he comes on, things look altogether more solid. I think Jimmy could be exiled to Sibera for ten years, lose half his body weight, lose an arm, but on his return, he'd just slot in like he's been ever present.
We offer very little going forward, Yates streams into the box and offloads to Poveda who has an effort bundled wide but that aside, it's not surprising when Lavery is warmed up and CJ readied for action. The subs throw me a little though as I'd assumed Yates would make way as he's run himself into the ground as usual for the 3rd time in 8 days but it's Poveda (presumably not ready for 90 minutes) and Theo who make way.
Lavery chases hard and runs everything down. CJ gives a highlight's reel of things that make CJ frustrating. Time ticks on. Dougall prompts a song by tackling the same man three times, being walked all over and yet, still getting up and coming away with the ball. Town carry on passing the ball out of play about every 4 minutes but in between they do launch it into the box but with no real joy. Jimmy makes a great block. Gabriel chucks himself in front of a shot. 5 minutes go up. Jerry is brilliant at shielding the ball and wasting time. Huddersfield have one more go and then...
YES!
The sweet sound of the whistle and some general delight. Appleton is so no fuss, bit of applause, off you go and I really like that. Gabriel looks so happy he might aggressively shake his first of the end of his arm in celebration at the end. Hey Baby! (ooh ah!)
I even see Big Gaz outside. What's not to love?
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I have no idea if their goal was a goal or not. It was like looking through the wrong end of a telescope but if it wasn't, then, it's another master save by Grimmy who was fucking ace today and if it was then, well, we don't get luck ever, until we do and that's life so we'll grab it with both hands and run off not looking backwards.
I think we need to discuss the centre half partnership. Thorniley hasn't (to the best of my memory) made a mistake in any game he's played since Blackburn away. In most of them he's looked the best centre half. I don't have a problem with Williams but he wasn't convincing today and that's the second time he's been hauled off this season. Aside from that though, we were defensively very good and all involved did their jobs very well, including the welcome sight of Jimmy Husband doing Jimmy Husband things.
It was, to be honest, proper ugly football. The midfield reduced with tackles, headers and grappling and thus the expansive, thrilling stuff we saw only last week was but a memory but it was good that we got something out of a game like this and good that we can find different ways to play, especially after getting a bit of mauling by Rovers in a similarly scrappy game last time out. I very much like the look of Poveda (POVEDA!) - He's not Josh Bowler - and frankly, who is or could be? - but he looks like he can drift, find space and has no little skill and no lack of fight. He really reminds me of someone too, but I can't put my finger on it...
Football on Sunday is weird though. I don't like it. I've got to go to work tomorrow and that's no good at all. 3 points is grand though.
Onward!
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