The unbeaten run continues!!!! In the league... a feat which has got us notable recognition across the footballing world... Well, across some platforms have taken notice, ‘The football ramble’, and the Guardians ‘football weekly’ were just a few of the podcasts covering our unbeaten run. Better still, The Sun lead with a headline in their pullout of, ‘played 36, lost NONE’. Anyway I was mightily pleased to see us dismantle Brentford down at their place, and then return home to edge out Stevenage.
The only downside was that during the week we were beaten by Bradford City, albeit on penalties, but a defeat is a defeat nonetheless. So, onto Griffin Park, a game which I looked on with trepidation, and would definitely have settled for a point beforehand. However that was not the case, as our talisman Rhodes returned, and wreaked havoc on his former club, a fantastic three points and a brilliant performance by the team. To beat Brentford away from home is an achievement, but to come away with a clean sheet and four goals is really impressive. Post match Uwe Rosler had good things to say about us.
“ They are clever, they know what it takes, and they targeted players, and did their homework."
Hearing this from an opposition manager is encouraging, as it shows we are thoroughly examining the opposition prior to games, and that now we are managing to exploit opponent’s weaknesses. Anyway, following the victory down south, I was in euphoric mood regarding all things Town related, and I’ll be honest, I wrote the Bradford match of as an easy fixture and a guaranteed win. How very wrong I was. We came up against a side playing with a lot of desire and commitment, make no mistake, this game was massive for the Bantams.
"I think it just summed it up for me towards the end of normal time when a shot came in and both Andrew Davies and Guy Branston flung themselves at the ball to block it.”
These comments from Phil Parkinson, emphasise the commitment, passion and desire of the Bradford players to get one over on us. They fought for everything, and in the end we cannot begrudge them their victory, however much it pains us to admit it. But that’s it, the JPT is over for another season (hopefully the last), and the Wembley dream is shattered, however it’s not the end of the world. Last season we played around 60 games in all competitions, and hopefully a swift exit from the JPT this time around will aid our push for promotion.
After the midweek derby against Bradford, it was on the grind of the league, and we welcomed Stevenage Borough to the Galpharm. A team not renowned for their passing ability, but more their capacity to win games by any means possible. This threw up a challenge for the squad, as our home form so far this season (and towards the end of last), hasn’t been totally convincing. After Robbo had fired us into a half-time lead, it seemed to feel inevitable that Stevenage would equalise, and I was the picture of rage when Scott Lairds cross-come shot nestled in the bottom corner. The response was not was I was expecting, I’ve grown all too accustomed in recent times to us conceding an equaliser, and then becoming blunt and sterile up front. I’m delighted to say I was wrong, and Super Novak then tapped in the equaliser from close range. Even then we still conspired to nearly f*ck things up, when a raking long ball caused confusion, and culminated in Anthony Kay conceding a penalty. “There we go, we’ve thrown away another f*cking lead at home, whyyyyyyyyyyy!?!”, I found myself saying. However, John Mousinho’s penalty was fired high into orbit, and is probably circling around a Russian space station as we speak. On the face of it, we got a well-earned victory against a tricky side, in reality we scraped past them by the skin of our teeth, but I’ll take it! Then at the final whistle, Lee Clark hurtled over to the Stevenage bench, theatrically rotated his arms, shook Westley’s hand, and then failed to secure a handshake of his assistant. Now this whole business about shaking hands really does my head in, managers should shake each other’s hands, and that’s it in my opinion. There’s no need to shake everyone’s hand, otherwise it would resemble David Cameron shaking hands with the unemployed :p. A melee ensued, and there was lots of ‘evil eyes’ and ‘lingering stares’, but nothing substantial really occurred. Hopefully we can use this whole forgettable issue as some sort of a mobilising force, and perhaps create a siege mentality, that will fire us on to the 100 point marker....
Anyway, a very eventful week or so for Huddersfield Town, a resounding victory away, a nail-biting loss to our rivals, and a win marred by controversy. Oh well, it’s all part and parcel of supporting this team, and I think there will be plenty more twists and turns before the seasons up. Exeter, Preston, Scunthorpe and Yeovil up next, should be interesting if nothing else, till then.
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