Follow @Terrierblogs on Twitter

Monday 31 October 2011

3 points at Yeovil as Clark keeps hiush over foxes job


As I write this in a darkened room, banishing the last remnants of an apocalyptic hangover, the question over Clarks future at our club still remains unanswered. With Leicester City prowling around like an urban fox around a dustbin (you see what I did there), there’s only one thing left to do, wait and see.
However on a positive note, we’ve returned from Yeovil with a vital three points, which has managed to keep us in touch of the leaders, and extend our  unbeaten run to 41 matches, yes 41 matches! It would be safe to say that this match was not the best, but we won the match and that’s what champions do.... I hope. As the game reached its end, the cameraman went crazy, and Anton Robinson steered the ball into the glovers net.  My favourite moment of this match however, was seeing the passion exhibited by Lee Clark when we almost conspired to concede, this to me is not the behaviour of a man on his way. Anyway 3 points done, and in the words of Lee Clark ‘job done’.
Now onto the small matter of Lee Clark and Leicester City... Having lived in Leicester for around two years, and been subject to dogs’ abuse for supporting Town, then seeing Peltier leave this summer, it is another reason behind my burning hatred of the foxes. The word on the street, I am led to believe from my fox-loving friends and family, is that Mark Hughes will be their next manager and not our lord and saviour Lee Clark. However it would seem that the word on the street and the word from the press are a different thing altogether.

“It is understood City held off an approach before Huddersfield's weekend match at Yeovil to avoid unsettling Clark.” Leicester Mercury, 31/10/2011

Now this coupled with the ever-shortening odds at the bookies make for startling reading, and as you well know if you’re a regular reader, I tend to infer a lot from what the bookmakers are saying. Also Clarks rather obtuse response to the questions regarding his future has filled me with great doubt regards our chances of keeping him. Unfortunately all we can do now is wait, and hopefully the board will be making contingency plans if the worst were to happen. I’d love to see Clark stay, but if not we have to act swiftly and intelligently and bring in a manager to carry on our promotion hunt. Mistakes cannot be made, ‘till next time...

Monday 24 October 2011

Phil Browns Perma-tan and Jordan Rhodes

 Two weeks exactly since the last Terrier Blog came bulldozing into your computers, and an awful lot has happened with HTAFC since that last blog. In the month so far, our league form reads P 4 W4 F 13 A 2. That is impressive reading, augmented by the fact that we have beaten some pretty decent teams during this mini-run, and that in doing so we have maintained our unbeaten run, which now stands at a staggering 39 games; 3 of Forests record.
Anyway, on to the match down at St James’ Park against an out of form Exeter City, a game which I expected us to win in, but could equally see it causing us a few problems. However two goals either side of half-time, including a superb hat-trick from the talismanic Jordan Rhodes ensured all three points, even Alan Lee scored!!! An emphatic victory for Town which propelled us up to 2nd in the table, and a truly enjoyable weekend all round.  The two recent away victories to Exeter and Brentford have reminded me of Southampton’s form last season, when they simply brushed off sides with ease. Now, I wouldn’t be a Town fan if I was inclined to get so easily carried away, and I am indeed very wary of a catastrophic loss of form. Perhaps a loss of form could be precipitated by the ending of our phenomenal unbeaten record, which I thought may have been in jeopardy against Preston. But then I remembered that they’re under the stewardship of a tactically inept, sickeningly orange C U Next Tuesday, and I was suddenly re-invigorated with confidence! Then on to the match, and an early mistake was pounced upon by who else, but Jordan Rhodes. A second was to follow from the head of our top goal scorer, leading to a flood of #heplayshescores trends on Twitter. After the break it almost seemed inevitable that JR would complete his third hat-trick for club and country in recent work, and that he did, with a calm cool and calculated finish. Although the result was slightly tarnished with a consolation goal from Preston, the points were in the bag, and the result was emphatic. Our recent form, and publicity has sent shockwaves out amongst league 1, and has seen us installed as favourites for the league with many bookies, Paddypower placing us as 2/1 favourites for the championship! The bookies don’t often get it wrong, and I have often used their odds as a barometer of our hopes and ambitions, so let’s hope their right!
Scunthorpe and Yeovil on the cards next for the in-form Terriers, and hopefully we can return from these two games with at least 4 points. The Yeovil game is distinctly winnable, whereas the Scunthorpe game poses much more of a threat. We all know they’re capable of playing very good football, and perhaps later in the season they’ll climb much further up the league, so we’ll have to be at our best. It’s good to see Jordan Rhodes says he’s focusing on the Scunthorpe game more than extending his spectacular goal haul. I for one would love another few hat-tricks from Jordan over the next two games though. ‘Till next time...

Monday 10 October 2011

Battered Bees, buoyant Bantams and 'shakegate'

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.