Huddersfield Town 3
Stoke City 1
Reported by Darren Reynolds
With this display on the back of last week's performance things are looking
up. We again dominated periods, played the better football, and deserved to
win. The only part of the game in which Stoke got on top were the twenty or
so minutes after our first goal and before Stoke's equaliser. Bad habits
die hard, and our trait of sitting back on a lead, a feature of Horton's
managership, reappeared.
The first half was a repeat of the Portsmouth match in that we dominated
possession but failed to turn it into enough chances. Dalton was unlucky
with a run and shot saved by the keeper. He is playing the most positive
football I remember seeing from a recent Town player. Throughout, the team
is playing better, knocking the ball about more confidently. There has been
a distinct improvement - in quality and commitment.
Town scored in the first minute of the second half with a low twenty yard
drive from Richardson into the bottom corner. Looks like we have a
midfielder who can score. And the new look midfield Jacko has brought in
must have a lot to do with our new-found ability to dominate possession
also. The bite is back.
But it was after this goal that the entire ten blue and white striped men
retreated to their own half, inviting pressure. Inevitably Stoke turned it
into a goal. An excellent finish from a tight angle into the roof of the
net. Bartram had no chance with this one.
But then the most crucial goal Stewart has scored for us. Witnin a minute
we had a free kick outside Stoke's area. Town played it quickly, Richardson
passing an exquisite ball through to Stewart in the centre of their
eighteen yard area, he controlled it, turned, and struck it passed the
keeper. In that moment he seemed to remember what a quality player he is,
because up until then it was another slightly disappointing performance
from him. He just lost possession far too much although he tried his heart
out. Thing is now we have the players to win the ball back in midfield.
Still, it would be nice if the ball stuck when played up to the front men.
Anyway, I don't think we'd have won if we hadn't struck back immediately.
The players heads would inevitably drop.
Lawson had come on at half time for Edwards and won a few balls in the air,
but never seemed to find a Town player. Mainly because there didn't seem to
be any around. That was because we spent a lot of the second half in
defensive mode.
Bartram made a great save, tipping the ball over the bar, making up for one
of his recent errors. And there was a lot of good tackling from Dyson,
Edmonson, having a much improved display from his games under Horton, and
Morrison.
Then, as the clock turned to the 89 Stoke got a corner. Their keeper
decided it was sh*t or bust and came forward. A Town defender cleared the
ball to the right flank. It looked as though Stoke were going to regain
possession but the ball broke to the best man it could possibly do at the
moment. Paul Dalton. He immediately burst forward, but had two defenders to
fend of. He got within twenty five yards of their goal and looked as though
he was going to lose possession. So he had to strike quickly. He did,
slotting it - indeed, passing it - by the defender in front, under pressure
from the other retreating Stoke player. It rolled into the empty net to an
explosion of celebrations. We knew we had won!
There was no keeper, but it was a great, accurate finish nevertheless. He
had plenty of work to do. Topping off another brilliant display from him.
Town could do no better than find Dalton as often as possible. He is
scaring defenders to death.
Basically, Jackson has upped the performance rate from all the players, and
got them passing the ball around more, and regaining possession when the
frontmen lose out, as they still do too often. Stewart is not enough on his
own.
We can still get out of this mess. As away games go, the next, at Tranmere
on Tuesday, looks winable.