Five conclusions after Huddersfield Town take too long to figure out Burton

Those first-half struggles are fast becoming a major problem for Lee Grant's Terriers

1. Thirty minutes of attacking football isn’t enough in a game like this

This was one of those games where it was hard to single any individual out for criticism. Still, the overall team performance was largely uninspired.

Yes, Burton cleared three off the line in the last half hour, while Leo Castledine and Joe Low both wasted great chances late on. However, when you effectively only give yourself 30 minutes in which to score, that’s the risk you take. Had Town played like that over the whole 90, they would surely have found a breakthrough. But they didn’t.

With the greatest of respect to Burton, it’s simply nowhere near good enough for a side with Town’s squad and aspirations to play so poorly for the first hour of a home game. We would have come away with much the same feeling even if one of those late Town chances had found the net.

These poor first halves are a serious issue, even if they manifest in slightly different ways each time.

Burton had the best chances in the early stages as Town failed to turn up. The Terriers owe a debt to Lee Nicholls’ two low saves and a wasted Jake Beesley header for the point they managed to take. A more clinical side than the lowest-scoring team in the division might have taken better advantage of it.

Having ridden that out, Town got control of the ball but didn’t exert any control over the game. It was underwhelming, listless, uninspired — pick your adjective. We suspect you may prefer one that’s four-letters long.

Whether it was through intention or execution (and we suspect it was much more the latter), it ended up feeling a lot like Town put in a performance that would have been more appropriate in the first half at Valley Parade last week — patient to the point of ponderous, as if trying to take the sting out of the game.

In doing so, they failed to put in the kind of opening 15-20 minutes they produced at Bradford, which might have been much more suitable here.

2. Huddersfield Town are struggling to find the balance between sedate and rushed

The murmurs of discontent about Town’s patient approach to playing out with the ball started around half an hour in. They continued for the rest of the game, even after Town finally took it up a gear and started creating chances.