Five conclusions as Huddersfield Town go from too hot to too cold at Blackpool

A wild first half gave way to an uninspired second as Lee Grant's side suffered their first defeat of the season

1. Blackpool were the first side to exploit a recurring Huddersfield Town issue

After an excellent league start, a massive cup result in midweek, and an early goal at Bloomfield Road, it’s tempting to reach for complacency as an explanation for Town conceding three first-half goals in such shambolic fashion.

Maybe there was a bit of that. If Town were getting ahead of themselves, we would hope they now feel appropriately chastened.

But then we thought about the Leyton Orient game on the opening day. A sloppy Town side had looked relieved when half-time came after having been under pressure for the final 20 minutes of the half. We also thought about their poor decision-making in the Reading game, which made life hard for them.

And we thought, no, this had been coming. Blackpool are simply the first team to have exploited Town’s tendency for brain fades early on. We still can’t put a finger on why that is happening, but Grant had his own theory.

This time, it presented itself more off the ball than on it. The most glaring of the errors came in the build-up to the first goal, with Jack Whatmough letting the ball bounce to permit Niall Ennis a clear run on goal.

Individual errors are one thing. After all, mistakes will happen at the highest levels of football, never mind League One.

However, as Grant observed, his side failed to grasp that the game was still only 18 minutes in and the score was level. We admired the way Town responded each time they went behind to Leicester in midweek, so we don’t want to be too harsh. Even so, this was a different situation, with nuances they failed to recognise.

Playing away, they had the time to take some of the adrenaline out of the home fans and the opposition players and play their way back into the game. They had been patient yet dominant up until the equaliser. A return to that approach would have been perfectly fine.

But their haste to go straight on the attack and restore their lead was too much of a distraction for their own good. They failed to realise that Blackpool had their tails up and were ready to strike again.

Hence, Blackpool’s second goal. This was the most disappointing of the three. From a routine Tangerines throw-in inside the Terriers’ third, Lee Grant’s side made it shockingly easy for the hosts to play their way through four or five Town players before Lee Evans smashed the ball past Goodman.

A third Blackpool goal followed after more ragged defending. For the first time this season, Town had given themselves too big a challenge to overcome.