Five conclusions as Huddersfield Town offer nothing of themselves at Stevenage

The Terriers set up to hold their own physically against a big beefy Stevenage side, but failed to impose any of their own strengths onto the game in return

1. Stockport away, take two

We’ll give Huddersfield Town this: they certainly turned up at Stevenage ready for a battle. It’s just a shame they forgot they were actually there to play football.

We expected this game to be dreadful. Lunchtime kick-offs are often a bit lacking in zest at the best of times, Stevenage seem to be doing their level best not to allow any goals to happen at the Lamex Stadium whatsoever, and the potential risk of postponement due to an overly-soggy pitch was not entirely suggestive that any kind of free flowing football would be on offer.

Yet even still, this game managed to exceed our mildest expectations. Those away fans who made the trip down on the train from Leeds or Wakefield will be wishing they had stayed on past Stevenage and had a day out in London instead — although, to be fair, we imagine that is a common experience for visitors to the Hertfordshire town even at the best of times.¹

That kind of game is just what Stevenage do on their own turf (another reason to feel sorry for the locals) and better teams than Town have gone there and struggled to get anything going this season.

Fine. Accepted. But the problem Town have is that this game effectively nudged Terriers fans in the ribs and said: “Hey, remember that late defeat at Stockport last month? No? Well, here is exactly that game all over again as a reminder.”

Town created next to nothing in the first half and actually nothing in the second. They defended well for most of the game but then let themselves down with a momentary loss of concentration on a set piece in the final few minutes, rendering everything they had done up until then entirely pointless.

We will repeat now what we said then: getting a point out of playing like that is sketchy enough, but to do that and lose anyway is just a colossal waste of everybody’s time.