Five conclusions as Huddersfield Town are forced back to the drawing board by Luton defeat

Injuries and missed opportunities, along with a sub-par first half, proved costly as Lee Grant’s Terriers were beaten 2–1

1. Huddersfield Town’s injury news was worse than the result

The change to a 4-4-2 had been transformative for Huddersfield Town over the past few games. Still, it didn’t take long to realise that they might struggle to replicate those performances without Mickel Miller on the left wing.

In this context, Lee Grant’s post-match revelation that the winger will miss a further two months with a hamstring injury was a particularly bitter blow.

The Terriers were consistently five per cent below Luton’s application and fight throughout the first half. Leo Castledine’s performance as a makeshift left winger was particularly poor.

Failing to live up to Robbie Williams’ standards, the Chelsea loanee didn’t offer Ruben Roosken enough protection, forcing Ryan Ledson to provide cover. This, in turn, dragged the rest of midfield out of position, helping Luton to keep up the pressure throughout the first half hour of the game.

Castledine’s second-half free kick showed why he got the nod for that role despite not being the best fit. As we know already, he is capable of moments of quality that few in this squad can match, and we genuinely don’t mean that as a knock on anybody.

But is he the right tactical solution for this system? We have significant doubts. The issue for Grant is that the next most obvious candidate for the role, Cameron Ashia, arguably has the same issues with his work off the ball.

There may be scope for Grant to make adjustments without losing too much, particularly as not all of Town’s games will be as much of a scrap as this one. As always seems to be the case when Huddersfield travel to Kenilworth Road, Luton looked far from the most talented side, but more than made up for it with their work rate and combativeness.

On the balance of play over the 90 minutes, they probably deserved to edge it and the scoreline was about right. Of course, they were helped considerably by some nightmarish defending from the visitors for the second goal. Meanwhile, for the first time this season, Grant (reasonably) bemoaned a couple of big refereeing decisions that went against his side and could have changed the game.

But as Grant acknowledged after the final whistle, it’s a disappointing result nonetheless. Just as Town looked to be gathering momentum, it is back to the drawing board, both in terms of picking the players back up and finding a way to get a winning side onto the pitch.

Miller’s absence isn’t Town’s only issue on those counts. Marcus Harness is also suspended for Saturday’s home clash against Wimbledon having picked up his fifth yellow card. What’s more, having just returned from a four-month lay-off with an MCL injury, poor Antony Evans lasted less than two minutes after coming off the bench before he was down holding his knee in evident pain and disconsolation.