Five conclusions as Town’s top-six hopes fade following loss to Wycombe

Making up a four-point gap in just five games feels like it's going to be too much for Jon Worthington's side

1. This result shouldn’t have mattered so much — but it did

There was a huge amount riding on this game for both sides. Wycombe needed a win to keep the pressure on Wrexham in second. More significantly for us, a win for Huddersfield Town would have been a huge boost to their fading top six hopes.

We’re at the stage of the season when a strong play-off contender would be able to shrug off a defeat to a side above them in the table, much as Stockport or Charlton would have been able to do had they been on the receiving end of a 1-0 defeat. We gave it a go and fell just short, but we’ll get it done in the other games.

However, Town’s shortcomings against lesser opposition over the past few months — and in that awful run earlier in the season — left them with no such luxury. They now have two places and four points to make up to earn a play-off place that their form over the second half of the season by no means deserves.

We’re not calling it a done deal, but even a flawless Town would be reliant on those two sides directly above them both stumbling. We can see Town overtaking one or the other of Reading or Bolton at this point, but both seems fanciful with just five games left to go.

2. Same old, same old

The other day, inspired by a discussion on a podcast I listen to and out of sheer ego-driven curiosity, I asked ChatGPT to write a report on a Town defeat in the style of Steven Chicken from We Are Terriers.

That was as much input as I offered, yet this side’s problems have been so firmly established at this point that I could just copy and paste it here with minimal editing. In fact, let’s do that now: