Five conclusions: Birmingham City show Huddersfield Town the gap

The Blues ran out 1-0 winners but it could and should have been a bigger margin of victory

1. Four defeats in a row is bad for anyone, let alone self-declared promotion hopefuls

Yes, like Reading, this was an improvement on Northampton and Blackpool — which isn’t saying much.

But before we get into the merits and shortcomings of Huddersfield Town in this game, we must first acknowledge that this is one of those occasions when trying to apply context misses the point entirely.

It’s not so much this defeat or performance, which had it happened at the end of an acceptable run of form would have been disappointing but not fatally so. That’s five losses for Town already this season, after just nine games. They currently sit in 15^th, with the top of the league twice as far away as the relegation zone — and Birmingham still have a game in hand.

This defeat marks the first time Town have lost four league games in a row since their disastrous start to life back in the Championship, with the prior occasions straddling a Mark Hudson caretaker spell and the Cowleys’ first two games in charge. (CORRECTION: It was actually during an injury crisis under Carlos Corberan in January 2021. Apologies for the error — but the overall point still stands.)

To have matched this point-less run again, in the league below, despite a positive start to the season is, frankly, unacceptable.

This isn’t a case of false expectations being dashed: Huddersfield Town promised a fresh start this season, and fans — to their credit — bought into that. It was not unreasonable for them to think they had already hit rock bottom, and yet…