Five conclusions: Huddersfield Town let themselves down against Exeter

A 2–1 half-time lead slipped away as a sub-standard second-half display cost the Terriers two points

1. Lee Grant was right to be angry about that second half

Just when it seemed Huddersfield Town had turned a corner, they once again dropped points at home — and in thoroughly avoidable fashion.

Lee Grant’s side deserved their advantage at the break — not enormously so, but just about. In the end, though, they could count themselves fortunate that it took until the 89th minute for Exeter to get their second equaliser.

The manager was left furious by what he saw as the game moved further away from his side as the second period progressed. Grant reflected: “This is as angry as I’ve been. I’m so disappointed in our second-half performance.

“We lacked intensity in the second half. We didn’t prevent them from playing through, we didn’t show enough willingness to do all of the dirty, horrible stuff to protect the middle of the pitch.

“I’m disappointed in how we’ve set about it and how the second half has played out, and the last goal typifies it.

“It’s a cascade of lack of intensity, not stopping a cross, poor decision-making, not getting contact in the right moments and a goal at the end of it. Yes, it’s a wonderful finish, but [it’s] just not good enough.”

He’s not wrong. We found it difficult to find too much fault in Exeter’s first goal, a fine strike from the excellent Reece Cole. But the second goal saw Ben Wiles, Lasse Sorensen, Josh Feeney and the until-then-solid Radinio Balker all lacking in the commitment required to stop their respective men in the build-up and the finish.

It’s not a disastrous result, but it’s irritating nonetheless to see Town slip back into their bad habits. Over the previous four games, they had been notably better at avoiding these kinds of soft moments, thanks to a more vigorous approach to their defensive duties.

There had been similar instances earlier in the second half, too. We had hoped that at this point, Town didn’t need any more reminders of how costly it can be to slip into second gear with their work off the ball.