Five conclusions: Huddersfield Town's missing midfield in loss at Rotherham

Questionable officiating didn't help the Terriers' cause but the result was the right one after a disappointingly hollow showing

1. No hiding behind the ref: Town deserved to lose

Let’s tick off those big refereeing decisions first. There is no way that was a penalty — if anything, Mallik Wilks fouled Lasse Sorensen, not the other way round. Honestly, the Danny Ward challenge looked like a red card to us in the stadium; after seeing the replays multiple times, we’re not entirely sure either way.

What isn’t in question is that it was the right result in the end. There were issues even in the opening 45 minutes, but Town had their moments in a pretty even first half, when both teams traded good and bad spells. Lee Nicholls’ excellent goalkeeping bailed them out a couple of times, while Tom Lees missed a sitter at the other end amid a flurry of other promising openings.

But after the break, even before the sending off, Town were clearly second best. They owed the goalless state of the game to solid defending around their own box and wasteful attacking from Rotherham.

Following the red, it was deja vu all over again. Town unexpectedly scored through debutant Hodge thanks to some brilliant work from Josh Koroma, only to end up on the losing side.

We talked about the downward trajectory Town were on after the Shrewsbury and Walsall games. Still, we were able to point to a few excuses; Shrewsbury made it difficult, they played with ten men for over half a game against a bang-up-for-it Walsall, and so on.

However, despite the contentious refereeing decisions that led to goalkeeping coach Andy Quy being dismissed mid-game and Michael Duff receiving a red card after the final whistle, Town had to accept they got what they deserved for a poor, disjointed performance.

No more excuses. If they’re serious about promotion, they have to fix this now.