Five conclusions: Huddersfield Town's Crawley frustrations

Huddersfield Town put in a performance that should have delivered a comfortable away win but were undone by poor defensive errors and wasted chances

1. Hard to know what to make of that (yet)

Come here, we want to show you something. See those bits at either end, near the big white things that look like massive staples? Turns out those are the bits that are really really really important.

A lot of Huddersfield Town’s work in the areas between the penalty boxes was good; certainly better than Crawley’s. The midfield worked when Town remembered to include them. They created lots of openings in the first half and started turning them into chances in the second. They limited the opposition to very few in return.

Yet at the end of the game, the scoreboard showed Crawley Town 2-2 Huddersfield Town just the same — all for a long list of reasons that have become frustratingly familiar.

We’re not as down on this result or performance as we imagine a lot of fans are — at least, not yet. A draw away from home is generally fine, albeit less so against a side in the relegation zone. For our money, Town now need to win at least one of their next two away games, whereas we might previously have been fine with a pair of draws. (lol sounds like ‘pair of drawers’).

Rhys Healey’s header to make it 1-1 just before the hour marked the first time Town had scored an equaliser in a league game since February 24th, away to Watford. Scoring their next leveller just nine minutes later is more damning than encouraging, though still preferable to the alternative.

The foul odour of Tamworth is probably going to take a little while to shake off, and Town didn’t manage to do that here. That said, they didn’t especially exacerbate it either.

This ambivalence means that for the first time in a while, we have a mix of good and bad things to say in a five conclusions, rather than it being skewed entirely one way or the other. To a certain extent, your view on the game may depend whether you put more stock in performances or results at this stage of the season.

But we will say for the avoidance of doubt: this is a game Town would have expected to win, their fans would have expected them to win, and that on the day they should have won. It’s impossible not to be disappointed that they didn’t.