Five conclusions: Huddersfield Town's poor start turns into another strong finish

Doncaster Rovers were the better side throughout the first half, but Lee Grant's Terriers once again found a way to turn things around after the break

1. Huddersfield Town’s first-half issue resurfaced

After beating Reading ten days earlier, Lee Grant said this about his side playing out from the back: “It’s risky if you don’t train it. It’s risky if you don’t have the players to execute it.

“The players and I have spoken really long and hard about this — who we want to be, how we want to be this season — and as much as we can, we want to be us.

“We know what that looks like internally. The goal for us is to give a really clear picture to everybody externally what that is as well. We’re still working our way towards that.”

Are they ever.

Town have had a bad first-half spell in each of their four games so far this season. Here it lasted the entire 45 minutes.

There was some good defending to keep things goalless — Josh Feeney’s block, Leo Castledine’s fabulous recovery tackle — but also some wastefulness from Doncaster. Town were fortunate they weren’t punished the same way Blackpool put them to the sword at the weekend.

As against Leyton Orient and Reading, the biggest issue was the Terriers’ poor work on the ball in their own half, which repeatedly handed a notoriously high-pressing Doncaster side opportunities to catch them on the counter-press.

To call Town’s first half-hour flat would be an understatement. Grant’s side were trying to invite on the Doncaster press that has helped them achieve their 100% start to the season and patiently play through it.

One moment in the 9th minute showed both the risk Town were taking and why they were trying to do it. Murray Wallace gave the ball away from the edge of his own box, only for Josh Feeney to intercept Doncaster’s pass in return and send Town straight on the attack, culminating in Ruben Roosken’s cutback for Alfie May, which was cleared.

Still, Town often ended up going nowhere or putting themselves in serious trouble. Wallace and Goodman, in particular, were fortunate their glaring errors went unpunished, rescued respectively by a Feeney block and a wayward shot. Wallace struggled in general, and clearly needed more support.