Five conclusions: Late loss at Stockport gives Huddersfield Town nothing to hold onto

Lee Grant’s side defended well but offered little going forward and suffered the consequences

1. Huddersfield Town’s inferiority complex is inexplicable and infuriating

They just can’t help themselves, can they?

There is a great deal of criticism that can be levelled at Huddersfield Town in this game, but a point away to Stockport would have been a decent result in spite of it all. Everyone would have been rightly grumbling regardless, but it would have been something.

However, while Town defended their box until the very last moment of the game, they gave the visiting fans practically nothing in the way of entertainment or encouragement. They haven’t done so against a promotion rival at any point this season.

Honestly, what is that all about? How is it that teams like Bolton and Stockport can dominate Town and snatch late winners, yet Town have failed to do the same against comparable opposition?

Even against sides around them in the table, the Terriers have found ways to lose — Luton away being one example — and on several occasions have deservedly conceded three goals, at Bradford and Cardiff, with Blackpool, Barnsley and Wycombe also adding to the list.

Lee Grant was once again left fuming after the game. He said the performance wasn’t at all what they had rehearsed for in training and that his side’s work on the ball looked devoid of confidence and self-belief.

He’s got that right, and it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy at this point. The goal felt like a divine intervention from the gods of football, who looked down on Edgeley Park and declared: ‘No, you don’t deserve to draw when you’re going to play like that. Into the net it goes.’

But that’s being fanciful. In reality, it was simply another moment of awful defending as Town managed to let two men go free at the back post from a well-worked set piece.

Town aren’t winning these kinds of games because they’re not good enough to win them. They are losing these games because they deserve to lose them. And there is no obvious reason why this should be the case. You almost want to grab the players by the shoulders and shout, “Just be better!”