Five conclusions on Huddersfield Town's flawed but professional victory over Leyton Orient

Despite Lee Grant admitting there is still work to be done, his new-look Terriers coasted to a 3–0 victory on the opening day

1. Getting that result despite evident room for improvement is a very positive sign

With eight new signings in the starting line-up, it’s not surprising that Huddersfield Town’s performance had some flaws.

Some of their work on the ball in their own half was unnecessarily sloppy. They spent the latter half of the first half playing on the back foot. There were too many silly bookings that left players playing long stretches on a tightrope, especially with Leyton Orient going out of their way to force those yellows to become reds.

Yet Town were still far, far better than they were last season, and came away with a 3-0 win against a side who battered them 4-1 just three months ago and would be playing Championship football now if things had gone differently at Wembley.

That may be over-egging things a bit, of course. Town know very well the damaging effect that losing both a play-off final and their best players can have going into the next season. Richie Wellens felt compelled to apologise to Orient fans after the game for his side’s ‘boring’ and ‘very immature’ performance; to some extent Town may have faced Orient at exactly the right time.

But there was also plenty to like about Town’s performance. Lee Grant’s side delivered on the new sense of identity and purposefulness they had shown over the summer, and many of the issues they exhibited in certain stages of the game feel like they could well be solved simply through this new-look line-up having five to ten games playing together.