Five conclusions: Reintegrations and disintegrations against Bolton

Huddersfield Town had little niggling issues throughout their unbeaten run and they all added up to a 1-0 defeat at the John Smith's Stadium

1. It was going to happen eventually

In the name of good old Billy Balance, and to avoid any accusations of spinning the narrative, we should repeat our words from the matchday programme: going 16 games unbeaten in the league took some doing on Town’s part. One defeat in 17 is still a very good record.

But there’s no pretending that Town have been imperious throughout that run. Just the other day, Herbie Kane spoke at the pre-match press conference about the importance of Town picking up points even in games where they haven’t played particularly well.

Still, let’s be honest: a result like this has been coming for the past few weeks. Town’s issues in front of goal this season have been documented to death, but in the past month especially, there have been plenty of games in which they have either failed to produce many chances, or have created loads but failed to put them away.

The new centre-forwards were signed to address the latter problem. Their ability to solve the first one is more limited. That’s the kind of game Town had here, with Callum Marshall’s 79th minute saved effort on goal from a narrow angle their first and only shot on target all afternoon. Too many other attacks simply disintegrated in the final third.

Meanwhile, Town have been strong defensively against progressive sides: they have had less than 50% possession in nine league games this season. In those nine games, they have won eight, lost one (at Birmingham), and conceded just twice.

But they have looked vulnerable on the counter-attack and in the counter-press against teams who make things a bit more end-to-end or try to play on the break.

Those two niggling issues were going to add up to a frustrating 1-0 defeat to a well-organised opponent at some point, and that’s exactly what happened here. The whole game felt like Bolton had watched Blackpool’s first half last weekend and thought, yeah, we’ll do that, but for longer.