Huddersfield Town digest: Double injury blow but two set to return for final run-in
The Terriers have had bad news on Cameron Ashia and Josh Feeney, but Alfie May and Joe Low could return to face Wycombe on Saturday
What’s been said
You can read our selected highlights and listen along to the entirety of Martin Drury’s press conference, as well as Bojan Radulovic’s thoughts, right here on We Are Terriers. If you would prefer to watch along, that press conference was live-streamed on the club’s official YouTube channel.
Coming up next
Wycombe Wanderers will visit Accu Stadium on Saturday afternoon knowing that their charge on the play-offs has taken a significant hit over the past few weeks.
They have lost five of their past seven fixtures, accounting for half of their league losses since Michael Duff took over in mid-September. Wycombe have, in fairness, been handed a very tricky run-in: Bolton, Luton, Leyton Orient, Stockport and Bradford have all inflicted defeats on Wycombe in the past few weeks.
However, the Chairboys have shown they can still do it on their day, taking a 2-0 victory away from Cardiff and pummelling Port Vale 4-0 in the midst of that poor run of form.
Striker Cauley Woodrow has kept contributing regularly even as results have not gone their way, claiming six goals and three assists in his past 14 outings. Woodrow opened the scoring in a 3-0 victory over ten-man Town in the reverse fixture following Alfie May’s straight red card, with Fred Onyedinma and a Dan Vost own goal completing the rout.
Cardiff City will then come to town on Tuesday night for a game rearranged from last month’s international break.
The Bluebirds are currently in second place and seven points clear of third-placed Bradford, with their trip to Town serving as a game in hand. That means that if they beat third-placed Bolton on Saturday, and Bradford fail to beat Stevenage later that afternoon, Cardiff could potentially seal promotion straight back to the Championship with a victory over Huddersfield.
Cardiff have been in faltering form over the past couple of months, though, with two wins, three draws and three defeats from their past eight league games. They have lost just once on the road since Christmas, though, with Plymouth inflicting a 5-2 defeat at Home Park in February.
We’ll have five conclusions on the game for our paying subscribers first thing the next morning after each game, followed by further reaction in our weekly podcast — we’re going to play the scheduling by ear for this week’s episode, depending what happens on Saturday.
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Elsewhere in the top half of League One
There are three 12:30 kick-offs on Saturday, all featuring top-half sides:
Cardiff vs Bolton
Lincoln vs Leyton Orient
Plymouth vs Exeter
That’s followed by these 3pm kick-offs for Town to keep an eye on:
Bradford vs Stevenage
Doncaster vs Reading
Wigan vs Mansfield
Relevant games on Tuesday night look like this (both 7:45pm kick-offs):
Bolton vs Stevenage
Leyton Orient vs Mansfield
Then on Wednesday night at 7:45pm, we get the following games, which have been moved thanks to the Vertu Trophy final between Luton and Stockport being held this Sunday:
Luton vs Northampton
Wimbledon vs Stockport
Huddersfield Town injuries and absences
Alfie May missed the trip to Leyton Orient on Monday with a knock to his foot, but that injury has settled down and he has been back in training this week and should be available to face Wycombe.
Josh Feeney had to pull out of the squad at Brisbane Road with a quad issue after initially being named as a substitute, and has now returned to Aston Villa for treatment having been ruled out for the next 5-6 weeks.
George Sebine went off with a head injury moments after coming on against Orient. He is ‘good in himself’ but will be assessed on Friday morning to see if he can play a part on Saturday.
Joe Low is ‘really close’ to returning from his calf injury and may be available to play from Saturday.
Jack Whatmough was absent against Orient with a niggle. That injury is thankfully not as bad as first feared and he is keen to get back to action as soon as possible, but will not be considered for selection this weekend.
Cameron Ashia is likely to miss the rest of the season after seeing a specialist for a groin injury.
Ryan Hardie is still working their way back to fitness from an Achilles injury and is hoped to be available before the end of the season.
Predicted line-up to face Wycombe
3-4-1-2: Lee Nicholls; Radinio Balker, Murray Wallace, Sean Roughan; Lasse Sorensen, Cameron Humphreys, Marcus McGuane, Bali Mumba; Marcus Harness; Bojan Radulovic, Alfie May.
Substitutes: Jak Alnwick, Joe Low, Lynden Gooch, Mickel Miller, David Kasumu, Ryan Ledson, Dion Charles.
Huddersfield Town Women
Town Women will visit Blackburn Rovers in Sunday’s 2pm kick-off as they enter the final furlong of their title race.
The Terriers have slipped behind Leeds United in the table, but now have two games in hand thanks to not having played over the Easter weekend; Leeds meanwhile claimed a 2-1 victory over Wythenshawe.
Three victories from Town’s final four games would be enough to guarantee them FA WNL Division One North title — possibly less, if Leeds were to drop points in their remaining games against Norton & Stockton and Stockport.
Town will meanwhile host Cheadle on Sunday 19th April, visit York City on Wednesday 22nd, and finally close out their league campaign at home to Wythenshawe on Sunday 26th.
The date and venue has also been set for the Sheffield & Hallamshire FA Women’s Senior Cup final: Town will take on Sheffield FC on Wednesday 29th April (7:30pm) at Doncaster’s Eco-Power Stadium.