Huddersfield Town digest: Marcus McGuane hit with ACL injury but three back vs Wimbledon
The League One season will kick off on Saturday at Accu Stadium with a visit from Wimbledon
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 Ashley Fletcher’s thoughts— right here on We Are Terriers shortly.
Coming up next
Town will kick off their League One campaign at home to AFC Wimbledon at 3pm on Saturday.
Wimbledon had a very up-and-down season after arriving in League One last season, drawing just eight games all campaign as they alternated between runs where they barely lost and streaks where they couldn’t buy a win.
That meant they ended up finishing in 19th place, just four points clear of the drop zone, with their safety confirmed before their final-day 4-0 defeat at home to Huddersfield.
Johnnie Jackson’s side are being widely tipped to struggle this season and are among the favourites for relegation, but have made a number of transfer moves in a bid to improve their hopes, including making Zack Nelson’s loan from Luton into a permanent move and taking Ollie Harrison on loan from Chelsea.
Wimbledon needed a 97th-minute Callum Maycock equaliser to make it 1-1 and take the game to penalties at home to League Two Newport County in the EFL Cup last weekend, with the Dons faultless in the shootout to book their place in the next round.
We’ll have five conclusions on the game for our paying subscribers first thing on Sunday morning, followed by further reaction in Monday morning’s podcast.
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Huddersfield Town injuries and absences
Marcus McGuane ruptured his ACL in training on Wednesday and is now set for a very lengthy lay-off that is likely to cover most, if not all, of the season.
Not an injury, but Martin Drury has indicated that Archie Collins is not ready to go straight into the team having been without a club all summer. The midfielder, whose signing was confirmed on Thursday morning, trained with his former club Exeter but has not played a part in any pre-season friendlies.
Ilias Bronkhorst, Bojan Radulovic and Murray Wallace are however all available for selection against Wimbledon after missing out against Preston last weekend
Martin Drury has hinted that Tom Iorpenda is unlikely to be considered for selection at present due to transfer interest, with a move “looking likely to happen”.
Herbie Kane (hamstring) and Cameron Ashia (groin) remain sidelined for the time being.
Predicted line-up to face Wimbledon
3-4-1-2: Matty Young; Radinio Balker, Jack Whatmough, Ibane Bowat; Ilias Bronkhorst, Ryan Ledson, Ethan Brierley, Jay Sway; Derensili Sanches Fernandes, Ashley Fletcher, Marcus Harness.
Substitutes: Jak Alnwick, Murray Wallace, Lasse Sorensen, Archie Collins, Bali Mumba, Bojan Radulovic, Joe Taylor.
Huddersfield Town Women
After their table-topping campaign last time out, Town Women will kick off their first season back up in the third-tier FA WNL Northern Premier Division by travelling to face Norwich City for their season opener on Sunday.
The Canaries are also newly-promoted into the division after emerging triumphant in a promotion play-off in the regionalised fourth tier last season.
Town have also announced that they will be playing at Accu Stadium for their first home game of the season against Loughborough Lightning on Sunday 23rd August in a 2pm kick-off — tickets are available now priced at £7 for adults, £5 for U18s and £1 for U14s.
