Huddersfield Town player verdicts as Joe Low and Ryan Ledson goals secure win at Fylde
The Terriers went behind to an early goal from the National League side but came back to win 2-1 in the second half as hitting the woodwork three times
First half
Matty Young — Wasn’t really called into action, other than being unable to keep out Jack Morris’ well-struck effort from close range.
Lynden Gooch — Too easily beaten by Fylde left winger Dylan Allen-Hadley twice in the opening minutes, including on the way to the hosts’ opener. Looked a tad fortunate not to be called for a foul on Allen-Hadley midway through the half. Showed a bit more after that really poor start and helped create a couple of opening
Radinio Balker — Put in a good half on and off the ball after extending his contract earlier this week. Got forward to play a dinked ball through to Joe Taylor that didn’t quite come off.
Jack Whatmough — Steady away with his defensive duties. Looked to put Town on the attack whenever he came into possession.
Sean Roughan — Got caught up in a high-speed tangle with Jack Morris that saw the Fylde man tumble over the ad boards and pick up a nasty-looking head injury. Put a decent strike not too far over the bar on the half hour, and had another saved moments later.
Marcus Harness — Hit the post with a bouncing effort midway through the half. Constantly available for cutbacks from inside the box, and served as a fulcrum between the lines when Town weren’t playing straight through the defence.
Ethan Brierley — Another promising summer outing. Sat a bit deeper than his midfield colleagues a lot of the time and looked to spray the ball out to the flanks or go over the top to find runners, which he did to excellent effect on three or four occasions.
Marcus McGuane — Couldn’t quite get his attempts to play straight through to the front two to pay off. Looked more useful in attack as an extra man to help play around the corner.
Bali Mumba — Played on the left wing and looked bright with his runs and work on the ball again. Made what looked to be a great run in behind to get to Brierley’s pass on eight minutes only to be called offside. Got into the box of a Roughan throw-in (which is fun to say) to play a useful knockdown to Harness on the way to Taylor hitting the bar. Quite like what we’ve seen from him as a winger so far.
Ashley Fletcher — Very hard-working off the ball throughout his 45 minutes, and created an opportunity for Joe Taylor early on by successfully closing down the keeper. Played the pass of the half when he found Mumba with a raking ball from halfway before getting into the box looking to receive a cross. Unselfish almost to a fault, opting to pass a promising opening to Roughan to have a crack from an even better position.
Joe Taylor — Another game of lots of smart running and good decisions earning him multiple goalscoring opportunities but no goal to show for it. Would have been given a tap-in by Mumba had the winger not been caught offside in the build-up. Teed up Harness to hit the post with a smart cutback. Smashed his best chance against the crossbar from Fletcher’s pass just before the break.
Second half
Jak Alnwick — Actually came on four minutes into the second half, for some reason, but we won’t split hairs.
Ilias Bronkhorst — Our first chance to get a look at him at right-back. Impressed the travelling Town fans with some of his work up that flank and clearly has a touch of class with the ball at his feet.
Joe Low — Took his goal superbly, controlling Evans’ lofted pass on the half-turn before smashing his bouncing finish into the top corner via the ground. Great sliding block to deny Fylde a potential tap-in from a low ball across the face of goal.
Murray Wallace — Exactly what you’d expect, and we mean that as a compliment.
Jay Sway — Really good outing at left-back. Got forward when the opportunity arose and wanted a penalty four minutes after coming on, with Town scoring from the corner that was actually given instead. Went about his defensive duties capably.
David Kasumu — Looked to have been working on his passing over the summer — played a couple of long balls early the half that surprised us, including one that Lasse Sorensen finished off only for the flag to go up and rule it out.
Ryan Ledson — Leapt like a salmon to meet Antony Evans’ corner and nod Town in front. Typically combative in midfield. This system looks like it plays to his strengths well with its focus on energetic defending and progressive forward balls.
Lasse Sorensen — Played on the right wing ahead of Bronkhorst. Had his ‘goal’ ruled out for offside. Had a couple of moments where he did all the hard work to get into promising positions but his final ball let him down.
Antony Evans — Played as a pair of number 10s in possession alongside Tom Iorpenda. Claimed two assists within four minutes of coming onto the pitch, first teeing up Low with a second ball into the box after a set piece, then putting it right onto Ledson’s head with a corner from the left for the second.
Tom Iorpenda — Enjoyed playing in the left channel with fellow academy product Sway in support. Saw a shot come back off the bar after a neat exchange with George Sebine.
George Sebine — Ran his socks off, as ever. Very unlucky not to get an assist for Iorpenda strike against the woodwork, and equal unfortunate that his squeezed-off shot from Wallace’s knockdown trickled the wrong side of the post. Some of his work on the counter-attack was excellent.
Unused substitutes: Nik Tzanev, Max Murray.