Painful lessons Huddersfield Town must learn from first year back in League One

The Terriers hadn’t played third-tier football since 2012 but now have a clearer understanding of what success entails

The League One play-off final is now set. Huddersfield Town, of course, are not involved after finishing a disappointing 10th in the table.

Having hoped to be part of the race for automatic promotion, the Terriers instead endured a painful campaign that taught them several harsh lessons about what it takes to be successful at this level.

Let’s take a look back over the last eight months — and where Town fell short against the sides that did manage to make it into the top six — to see where they can learn lessons for the fast-approaching 2025/26 campaign.

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Finishing matters

A shocking finding, we know, but it turns out that Town weren’t very good in front of goal this season.

Chance creation wasn’t a particular problem, at least not in terms of sheer quantity. None of the top six had more shots than Town’s 604 (Birmingham matched them).

Yet they all outscored Town, many of them comfortably so. The obvious culprit? Poor finishing.