Victory over Barnsley ticks all Huddersfield Town's boxes...except one
Michael Duff was pleased with a lot of the patterns of play his much-rotated side displayed in the EFL Trophy - but was left with one wish he would have like fulfilled
Drawing conclusions on a game like this is tough, with Barnsley fielding a second string that was some way below the levels of Town’s own rotated squad.
Still, Michael Duff got almost everything he could have wanted out of the game…almost.
That gripe aside, the main thing, really – after the three points – was getting minutes into players who needed them.
Chris Maxwell made a welcome return from his heart issue and while he had precious little to do, gives the head coach a decision to make about who will deputise for Lee Nicholls for the rest of his own lengthy absence.
Herbie Kane also completed 90 minutes, having looked nowhere near fit in his abortive stab at return to the starting line-up against Blackpool last month.
Bojan Radulovic and Freddie Ladapo got 70 minutes each, with the former setting up the latter for his first goal for the club as Town finally broke a deadlock that again looked extremely unlikely to last for the entire game.
Their replacements, Danny Ward and Rhys Healey, had each been out for over a month, with Ward marking his return with a goal and Healey either unlucky or wasteful to see a diving header come back out off the post at the end of Ollie Turton’s cross.
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