Town boss Mick McCarthy felt the Blues just about deserved their 2-1 home victory over Huddersfield. Daryl Murphy headed in a late winner after David McGoldrick had equalised Danny Ward’s first half goal for the Terriers.

“A great result, a hard-fought game as usual,” McCarthy said. “I think we deserved it, it was one of them which was a bit touch and go either way, I thought.

“They got their goal out of nothing, he nipped past Chambo, which wasn’t great, but there was a great response. They hit the crossbar and if that had gone in it probably would have been a bridge too far. But it didn’t and we responded well again.”

The Town boss was pleased with the spirit shown by his team both today and in previous matches: “I hope that is evident. I hoped that was evident before today.

“I hope that it doesn’t require us to come back and win on a number of occasions to prove to people that there’s a really good team spirit there. People care about their mates and the club and the team, it’s lovely.”

The Blues manager thought Huddersfield’s first half penalty shouldn’t have been awarded, referee Gary Sutton pointing to the spot after Christophe Berra had collided with James Vaughan: “I didn’t think it was a penalty, I thought that was a really harsh decision.

“If you look at them they’re both looking at the ball. Vaughan knew exactly what he was doing, he’s cute at it. It was just desserts when Gerks saved it.”

He says his keeper wouldn’t have known that Vaughan also missed a penalty in last year’s corresponding fixture when Scott Loach saved, but says he will have been aware of Vaughan’s more recent kicks.

“He’ll know where his last penalties have gone because [goalkeeper-coach] Malcolm Webster will have shown him,” he said.

“He ran up and I think in the rules you can’t stop when you’re running up. Somebody ought to tell the referees that, he also did it in Huddersfield’s game with Burnley.

“I thought it had been kyboshed, vetoed and you can’t do it. I think Gerks just read it, he tried to do it again and he didn’t buy the dummy.”

Overall, McCarthy has been impressed with his keeper: “It was some strike, the [Oliver Norwood] shot from wide, wasn’t it? Gerks has been great, he’s been really terrific. He’s been a really good signing for us and I’m really pleased with him.”

Having been behind at half-time he says he didn’t weigh-up whether to switch back to 4-4-2 from the 4-3-3 in which Town had started: “No, I considered making changes [of personnel]. I wondered how we were legs-wise, they’d had the games and had had to work hard.

“Was it bold? I’d set up really to play against 3-5-2 and they didn’t play that way. They started with Hammill up in 4-3-3 but they had to change and play against us because we were the better side.

“That stemmed the tide a bit and that was when they got their goal. I thought it worked well, I thought we played well in the first half.”

Cole Skuse played in McGoldrick for the equaliser but went off in the second half with an injury his manager hopes isn’t too serious: “Skusey’s a quality player. I’m hoping he’ll be OK, he’s just twisted his ankle.”

McCarthy was delighted for winning goalscorer Murphy: “He was a real physical presence, he’d had a couple of other chances. That’s all well and good, working hard, but centre forwards like scoring, so that’s great.”

The Town boss was delighted to have won having been behind after facing criticism from a supporter for his team failing to hold onto leads this season at Thursday’s PLC AGM: “They always give me the negative stat ‘You’ve conceded more points from winning positions’, but they neglect to say that we’ve won more points from losing positions.

“It’s how many you end up with, it’s not how you achieve them and when you achieve them, it’s the tally that you end up with, I always think.”

Huddersfield boss Mark Robins wasn’t too disappointed with his players, although he was critical of the referee for allowing the Blues to take the vital freekick which led to the winning goal twice.

“We lost because we gave the ball away, the referee gave them two chances at the freekick and we didn’t pick them up,” he said.

“We could have been 3-0 up at half-time, it wouldn’t have been an embarrassment and I thought we’d done OK. We coped with everything that they’ve thrown at us.

“The Championship is very, very diverse, different teams throw different challenges at you week in, week out.

“Ipswich is a different challenge than we'd faced, and they’re good at it. They put you under pressure, although I thought we coped with it.

“We tried to pass it when we could and we’ve created a number of chances and really we’ve been punished for not taking those chances but I cannot be too critical of the lads, I thought they worked hard and again they’ve tried to do things in the Huddersfield Town way and we’re progressing.”

Photo: Action Images

Pip50 added 18:25 - Dec 8 JWM you have only got to look at the crowds recently, people are making that call.
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muccletonjoe added 18:51 - Dec 8 Butchered , you certainly give me the pip , perhaps its enough to say if the boy gets in the team and does well , we will both be happy
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JWM added 21:52 - Dec 8 @Pip50 The price of the tickets has a far bigger bearing on attendances! I was at the Blackpool game and the away end was very well attended. I don't think you actually realise what a mess this club was in when Mick walked through the door last year! Mick has performed miracles in the short time he has been here. Yes there is still a way to go but you cant expect Champagne Football on an ALDI budget! TRUE supporters will back the manager and the club through this transition and the Plastic Glory Hunters can just bugger off as far as Im concerned.

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chorltonskylineblue added 22:33 - Dec 8 Muccletonjoe and others. Graham is a winger. If you've seen Marriot play (and I doubt you have from your post), Marriott's a forward and not one to put on the wing in my opinion. If we had a surplus of wingers I could understand the moaning. But we don't. We have a glut of fixtures coming up - and 9 points from 9 this week in case you hadn't noticed - and it sounds like Graham brings something a little different we don't have already. Mick's eradicated the loan and short-term madness of his predecessors and we're doing better than we have for 6 years. In Mick We Trust!

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muccletonjoe added 22:54 - Dec 8 I have seen marriott play , why would I be saying he should be in our team if I hadn't , the question is have half the people who have posted on here ?
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stevelincsexile added 07:12 - Dec 9 Back late last night from a weekend away to see the match. Not a pretty match to watch but it is an MM team a team that is difficult to beat and that is what we are but hey 3more points so onwards an upwards. As for young Marriott Sir Bobby would have had him in the team age made no difference.
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Pip50 added 11:10 - Dec 9 JMW Usual boll..ks when someone begs to differ. Off course I'm going ing to sod off and support another club after generations of my family supporting Ipswich sice amateur days. Moronic!
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Garv added 13:59 - Dec 9 Huddersfield were actually much the better team, passed the ball well, got it wide and put good balls in (all the things we didn't do). I think we won it through one bit of quality play from Skuse and McGoldrick. The winner let's face it was a lucky break, the defender headed it and it fell to Murphy. Credit him for sticking it away. At this rate we will have two strikers on double figures at the end of the season, when was the last time that happened? Still want to see us play better football, fans will always want value for money and rightly so. But at the moment we're getting results, so it's a start. Onwards and upwards.

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TimmyH added 16:55 - Dec 9 @JMW - I do believe Norwich were playing Champagne football (well lady sham) when they went up to the Premiership on an ALDI budget as you call it!!!
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