Town Out to End Goalless Run Against Championship Leaders Huddersfield Friday, 30th Sep 2016 06:00 The Blues face Championship leaders Huddersfield Town on Saturday afternoon looking to end a run of three successive games without a goal. Goalless home draws against Aston Villa and on Tuesday night Brighton sandwiched a 1-0 loss at Leeds United last Saturday. Manager Mick McCarthy hopes that his side scoring one goal will lead to more: “Whether I think that’ll happen, I hope it will certainly, that’s for sure. We’re all hoping for that, of course we are, and we’re all working towards that end. “But I said on Tuesday night, as long as you’re not playing catch-up, as long as you’re not coming from behind all the time, that goal might come off somebody. "It might come off Freddie Sears’s knee or Freddie’s backside and he’ll end his run [of 36 games without a goal] and we’ll end our run. Let’s hope that’s the case on Saturday.” The Town boss, whose team are 13th, nine points behind the Terriers, was pleased with his team’s display against the Seagulls on Tuesday: “I thought we played well, I thought it was a good performance against a very good team, I might add. “We’re all hoping that we get the goal and it opens up and we get more goals and we start winning. “But I still keep coming back to it, the teams we’ve drawn against at home have been Norwich, Villa and Brighton, who all will be competing at the top. Good sides. And we’ve played well against them. I’m pleased enough with that.” After the departure of key striker Daryl Murphy to Newcastle shortly before deadline day and with other attacking players such as David McGoldrick, Jonny Williams, Luke Varney - who is expected to be back for Saturday’s game - and now Brett Pitman having been out injured it’s perhaps not a surprise that Town have struggled up front. But despite what may be seen as mitigating factors McCarthy says he can empathise with fans’ frustrations regarding the lack of goals, Town having netted only four times in their last nine Championship matches - 10 in all competitions - since scoring four on the opening day against Barnsley. “Patience is in short supply when you’re shelling your money out to go and watch a team," he said. “I think it’s for us to have a bit of understanding of how they play and what they do. For the main part I think we’ve played well enough in the season, without the goals. “And perhaps that understanding [between players] comes with more games. Of course it does, it’s bound to.” He admits it’s frustrating from his perspective seeing so many of his best attacking players in the stands at a time when his team is finding it hard to score goals. “It’s a challenge, that’s just what it is every day,” he added. “Life’s a competition, every day’s a challenge. That’s just another one for me.” One of the big positives from Tuesday’s game was the performance of on-loan Leicester man Tom Lawrence, who is becoming an increasingly influential player when the Blues are going forward. “Tom’s a good player,” McCarthy continued. “I thought he played really well the other night and he’s another one that can play a number of positions. I thought he was excellent on the left the other night.” The returning Varney and Leon Best made a big impact as late subs against Aston Villa, so does McCarthy view them as a potential strike pairing from the start of matches? “Possibly, it depends who we’re playing against and what system we’re playing against and whether we can play two up top,” he reflected. “It’s really difficult to play two up top if you’re playing against teams who will play through the middle and you get outnumbered and suddenly you can’t get hold of the ball. “There were numerous times last year when we started 4-4-2 and we had to change and we became pretty versatile at doing that. “They came on for a cameo appearance 10 minutes from the end, but that’s a bit different. That can cause havoc, certainly, but if it doesn’t cause havoc from the start it can cause havoc in your own team if it’s not working.” McCarthy says midfielder Teddy Bishop is now ready to start, having largely been used as a sub this season after missing virtually the whole of 2015/16 due to injury. “I’ve been willing him to be fully fit and fit to play 90 minutes for the last 18 months almost,” he said. “He’s just getting there and he’s doing all right and then he breaks his bugle and he has to have it reset the night before [the Brighton game]. “It’s just been one thing after the other, but breaking his nose is a tiny little one, that’s not going to keep him out for any great length of time and I think he’s over that, so hopefully he can start.” The Championship season is now 10 games old, how does the Town boss look back on those matches? “Some good, some bad, some indifferent. On the whole, I’d say they’ve been good, in terms of solid performances. “We had a half at Brentford which was below our standard and a poor performance that was. “Against Leeds, and I’ve watched it again since, we weren’t awful in that game, but we weren’t as good as we could have been. “But we played against a team that were playing well at Elland Road and it’s not an easy place to go, despite the fact we’ve had pretty good results there over the years.” Looking to Saturday’s opponents, McCarthy says he’s not entirely shocked to see Huddersfield doing well, although he hadn’t anticipated David Warner’s side visiting Portman Road as league leaders. “They’re not as much of a surprise to me as everybody is saying because I thought the way they played against us at Huddersfield last year was excellent and he’s added players to that, he’s had time to work with them,” the Blues manager said. “Did I think they’d be top? I fancied Newcastle, I fancied Norwich, didn’t know about Villa. “He’s got some good players, Sean Scannell in the team and Nakhi Wells in the team. He’s signed some good loan players. “I did think Huddersfield would be a good team because they were excellent against us last year. And it looks like he’s got them on a roll, to be fair. They’ve signed some good players.” He says the Terriers have got that momentum that all managers look for: “We’re all hoping for that, to kick on and be better. We’ve got to try and make sure we put the brakes on them on Saturday.” McCarthy will stick with his back four - from the right Josh Emmanuel, skipper Luke Chambers, Christophe Berra and Jonas Knudsen - and goalkeeper Bartosz Bialkowski. The Town boss is likely to continue with his 4-3-3 system - Huddersfield operate along similar lines - with Cole Skuse and Jonathan Douglas again set to be in the centre of midfield. Bishop, Kevin Bru and Conor Grant are all in contention for the more advanced role, as is Lawrence, although the Wales international is more likely to keep his place on the left of the front three in preference to Sears, who is again likely to be on the bench. Grant Ward will take the right-sided position with Best the lone central striker. For the Terriers, central defender Mark Hudson, left-back Chris Lowe and winger Rajiv van La Parra are all back having been suspended for Tuesday’s 2-1 home victory over Rotherham. Midfielder Joe Lolley is the only current injury absentee, due to a foot injury. Manager Wagner, who has been linked with a move to Derby following Nigel Pearson's suspension by the Rams, knows what to expect from the Blues. “They are well organised and have a good workrate," he told the Huddersfield Examiner. “They make lots of challenges and deny their opponents space. “They can be very tough to play against but our identity will remain the same and we will go there trying our best to win.” Historically, Town have won 22 games between the sides (including the only cup tie), the West Yorkshiremen 12, with nine ending in draws. Huddersfield last won at Portman Road back in 1996 when Andy Payton netted twice and future Blue Marcus Stewart once in a 3-1 victory. The teams last met at the John Smith’s Stadium in February when loanee Ben Pringle’s first Town goal after 19 minutes saw the Blues to a battling 1-0 victory. Pringle netted in a first half largely dominated by the home side who missed a succession of chances and played the final quarter of a hour of the game with 10 men, Jonathan Hogg having picked up an injury after they had used all their subs. At Portman Road in October last year, Town recorded their third successive home draw after their game against the Terriers ended goalless. McGoldrick came closest to breaking the deadlock for the Blues in stoppage time, forcing a superb instinctive save from Terriers keeper Jed Steer, while Nahki Wells had the best chance for the visitors - who had sub James Vaughan red-carded in injury time - in the first half when Christophe Berra hooked his effort off the line. Blues academy coach Alan Lee was with the West Yorkshiremen until the summer of 2013 before returning to Town. Striker Leon Best had a trial with the Terriers this time last year and featured for their U21s - coincidentally against the Blues - before moving on and joining Rotherham. Huddersfield frontman Wells spent time on trial at Portman Road as a teenager. He did enough to be asked to stay on for a longer spell but the homesick youngster opted to go back to Bermuda and the Dandy Town Hornets before later making his return to English football with Carlisle and then Bradford before joining the Terriers in January 2014. Saturday’s referee is Chris Kavanagh from Lancashire, who has shown 27 yellow cards and no red in nine games so far this season. Kavanagh’s last Blues game was the 3-0 defeat at Hull City last October in which he booked Giles Coke and two home players. Prior to that Kavanagh’s only previous Town match was the 3-0 home victory over Charlton in 2014/15 in which he booked Tommy Smith and David McGoldrick as well as one Addick. Squad from: Bialkowski, Gerken, Chambers (c), Emmanuel, Knudsen, Kenlock, Berra, Digby, Skuse, Douglas, Bru, Bishop, Grant, Dozzell, Ward, Lawrence, Sears, Best, Varney.
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