Huddersfield Town 1 Derby County 0: Battling Terriers thwart Rams as Ward’s early goal earns win

APPROPRIATELY enough on a day when a stayer made all the headlines at the St Leger, Huddersfield Town showed they are getting the Championship ‘trip.’

After flying out of the traps faster than Nijinsky – Danny Ward netting the only goal of the game on 47 seconds with many punters barely in their seats – disciplined Town drew upon all of their pools of spirit and stamina to last the course.

Granted, not a classic or a day for the purest of footballing thoroughbreds.

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But points make prizes, with Town’s performance personified by the workaholic display of experienced engine-room grafter Keith Southern.

The Geordie hassled and harried and screened the back four adeptly – even copping a bit of a shiner in the process.

To be fair, every manjack of the home side did their bit, as Derby, who ripped Watford to pieces in a 5-1 win in their previous outing, struggled painfully to break Town down despite a glut of second-half possession.

And while it may not have been necessarily pretty over the duration of the piece, you would not have caught Town fans complaining when they cast their eyes on the league table following the final whistle, let alone Simon Grayson.

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The Town boss, who confirmed after the game that a move for Jermaine Beckford will “probably be off for a while,” said: “I’ll take 1-0’s every week of the year.

“I’m delighted we got a clean sheet and victory, but most important was the attitude that we showed under pressure and desire not to get beaten and the work-rate.

“As a manager, you always ask your players to start on the front foot, especially at home and we did that early on.

“But we knew Derby would have a lot of the ball; that’s how they like to play – they pass and move it. You have to be solid as a team and not allow them the space to exploit you.

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“For all their possession, Alex (Smithies) didn’t have many saves to make and we looked a threat on the counter-attack.”

While Adam Hammill left the ground clutching the man-of-the-match champagne after a polished outing on his full debut in front of home supporters, it was probably a toss-up as to whether he or Southern took the bubbly.

The unassuming midfielder, approaching the winter of his playing career, is the sort who leaves the bouquets for others, but on this evidence the seasoned Championship pro will be worth his weight in gold for Town this term.

Grayson added: “Keith is not a nine out of ten or probably the most gifted of players; he’d be the first to admit that. But he will run through a brick wall for you.

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“Keith has the experience and know-how and grit and determination to block things. He even has a bit shiner above his eye, but he’ll get on with it, go home and it won’t affect his looks. He’ll be back in Monday morning ready to work.”

Offering his own thoughts on Town extending their unbeaten streak to four matches, Southern added: “It was tough and we ground it out and it’s three valuable points on the board.

“We’ve a young team and nobody said it was going to be easy. It takes a little bit of time to gel, but the signs are promising.

“We have a great bunch, although the young lads talk about different things in the dressing room than what I do and they haven’t got the same tastes in music as me!

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“We need to build on that spirit and work ethic and hopefully we’ll have a decent season.”

The game was designated as a Sporting Memories match in a bid to raise awareness of dementia with plenty of retro pictures and articles included in the match programme.

But despite a goal in the first minute, it was shown crystal-clear that an old-fashioned scoreline of 5-4 or 6-6 wouldn’t be forthcoming.

That said, the one goal that did arrive was one to savour.

Hammill’s probing run bamboozled James O’Connor before he sent over an inviting low cross which was turned in expertly on the volley by the onrushing Danny Ward.

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With Southern and Ollie Norwood at the heart of operations, Town were fluid and purposeful and played with zest for the first 20 minutes.

The only moment of alarm arrived on 17 minutes when a fine saving tackle from Peter Clarke denied Conor Sammon after Joel Lynch’s error let in Jamie Ward.

That was as good as it got for the Rams in a soporific first-half display. Having arrived at the ground late due to traffic, a fair few of their players looked like they were still on the bus.

While failing to continue their early ascendancy, Town were comfortable and after their breakneck start, they hit the ground running on the restart.

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Frank Fielding kept out Adam Clayton’s long-ranger at full-stretch and from the resulting corner from Norwood, the unmarked Southern blazed the ball over.

Derby – finally – offered their first semblance of threat when an incisive run and cross from Ward, switched to the left, presented a clear opportunity to Connor Doyle, but he blasted wastefully into the away end.

That was the prelude to some territorial dominance from the Rams, but despite several corners and promising situations, they were wholly toothless in attack.

Town cleared their lines continually with the belated appearance of ex-Huddersfield forward Theo Robinson on 78 minutes – a good while after Rams fans’ chants for him to be thrown on – having minimal impact as the hosts saw the game out at a canter.