Huddersfield Town 1 Millwall 0: Pressure is quickly lifted by record buy Wells

BERMUDA international Nahki Wells is confident he can deal with the tag of being Huddersfield Town’s record signing.
New Huddersfield signing Nahki Wells celebrates his goal with Adam Hammill.New Huddersfield signing Nahki Wells celebrates his goal with Adam Hammill.
New Huddersfield signing Nahki Wells celebrates his goal with Adam Hammill.

He only met his new team-mates in the changing room prior to kick-off but came off the bench and showed his predatory instincts by striking the winning goal in the 90th minute.

The initial £1.2m buy from League One neighbours Bradford City was thrilled to immediately lift the pressure after completing his move at 7pm the previous evening and said: “It was a great start, a great debut. I’m delighted to be up and running but the most important thing was for us to get the win and, fortunately, I was able to help us.

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“Being the club record signing definitely does put extra pressure on my shoulders but, and I’m not saying this in any arrogant way, I’m quite good at dealing with pressure.

“That’s a benefit and something I have dealt with to get to this point. I will just continue to try to deal with the pressures as the higher you get the more pressure there is. I have just been lucky enough to be able to deal with what has been put in front of me so far.”

Manager Mark Robins was delighted to have signed a striker who fits the mould of young, hungry players he is aiming to bring into the club and said: “It’s a good fit. We moved pretty swiftly but it was a deal we wanted to get done. It will turn out to be a snip, an absolute snip. He is a real talented boy and, at 23, he has the world at his feet and that’s not putting any pressure on him because the talent is there. He has just got to work and focus on a daily basis.”

Next in line is 21-year-old 
25-goal Kidderminster Harriers frontman Joe Lolley, who is expected to complete a £250,000 move after their FA Cup replay against Peterborough this week.

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That does not mean that 12-goal top scorer James Vaughan, who has missed the last five games with a knee injury, is leaving the club with Celtic, among many others, known to be admirers.

“He is staying, absolutely,” was Robins’s succinct response to queries about the striker’s future.

In fact, the Vaughan and Wells partnership could be the one to propel Town towards play-off contention, even though Saturday’s overall performance was not the most convincing.

Mid-table security after last season’s relegation scare will, however, be ample for those in charge at the John Smith’s Stadium, something which Wells, who has signed a four-and-a-half-year deal, believes can prove an advantage.

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“The good thing is that the expectation of getting promoted isn’t there,” said Wells, who scored 53 goals in 112 games for City after being released by Carlisle in the summer of 2011 and whose move, thanks to add-ons based on success for player and club, will top that of the £1.2m signing of Marcus Stewart in 1996.

“That helps us go and express ourselves and go and play good football. I know the crowd got on at us a bit in latter parts of the game but, not to down-credit Millwall, they looked like they wanted a point and didn’t want to give anything away.”

Of his goal, he continued: “Adam Clayton got on the ball and he saw me making a run and just sort of tried to put it over the defender because, obviously, I make those runs down the side.

“Once the defender (left-back Jack Smith) back-headed it, I thought I can get to this before the keeper and I just got clean contact onto the ball and put it across him into the net.

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“It was all a bit blurry because it was such a big moment and it happened so quickly.

“My immediate reaction was one of relief because you want to to come to a club after being a big signing and hit the ground running and get that first goal under your belt because I know I am capable of going on a run of scoring goals. That’s what I want to do but not only that, I want us to win.”

Wells, who equalled a City record at the start of the season by scoring in eight successive games, including one against Town in the League Cup, explained his decision to join the club after refusing to discuss an extension to his contract at Valley Parade which had 18 months to run.

“Mark said that he has a young group of players who are very ambitious and I can relate to that because I am in that boat.

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“A lot of young players have come here and done well and the way that the club looks at playing football, their ambition to play football in the right way and to achieve things in the right way were integral parts behind my decision and the lads immediately made me welcome.”

Wells could obviously have been heading back to Bermuda had not City stepped in and he said: “Obviously Peter Jackson took a gamble on me – whether or not it was his decision only people at Bradford know who made that decision – but he deserves credit because he was the manager at the time and he could have said ‘no’.

“Dave Baldwin, who works behind the scenes for Bradford, the chairman and everyone else involved there deserve thanks because without them this opportunity would not have happened.

“They all played a part in my success so far and that club will always hold a place in my heart.

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“They didn’t stand in my way and I thank them very much for that. They saw I was very ambitious and I wanted this move . Really, deep in my heart said this was the right club to come to and to continue to improve as a player.”

Having played his part with James Hanson in a ‘little and large’ act which fired Bradford to a Wembley double last season, the 5ft 7in striker added: “Absolutely, I am sure I will be able to adapt. I felt that at times today I had the habit of sometimes being located in the wrong position because I have been in a style of play that has been totally opposite to this.”

However, when it mattered, Wells was the right man in the right place and ensured Ian Holloway’s first game in charge of relegation-threatened Millwall ended in disappointment.

Goalkeeper David Forde had kept them in it with two point-blank saves from Martin Paterson in the first half which ended with Scott McDonald seeing a deflected shot strike the base of the post.

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And the visitors, hitting on the break, could also have grabbed a point in stoppage time only to see Town goalkeeper Alex Smithies make a brave block at the feet of Nicky Bailey

Huddersfield Town: Smithies, Smith, Gerrard, Wallace; Hammill, Norwood, Clayton, Hogg (Holmes 57), Dixon; Ward (Wells 56), Paterson (Scannell 87). Unused substitutes: Bennett, Woods, Gobern, Southern.

Millwall: Forde, Dunne, Shittu, Lowry, Smith; Martin (Woolford 62), Abdou (Trotter 72), Chaplow, Bailey; Morison, McDonald (Keogh 64). Unused substitutes: Bywater, Wright, Beevers, Marquis.

Referee: P Tierney (Lancs).