Huddersfield Town 1 Wigan Athletic 0: Clayton strike provides perfect antidote as Town show mettle

Robins’s first game was a sobering one just under a year ago, a 4-1 fifth round home battering by Wigan, who went on to lift the FA Cup only to then be relegated from the Premier League.

Town almost dropped out of the Championship, requiring a last-day home draw with fellow survivors Barnsley to stay up in their first season back in the second tier.

Since then, Robins has rebuilt and while Barnsley are again facing a battle to beat the drop, Town are looking fairly secure in mid-table after recovering from a four-game losing streak and that second-half surrender at Elland Road, which resulted in a 5-1 defeat to Leeds United.

On Monday, the players and management held frank discussions as to what had gone wrong after they had taken the lead at Leeds, vowing never to let it happen again and victory over Wigan was the perfect antidote, said captain Alex Smithies.

Obviously, the return of four players from injury made a difference in Saturday’s encounter which was marred by a fierce wind down the pitch coupled with driving rain and resulted in the hosts forcing 12 corners and the visitors 13.

Adam Clayton drove home the 85th-minute winner from the left corner of the area after James Perch was hemmed in near the corner flag and unable to make a proper clearance.

The goal also avenged a 2-1 defeat at Wigan in November and goalkeeper Smithies said: “The mood in the changing room is in stark contrast to Monday morning when we came in for training with everyone down in the dumps.

“We were disappointed at being in a really poor run and having been beaten by our rivals (Leeds). It couldn’t have got much lower but we have managed to turn it around – a clean sheet and a 1-0 win doesn’t get much better for us.

“When you are on a poor run there needs to be a point where you hit your lowest and we did that at Leeds where we felt we let people down. So we put it to one side and tried to move on and put a smile back on our faces and play with confidence.

“Today, in difficult conditions, it wasn’t easy to be pretty but we have been effective. Wigan would have been one of the favourites at the start of the season to go up with the squad they’ve got. You know that when you come up against teams like these, which seems to be week in, week out, that you’ve got to be ‘at it’ and we’ve turned round a poor run, got back to winning ways and go into Tuesday’s game with confidence.”

Of last season’s tame televised Cup defeat, he continued: “We are a better side than we were last season and we see that poor run as a blip. Once we get to safety, we will try to kick on and finish as high as possible.”

Although it was Clayton’s right-footer which beat Ali Al Habsi at his right-hand post, Smithies enthused about the match-winner’s midfield partner, Oliver Norwood. He tested the Wigan goalkeeper in the first half, was inches over from 35 yards in the second and then struck a 40-yard wind-assisted free-kick against the bar before Al Habsi grasped it.

“When Ollie hits it, the ball seems to move in the air like I’ve not seen anyone else do before so there is always every chance of him scoring and we are encouraging him to shoot more,” said Smithies.

The Town goalkeeper made his biggest contribution in the opening period when Wigan loan debutant striker Martyn Waghorn arrived at the far post to meet a driven cross from the ever dangerous Jean Beausejour but was thwarted by the left hand of Smithies which pushed the ball away for one of the game’s 25 corners.

Both sides seemed to produce their best attacking play against the wind and James Vaughan almost marked his return from knee trouble with a goal only to see his headed attempt headed clear by James McArthur.

Another returnee, winger Adam Hammill, curled a shot inches wide but it was Wigan who showed their Premier pedigree straight after the break, putting Town under the cosh.

They particularly exploited space down their left flank and Leicester striker Waghorn should have done better than to miscue wide a delivery into the six-yard area soon after a shot from Marc Antoine-Fortune had been deflected off comeback defender Joel Lynch against the bar.

Robins acted by first switching to a flat back four and then replacing Nahki Wells with the more robust Danny Ward, whose qualities were better suited to the conditions.

It got Town back on the front foot and they forced their own series of corners as Clayton and Norwood took control.

The third member of their triumvirate, Jonathan Hogg, whose covering for colleagues was pivotal when Wigan pressed, enthused after his own comeback from injury: “I was there, watching the lads and supporting them at Leeds. We had a little meeting and said we’ve got to put it behind us. It can happen once in a season, but we don’t want it to happen twice. This result shows how mentally strong the squad is.”

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Huddersfield Town: Smithies, Smith, Gerrard, Lynch; Hammill, Norwood, Clayton, Hogg, Dixon; Wells (Ward 61), Vaughan. Unused substitutes: Bennett, Woods, Clarke, Scannell, Southern, Lolley.

Wigan Athletic: Al Habsi, Perch, Boyce, Barnett, Crainey; Watson; McArthur (Maynard 87), Gomez (McCann 82), Beausejour; Waghorn (McManaman 71), Antonie-Fortune. Unused substitutes: Nicholls, McEachran, McClean, Espinoza.

Referee: M Brown (East Yorks).