Huddersfield Town 2 Exeter City 0: Grayson hoping for lucky omen as he plots automatic challenge

It sparked a club record start to a season of eight succesive victories.

“It’s a good stat, let’s hope it proves a lucky omen,” beamed Grayson after opening his tenure as Huddersfield Town’s manager with a 2-0 victory over the Grecians.

Jermaine Beckford’s second goal of the game late on earned the 2-1 Elland Road victory in August, 2009 and he went on to score 31 goals in all competitions as Leeds overcame a slump in form to finish runners-up to Norwich City.

Jordan Rhodes has already struck 30 for the season for Grayson’s new charges, hitting that mark with a sublime 85th-minute strike to ensure the points on Saturday.

Town must cope without their predator at fellow promotion- hopefuls Stevenage tomorrow due to Scotland Under-21s duty but Grayson is confident he has the squad which can lead him to a third promotion from League One, having also achieved the feat with Blackpool.

“I think this is the strongest squad in the division and we are going to need them because we are going to be playing Saturday, Tuesday from now until the end of the season nearly all the time,” said Grayson, who has barely had time to switch suits and don a Town tie since his sacking at Elland Road was followed by a call to replace the axed Lee Clark at the Galpharm.

“You can sense there is a togetherness about the squad here. Even those who were not in the 16 today were in there celebrating the victory and that’s how successful teams get promoted – by unity as a group,” he continued.

Unlike Danny Wilson, whose appointment at second-placed Sheffield United was greeted by car park protests due to him having previously managed Sheffield Wednesday, Grayson got a positive reaction from the Town fans.

Whereas Wilson has had to wait over half a season to win over Blades followers, it took just 35 minutes for the chant “Simon Grayson’s barmy army,” to go out – and the game was still goalless.

Regarding his move across West Yorkshire, Grayson said: “It’s all about winning football matches so I am delighted to have done that and got a clean sheet.

“The crowd were fantastic. I had no problems with that (his Leeds link) because at any club I come to I am going to be judged on what I do. This is a good football club, there is a lot of happiness and positivity about it and I am looking to carry that forward.

“Automatic promotion is certainly still achievable. We are going to need to win quite a lot of games but when it gets to the business end of the season teams can feel the pressure at times.

“All we have to do is win games and see where it takes us. Anything can happen over the next 15 games for us.

“I am fortunate to have inherited a team that were fourth in the division. That’s why I am here, to get another promotion on my CV and take this club forward.”

Grayson certainly stuck to the mantra ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,’ fielding an unchanged starting line-up against Exeter.

However, the one significant change he made was to bring Joey Gudjonsson back into the fold.

The Icelander had been frozen out by Clark since the first leg of last season’s play-off semi-final at Bournemouth but his guile and experience are just what Town have been missing in central midfield.

Although he refused to castigate his former manager, Gudjonsson admitted to having endured a frustrating seven months on the sidelines but was delighted to have come off the bench in the 64th minute to make a telling contribution.

His new manager said: “He has certainly impressed since I have been here. If we had just gone off what people have done in training, Joey Gudjonsson would have started today but he had not played all season for whatever reason.

“His experience and know-how can help the younger players in the centre of midfield like Anton Robinson and Oscar Gobern. I am delighted to have him in there. We needed someone like him to take a grip on the game, see it through and talk to other players on the pitch.”

Gudjonsson entered the fray with striker Lee Novak, who also had a telling impact, making strong bursts down both channels, cutting inside and firing narrowly over and providing a back-header for Rhodes to nod the ball in at the far post only to be flagged offside.

Rhodes was not to be denied, however, and when Gobern intercepted, Novak pushed the ball through, leaving his partner to do the rest with a chip over the goalkeeper from just inside the area.

It added to the 40th-minute opener from centre-back Jamie McCombe, who headed in from Danny Ward’s free-kick.

It settled the nerves after Alan Lee had fluffed a free header from seven yards in the early stages and Exeter had adopted a shoot-on-sight policy to test Alex Smithies.

They rarely got into the area as Sean Morrison dominated but were adamant a penalty should have been awarded for outstanding right-back Jack Hunt’s challenge on Danny Nardiello.

Huddersfield Town: Smithies, Hunt, McCombe, Morrison, Naysmith; Ward, Robinson (Gudjonsson 64), Gobern, Roberts (Cadamarteri 83); Lee (Novak 64), Rhodes. Unused substitutes: Bennett, Kay.

Exeter City: Krysiak, Dawson, Archibald-Henville, Coles, Jones; Dunne, Bennett (Logan 61), Sercombe (Bauza 71); Taylor, Noble, Nardiello. Unused substitutes: O’Brien, McNish, Pidgeley.

Referee: M Heywood (Cheshire).