Huddersfield Town and Bristol City at mercy of elements but Darren Moore hails ‘solid performance’

Both are in the process of being moulded to fit fresh philosophies, as new eras are ushered in. As Darren Moore and Liam Manning’s sides played out a 1-1 draw, it was the visitors who looked the most comfortable in their new system.

Even as Bristol City’s players were battered by wind and rain, their possession-based approach was effective in carving Huddersfield open.

The elements made it a necessity to get the ball down and play, with aerial routes simply not viable. This perhaps played into the hands of the visitors more than the hosts, although Moore was pleased with the resilience shown by his side.

He said: “The bits that pleased me second-half as the conditions worsened, we had to dig in and show that resilience which has carried us this far to go four now unbeaten. We needed to rely on that really, second-half.

“The wind and the rain worsened second-half and we were up against it. Looking at that, it’s another solid performance.

“You had to try and get the ball down, and try and move it around and get into parts of the pitch. Trying to play from back to front wouldn’t have been the ideal choice of passes.

“When you see when goal kicks were taken and everything else, it just got held up in the wind. It’s trying to get on the ball, win the seconds and get on the ball, and try to connect some passes through the pitch. I thought, when I look back at the game, both teams tried to do that.”

On the whole, it was Bristol City who did it more effectively. However, although Manning’s men threatened early on, sheer brilliance from David Kasumu ensured it was Huddersfield who edged ahead.

The midfielder is in a rich vein of form and teed up Delano Burgzorg for the opener having won the ball deep in his own half and surged forward at pace.

Moore was impressed by the 24-year-old, although believes he is not the only one finding consistency.

He said: “I thought Kas did some incredible work to get up the pitch probably 70, 80 yards. Then [he] had the composure to pick Del[ano Burgzorg] out, and Del finished.

“He’s been excellent. He’s another individual when you think about individuals that we’ve eulogised in terms of performances, that’s another one you could probably add to that list of players that’s showing consistency.

“The more we get those players individually showing that consistency, it can only bode well for the team. The team’s starting to get five, six, seven or eight players consistently performing. It means there’s a group cohesion coming on and more of a settled squad coming.”

Huddersfield’s back three of Matthew Pearson, Michal Helik and Tom Lees is commanding and imposing but not the most mobile.

Many of Bristol City’s chances were created by through balls and it seemed only a matter of time before the Terriers were punished.

Rob Dickie split the Huddersfield defence with an inch-perfect pass latched on to by Andreas Weimann, who squared for Tommy Conway to finish.

Moments of quality were fleeting as the second-half progressed, but this was not the primary cause of frustration among the home fans. Huddersfield players and fans alike furiously appealed for a penalty shortly after Conway’s leveller, when it appeared George Tanner had handled inside the box.

Robins boss Liam Manning took the diplomatic route of not offering a post-match comment but Moore was more forthcoming.

He said: “It was a handball. I’m not going to tell people what they’ve not seen – everybody saw it with their eyes, it’s a handball.

"We saw it at the time but the most important person we needed to see it, didn’t see it or didn’t warrant it handball. When you look back at the video, it doesn’t bode well even more.

"It’s a handball but he’s just missed it. It’s understandable, sometimes you can see those things and sometimes you miss it. On that occasion, it just didn’t go well for us.”

Fans have grown accustomed to post-match rants from incensed managers following a controversial refereeing decision. Moore, however, was calm and spent more time reflecting on his side’s progress.

They are now unbeaten in their last four league games following an uninspiring start to the Moore era.

Their display against the Robins was hardly vintage, but it is often the unremarkable dogged ones that are reflected on as crucial when the season reaches its crescendo.

Huddersfield Town: Maxwell, Pearson, Helik, Lees; Koroma (Austerfield 90+1), Wiles (Diarra 65), Hogg, Kasumu, Headley; Ward (Edmonds-Green 72), Burgzorg.

Unused substitutes: Nicholls, Ayina, Nakayama, Edwards, Stone, Iorpenda.

Bristol City: O’Leary, Tanner, Vyner, Dickie, Sykes (Pring 59); James, Williams (Gardner-Hickman 67); Bell (Cornick 82), Weimann (Mehmeti 67), Knight; Conway.

Unused substitutes: Bajic, Knight-Lebel, Meerholz, Yeboah.

Referee: Andy Davies (Hampshire)