Huddersfield Town boss Michael Duff on Antony Evans and why he is anxious for 'traffic lights' to return to green and yellow and not red

It is to be hoped that he was administered with it at a place he knows well last weekend.

The midfielder made a key contribution when he came off the bench at the interval to help turn the tide on the resumption for the high-flying visitors at Blackpool. Trailing 2-0 at the break, Town’s long unbeaten league run, stretching back to early October looked to be in serious jeopardy, only for Evans to inspire a fightback.

The Liverpudlian, who spent a loan spell at Bloomfield Road earlier in his career while on the books of Everton, contributed an assist for Joe Taylor to reduce the arrears early in the second period and it proved the catalyst to the Terriers soon restoring parity.

A 2-2 draw helped extend Town’s run without a League One loss to 16 matches and put them in a good place ahead of a huge home double-header with Bolton Wanderers and Birmingham City.

For Evans too, after a problematic and persistent toe problem which kept him out from late October to the start of the new year, it was also a well-timed development.

It has been a mixed time thus far at Town for Evans, who started off well with a goal on his debut on the opening weekend at Peterborough United.

He and his team-mates then suffered during the Terriers’ form dip in mid-autumn, while his own injury issue then surfaced to compound matters.

Head coach Michael Duff said: "He’s been chomping at the back as he’s had one of the most frustrating injuries you will ever get.

"He’s had a sore toe, but while people will say ‘well, it’s only a sore toe’, every time when he put his boot on and did ten minutes running, it blew up to the size of a cartoon character’! It’s been really, really frustrating for him.

"But it has shown in terms of the (good) condition he has kept himself in when he’s not been able to run. He’s a good player."

A concession of two goals by the seaside represented a rare defensive blemish for Town, with the onus being on normal service to be resumed on their return to home soil.

Only fellow top-two candidates Wrexham (20) and Birmingham City (17) have shipped less goals than Town's total of 21. No side has let in fewer than their current tally of 10 on the road so far in the third tier in 2024-25.

In a tight battle for promotion, fine margins could well be key in the final analysis.

Duff added: "We have a little pyramid that we built. We talk about zeros and ones - they get you to where you want.

"It’s twos that kill you. If you keep clean sheets or only concede one, it always gives out a chance. When you start conceding two in games, it’s hard.

"We’ve been really good at that. In that five-game run, when we lost five out of six, we conceded two or three in three or four of them.

"We have a little traffic light pyramid and it looks pretty good at the minute as there’s lots of greens and yellows. But we need more."

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