Huddersfield Town defender Matty Pearson on following lead of Tom Lees and his message to Terriers stalwart after role reversal

He does his job quietly and usually pretty efficiently without much fanfare, which is left to others.

It is when he is not about that you truly notice.

This time last year, it was not Lees, but Matty Pearson, whose absence was being bemoaned by Huddersfield Town supporters.

Pearson broke a bone in foot during Town's final pre-season fixture ahead of the 2022-23 season at Bolton Wanderers in July 2022. He did not make his first-team return until January.

Like Lees, the central defender is usually someone who can be relied upon and is one of the first names on the teamsheet.

It was no coincidence that the bedrock of Town's 'Great Escape' in the final third of last season was the defensive triumvirate of Lees, Pearson and Michal Helik.

Neil Warnock would not have swapped them for any other rival trio and he said as much.

If all three are fit at the same time, then Huddersfield are in safe hands defensively.

Lees is yet to feature this term due to calf/back issues. It is a blow for a consistent figure who has shown some of the best form of his career in his early 30s.

His team-mate Pearson, who turned 30 last month, is hoping the same applies to him. He is also hoping that his mate will be back in the fold sooner rather than later. It would be good news for him and his club.

Pearson said: "It's roles reversed with Tom Lees. He's had a tough start this season and it was me last year and I ended up being out until January.

"It's part and parcel of football and how you react and bounce back. Same with Tom, he will come back fighting fit and raring to go.

"It's part of the journey. You have just to get on with it, you can't sulk.

"I feel like I have still got plenty to give. Lads play until they are 34 or 35 and I still feel like I have four, five, six years of playing at a good level.

"Especially last year, I had the injury and I feel like that almost gave me a rest for six months, even though I was recovering from injury.

"I think that break fuelled me onto push harder and get fitter, better and trying to push on."

Pearson had the sort of on-message, under-the-radar 'seven-out-of-ten' afternoon which has been his hallmark since joining Town in Saturday's precious victory against West Brom.

It saw the Terriers secure a much-needed first Championship win at the fifth time of asking following a tough start to 2023-24, results wise.

By his own high standards, Pearson has had a couple of uncharacteristically sloppy moments prior to Saturday's win at The Hawthorns.

In days gone by, certainly at the start of his career, he might not have been particularly pleasant to be around if he'd made an error or two.

In his time at one of his former clubs in Accrington Stanley, Pearson acquired the unflattering nickname of ‘Mr Angry’.

It spoke of an intense professional who was ultra-serious on the pitch.

These days, Pearson is as driven as ever, but a bit more wiser. One capable of taking the odd rollicking from Warnock on the chin as well.

He commented: "There are certain parts of games and he picks parts of games that he is not happy with and pinpoints certain things and gets it off his chest in terms of exactly what he thinks.

"He does it with everyone and it is not just defenders, it can be an attacker or anything.

"He does make it clear what he wants and I think that is best for everyone. There's no in-betweens and it's a case of 'that's what he wants and that's what he gets'

"When I was younger in my Accrington and Halifax days, I was a bit loud and I used to get a yellow card every other game and stuff like that. But I have changed my game.

"You can only get better and learn from your mistakes. As I have got older, I have learnt to change my ways and it can only benefit me in the long run."

Town's relieving win in the Midlands put a smile back on the face of everyone connected with the club after a punishing and heavy home loss to Norwich City.

It saw Delano Burgzorg and Jack Rudoni score their first goals of the campaign, with the hope being it is the start of things to come.

Goalscoring was the Terriers' big bugbear last season. Despite only being available from January onwards, Pearson ended up being the club's joint highest Championship scorer with five goals.

A similar tally this time around would not go amiss, but others will need to put their hand up more.

Pearson added: "A successful team shares the load. If we can do that, there's no reason why we cannot push on and get going.

"Even the season we got in the play-offs, we shared the load. That's what successful teams do."