Huddersfield Town 'good value' against Bristol Rovers, says delighted Michael Duff

In the end, it proved to be a comfortable 3-1 victory for the Terriers at home to Bristol Rovers, one which saw them move back up to sixth in the League One standings.

“I thought we were good value for the win,” said a delighted Duff. “In the first half, probably 65 minutes, we were totally dominant.

“We get the third goal and then Bristol Rovers at three-nil down, they’re playing freedom football. They make a load of changes, change the shape, they’ve got nothing to lose at that point, so that’s difficult. We are holding onto a lead.

“So there were bits in that last little bit that we probably weren’t as happy with, but as a general rule we are. [Rovers] scored with their only shot on target as well. But the positive is we’ve won and we’ll learn from that little 10-minute spell.

“It’s not a conscious thing, it’s that little bit of adversity and people revert to ‘oh, do we need to protect it?’ – no, we just need to tweak a few things.

“But I’d be surprised if there are many Huddersfield fans walking out of the ground who weren’t happy with that performance.”

The hosts were firmly on top from the beginning and it felt like only a matter of time before they took the lead, especially after Scott Sinclair had to hook Tom Lees’ looping header off the line from a Huddersfield corner.

Matty Pearson found the net from a similar Ben Wiles delivery soon after the half hour, however, and Callum Marshall doubled the lead four minutes later.

The Northern Ireland international ran onto Nigel Lonwijk’s nutmegged through ball into the box and caught Rovers keeper Josh Griffiths off guard with a first-time finish from a narrow angle.

Town extended their lead further on 52 minutes as Bojan Radulovic tapped home his first of the season from Mickel Miller’s ball across the face of the Rovers goal.

Rovers pulled back a mere consolation goal with their first shot on target in the 69th minute, with Isaac Hutchinson’s looping effort getting the better of Jacob Chapman.

Huddersfield Town: Chapman, Pearson, Lees, Lonwijk, Kasumu, Sorensen (Turton 7), Kane (Evans 79), Wiles, Miller, Radulovic (Ladapo 79),Marshall (Ward 78),Turton (Hogg 85). Unused substitutes: Maxwell, Headley.

Bristol Rovers: Griffiths, Wilson, Moore, Mola, Conteh, Hunt (Sousa 55), Lindsay (Garrett 75), Ward (Hutchinson 60), Akono Bilongo (Forde 60), Omochere, Sinclair (Sotiriou 55). Unused substitutes: Taylor, McCormick.

Referee: Dean Whitestone (Northamptonshire).