Huddersfield Town head coach Carlos Corberan on a tale of two games versus Boro

Boro were full value for a 2-0 lead given to them by a brace of fine goals from Duncan Watmore, with Corberan admitting that the visitors were much faster and more aggressive in the first half.

Corberan felt Town were improved on the restart, but still struggled to carve out chances and while they pulled a goal back deep in stoppage time when Lewis O'Brien crept into the net via deflections off Onel Hernandez and Scott Daniels, the scoreline was a flattering one where the hosts were concerned.

Corberan, whose side face a derby at Barnsley next weekend, said: "I think we had two games. In the first half, we didn't perform well and the attack and the defence were really poor. In the second half, it was different, but they were winning 2-0 and it was another type of game.

"In the first half, they were making aggressive pressing and we couldn't break the press. They were faster than us in the pressing and faster than us in finding the solution to break the press. They found a solution before we arrived.

"In the second half, we changed the structure and mentality and the team were more aggressive and trying to attack more. We did not create many chances to change the result of the game.

"But while we did not achieve the result, I got the reaction I wanted to watch in our players.

"They were faster and more aggressive in the first half."

Corberan said that Matty Pearson went off in the first half after feeling unwell following a challenge."

On whether a day's less preparation for his side than Boro had an impact on the result, he said: "It is true that we had one day les to prepare, but I knew this before.

"These different 24 hours of recovery when you only have 72 hours (between games) can affect everyone. But when we played against Cardiff, they had this 24 hours (less) and travelling to Cardiff is different to travelling to Middlesbrough.

"Talking about circumstances I cannot control is not going to be positive."