Huddersfield Town v Charlton: Gerrard is happy to take new route under Robins

Yet there is far more to the new-look Terriers than meets the eye.

For while Vaughan has been integral since making last season’s loan move permanent in the summer for a £1m fee that looks more of a bargain with each passing game, he might not have had half the goals he has plundered were it not for the platform being built behind him.

Huddersfield have enjoyed such a promising opening month of the campaign thanks mainly to the new formation employed by manager Mark Robins.

Having eschewed the formulaic 4-4-2 and ignored the fashionable 4-3-3, Robins has adopted a 3-5-2 system that is starting to bring the best out of his players, who are being given more time on the ball and the direction to retain possession rather than pump it long.

A tricky opening against two of the promotion favourites in Nottingham Forest and QPR saw them hold their own with a narrow defeat and a draw.

Then Town picked up their first Championship win at Millwall 10 days ago before taking apart Bournemouth on Saturday, when Vaughan ran riot with a hat-trick.

The basis for this has been the formation and, in a warning to the rest of the division, Terriers centre-back Anthony Gerrard believes they will only get better.

“I’m not surprised with how successful it’s been because I think we’ve got the personnel to deal with it,” said the 27-year-old Everton academy product.

“And I’m really enjoying it because I’m getting on the ball a lot more. In modern-day football, you’ve got to expect to be trying different systems and the lads have adapted well to it.

“There’s work to be done on the system, we’re far from the finished article, otherwise we’d be running away with the league.

“We’ve got to keep progressing it, building on it and moving forward.”

Gerrard’s prediction that they would be ‘running away with the league’ might be stretching it, but he does have enormous confidence that the system will be good enough to ensure Huddersfield stay in contention at the top end of the table this season.

“A lot of people at this club can play football the right way, and I think last season we went a bit too long, a bit route one,” said the former Hull and Cardiff defender, after the second half of his first season at Town was spent battling relegation.

“That was nobody’s fault, it was purely the end-of-season jitters, trying to get over the line.

“This season, we’ve started out playing football and we want to continue to do so throughout the season. With the amount of players we’ve got who like to get on the ball and pass it, that can only be beneficial to ourselves.

“I think it will work for us because other teams will have to change the way they play against us, rather than us changing the way we play against them.

“We’ve got a little bit of a headstart because there’s more options and versatility on the ball.

“The more often you pick the right passes, the more chasing they’ve got to do and the higher the tempo you can play at.

“A lot of people play 4-4-2 or 
4-3-3 nowadays, and there’s not many playing 3-5-2, so we have more options.

“We’re giving opponents problems to solve, and the more we can do that, the more control we can exert. If you control the ball you control the game.

“It bodes well for the future. It’s an new challenge and it keeps everyone on their toes. You don’t want to go through your whole career playing a mundane 4-4-2.”

That confidence the defensive trio of Gerrard, Joel Lynch and Peter Clarke have developed stems from the man behind them, the safe pair of hands that is Alex Smithies.

“The way we are playing it all starts with him,” said Gerrard. “If he’s got confidence in playing the ball out to us and his distribution is quick then that gets us moving forward.”

As ever with an evolving system there are going to be teething problems, hence the need for Robins and his players to be flexible.

In both their home League games this season, Robins has switched back to a 4-4-2. Against QPR, he did it to nullify Junior Hoilett and against Bournemouth he did it to give Jon Stead some game time. Stead could be in line to start against Charlton tonight after making only two substitute appearances this term following an injury-ravaged pre-season on his return to his home-town club.

Gerrard added: “Teams develop through a 90-minute game, never mind a season, because you’ve got to be able to adapt and change your game.

“You’ve got to be versatile, the more you evolve and get better, that’s the benefit. You never stop learning as a player.”

Huddersfield are looking to reach the third round of the League Cup for the first time since the 2003-04 season.

Last six games: Huddersfield DLWDWW; Charlton DWLWLD.

Referee: G Eltringham (Co Durham).

Last time: Huddersfield 0 Charlton 1; March 9, 2013; Championship.