Huddersfield Town: Duane Holmes left to rue ‘sloppy’ goals as Terriers get that familiar feeling

But the midfielder felt the Terriers were architects of their own downfall, conceding two poors goals without response at the John Smith’s Stadium.

The comparison is perhaps a little harsh on a Forest side who won their first Championship match of the season two days after sacking Chris Hughton. They did defend doggedly, as Huddersfield did at Bramall Lane before hitting the Blades with a late sucker punch, but this time the victory was far from against the run of play.

Where Forest were excellent, taking a deserved lead through Lewis Grabban after 23 minutes and adding to it just after half-time, a Huddersfield side who have been in good form lately never looked themselves.

Holmes’s second-half introduction from the bench improved them, but all game they failed to convince.

“It’s a tough one,” said Holmes, who came on after 58 minutes.

“We know we’re a lot better than that.”

Brennan Johnson’s pace caught Huddersfield out on the counter-attack for the opening goal and when Lee Nicholls saved from Ryan Yates in the 48th minute, Joe Lolley had too much space to latch onto the rebound. From there, Forest were able to sit on their lead.

“Credit to Forest – they came and defended well,” said Holmes.

“It’s probably a carbon copy of how we played against Sheffield United, sat 5-4-1 and defended well and looked for the counter.

“The goals were really sloppy.

“The first one was a carbon copy of our attack that we should defend better.

“The second one we created ourselves, a little half-press, we maybe tried and played where we shouldn’t, and we got caught out,” he said.

Holmes added: “It’s hard to pick yourself back up from that, but it’s obviously difficult when the manager’s just been sacked, and the players have a spring in their step and want to prove themselves.”

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