Huddersfield Town's second-half improvement gives Carlos Corberan confidence
The coach felt the Terriers' emotion was one factor in their first 45 minutes, where Danel Sinani scored against the run of play but Sonny Bradley cancelled it out. But he was pleased with how his side responded, even if it did not make for the most thrilling second half for the neutral.
At 1-1, it means the tie is still in the balance going into Monday's second leg in Huddersfield.
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Hide Ad“Probably it is the fair result," conceded Corberan. "Luton were the better team than us in the first half and we were better than them in the second half.
“It’s a positive step but I imagine they are going to adapt their shape and the things they were doing because in the last minutes of the second half they were adapting, and we need to find again solutions to develop the ideas we were showing in the second half.
"It was important if we couldn't win we didn't lose and go into the home leg with the possibility that if we win the game we'll progress.”
Asked why his side struggled to keep the ball in the opening 45 minutes, Corberan said: "Sometimes the emotion of the first minutes of a special game can affect the level and especially the confidence of the player. Sometimes to defend you don’t need the confidence because to defend you need more the will and the determination of the player, and it’s too high when you’re playing a play-off game, but these things can affect the confidence and the calm you need to attack better.
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Hide Ad"The position of the team in the first half did not allow us to attack and in some situations we were losing simple balls, and we changed to be the total opposite in the second half.
“I think the fact we put Holmes on the right side (he played the first half at inside-left) allowed him to grow more and counter-attack more with the ball.
“As soon as you put together Holmes, (half-time substitute) Pipa and even Sinani – who was switching sides too to attack – you start to accumulate players together that know how to play football and change the feeling of the game.”
Corberan was full of praise for Luxembourger Sinani's impact.
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Hide Ad“He was fighting a lot and he was smelling a lot where the ball could go from the second ball," he said. "He was focused on every flick-on of the ball from every challenge by Danny Ward and he was focused on making runs for the counter-attacks. He performed really well.”
Corberan explained that Ollie Turton made way for Pipa because of an injury when he was fouled late in the first half, and that illness was behind Levi Colwill's place on the bench.
"He's fine but he couldn't make the full week of training because he felt unwell at the start of the week," said Corberan.
Sorba Thomas made his return from injury as an 85th-minute substitute.
"It's a very positive step because Sorba showed a very positive level," said his coach.