Michael Duff's Huddersfield Town era up and running in enjoyable friendly at Emley AFC

The Michael Duff era got underway at Huddersfield Town on Saturday with an enjoyable 5-0 win over their local, and hospitable hosts, Emley AFC.

Duff came into the club as head coach in May with the club on their knees following their dismal relegation from the Championship.

Having nearly taken Barnsley up from League One two seasons ago, his task at the John Smith’s Stadium in his first campaign in charge is to go one better with the Terriers.

Duff has made a positive start and that was reflected in the performance of his team on their first action of the new season at Emley AFC’s Fantastic Media Welfare Ground.

Emley goalkeeper Deklan Lampton punches clear from Huddersfield Town's Bojan Radulovic (Picture: Tony Johnson)placeholder image
Emley goalkeeper Deklan Lampton punches clear from Huddersfield Town's Bojan Radulovic (Picture: Tony Johnson)

Duff handed a debut to Denmark’s Lasse Sorensen, his first signing for the club, who joined from Lincoln City last week.

The friendly fixture was split into three 30-minute periods to allow Huddersfield to give as much minutes as possible to their first-team players.

Jaheim Headley opened the scoring from close range with a left-foot shot before Pat Jones rifled home into the top corner from outside the box.

David Kasumu created his own goal following some strong pressing, rolling the ball home past Emley keeper Declan Lambton and then former Rotherham United midfielder Ben Wiles scored from outside the area.

New signing Lasse Sorensen making his debut for Huddersfield Town in Saturday's 5-0 friendly win over AFC Emley (Picture: Tony Johnson)placeholder image
New signing Lasse Sorensen making his debut for Huddersfield Town in Saturday's 5-0 friendly win over AFC Emley (Picture: Tony Johnson)

Tyreece Simpson added a fifth in 90th minute with a low, left-foot shot into the bottom corner.

Huddersfield face similar run-outs against Guiseley and League Two side Harrogate Town before embarking on their pre-season tour of Austria.

A crowd in excess of 1,600 attended the fixture in what was a proud day for Emley, who were last season crowned the Northern Counties East League Premier Division champions. Emley – who had a goal disallowed early on – will play in Division One East of the Northern Premier League in the forthcoming season.

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