BACK in March, Bali Mumba's first return to Plymouth Argyle with Huddersfield Town will have felt a bit surreal.

The South Shields-born player, who made 170 appearances for the Pilgrims and played a major part in their League One title-winning campaign in 2022-23, faced his old employers just two months after heading back north.

It proved an inauspicious return to Home Park. Town were beaten 3-1 and Mumba was booked, just for good measure.

Almost seven months on, the wing-back, who recently turned 25, is a lot more settled on and off the pitch in West Yorkshire and it's showing.

Huddersfield Town’s Bali Mumba celebrates scoring their side's second goal of the game during the Sky Bet League One match at Pirelli Stadium, Burton.

placeholder image — Huddersfield Town’s Bali Mumba celebrates scoring their side's second goal of the game during the Sky Bet League One match at Pirelli Stadium, Burton.

A former record signing at Argyle, Mumba scored his first Town goal against Burton on October 3 and is starting to find his feet.

Terriers chief Martin Drury said: "I think that's fair. He's also become a dad. He's moved house, become a dad, changed clubs and moved for a (big) fee. That has an impact on people, so there's loads of things in it.

"But (then) again, you (can) expect amazing things from people straightaway and it takes a bit of time and he's taken some time and he's settled and he's doing some really good things.

"He looks a real threat, one v one and got his goal the other week. We'll keep working with Bali. I think he's got huge amounts of potential and he's got a real bright future."

Mumba joined Huddersfield Town from Plymouth Argyle in January.

Saturday promises to be the biggest one-off test of the season so far for Town, who are without key defenders Murray Wallace and Radinio Balker against current leaders Argyle, whose success has been forged on their effective playing style, which is direct and difficult to counteract.

For Drury, defensive concentration and avoiding the trap of dropping too deep will be key after last weekend's fateful denouement against Sheffield Wednesday.

The Town head coach added: "Absolutely. It's a team where if you're passive, they'll put the ball in your box and put the ball forwards.

"I can understand why people felt we looked passive on Saturday for the last 20 minutes.

"I think if you'd watched me in the dugout, you wouldn't say I was being passive or asking anybody to be passive or sit back. That's not who or what we are.

"But for whatever reason, we started to do that. We can't do that on this Saturday because that's something that Plymouth will take advantage of and when teams do that, they hurt you. So that won't be our approach."