Match report: Huddersfield Town 0 - 0 Stockport County

Sep 28 2009 by Dougie Thomson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

TOWN have shown they can score goals and win games this season – and it’s vital they get back to doing that at Walsall tomorrow.

Despite taking only two points from the last nine available in League I, Lee Clark’s side remain handily placed in sixth.

But to build on the platform laid in the first six games, when there were four victories and they were among the country’s top-scoring teams, Town must rediscover some confidence, and a cutting edge.

The fans also have a big role to play, because while there was some inevitable restlessness after a second successive goalless draw at the Galpharm, the young players in particular need encouragement rather than criticism.

A breakthrough goal would have made all the difference against Stockport, who played a 4-1-4-1 system with on-loan Chelsea man Liam Bridcutt excellent in the anchor midfield role.

Breaching the two banks of orange shirts would have forced Gary Ablett’s side to commit more to attack, and therefore leave the kind of gaps which might well have been exploited.

Stockport did have their chances, and Town were thankful on-loan Reading striker Nicholas Bignall was unable to find the target with two early attempts before Alex Smithies made a key save from David Poole in stoppage time.

But the home side had the bulk of the opportunities, twice hitting the woodwork (through Anthony Kay and Gary Roberts) and giving Wales Under 21 keeper Owain Fon Williams the chance to show why he, like Smithies, is so highly rated.

In an echo of Millwall the week before, Stockport’s first effort came in less than a minute, with Bignall shooting wide, but Town responded just 80 seconds in, when eight-goal top scorer Jordan Rhodes shot over.

Peter Clarke’s volley from Danny Drinkwater’s fifth-minute corner was blocked before Bignall again fired wide, with his Stockport teammate Carl Baker guilty of the same offence soon after.

The tit-for-tat opening continued as Greg Tansey fired over then across the face of goal either side of Kay’s rising drive against the bar in the 23rd minute.