KEITH SOUTHERN was quick to pick the positives ahead of the Boxing Day clash with former club Blackpool after dedicating his first Town goal to new-born son Anton.
The 31-year-old midfielder, who was stand-in skipper in place of dropped defender Peter Clarke, marked his 350th career league appearance with the 75th-minute goal which clinched a 1-1 Championship draw at Crystal Palace.
Click on the link below to view a gallery of match action from the game
Town had numerical advantage for the bulk of the Sky-Sports televised clash, but the 12th-minute dismissal of Damien Delaney didn’t prevent Palace taking a 39th-minute lead through highly-rated Wilfried Zaha – after keeper Julian Speroni saved a penalty by Adam Clayton.
Town had Anthony Gerrard red carded after 81 minutes, and Southern said: “The game had pretty much everything.
“I believe if we had scored the penalty we would have gone on and won comfortably, but hindsight is a wonderful thing.
“Their front three (Zaha, Yannick Bolasie and Glenn Murray) are as good as any in this division. Zaha scored a great goal and on reflection, a draw was a fair result.
“I thought we showed a lot of pride and character and got a deserved result.”
Click on the link below to view a gallery of Huddersfield Town fans at Crystal Palace
Southern’s goal, a daisy-cutter which squirmed through the grasp of the otherwise outstanding Julian Speroni, was the 34th of his career.
“It wasn’t the greatest strike ever, but it got us back in the game,” added Southern.
“That’s for my two-week-old son Anton (a brother for Ryan). He hasn’t allowed me much sleep, but I’m still smiling, especially after that goal went in.”
Town are up to 15th in the table, Palace down to third and Blackpool 12th ahead of the John Smith’s Stadium clash.
There will be no Huddersfield Town webchat today, the next webchat will take place on Monday, December 31 at 12.30pm.
