wordpress.com/posts/htfcreports.com Cup ignominy yet again
Town’s encouraging, if not entirely convincing, start to the season came to a shuddering halt at the Bescot Stadium as Walsall of the bottom league overturned a visibly precarious 2 goal deficit with a spirited comeback.
It could be argued that there were mitigating circumstances surrounding yet another ignominious exit from the League cup , and the referee didn’t do any favours for the visitors, but that would be to ignore an error laden, ill disciplined and unprofessional display from a side not entirely composed of fringe players.
Indeed, some of the worst performances came from regular starters including Hogg, who must surely be headed for the bench at best, Evans, who continues to misplace passes at an alarming rate, and Helik, who gave possibly the most inept outing of his Town career as a second half substitute.
Add in a bumbling, chaotic Headley, whose decision making bordered on lunacy at times, the sending off of a plodding Pearson caught by a striker getting behind him for the second time and wishy washy Wiles ghostly presence having no discernible impact, and a first defeat for Duff which should, and hopefully will, result in serious reflection.
All over the pitch, as Town surrendered an entirely undeserved 2-0 lead, the lack of leadership, any semblance of control and constant indiscipline ushered in an embarrassing loss.
To overcome adversity, such as a harsh but probably correct red card, leaders are needed and Town have a worrying deficiency of them. The most obvious candidate, Hogg, has always been too volatile to truly lead people, Helik is too quiet (as is Lees) and none of the new arrivals show any proclivity towards asserting authority.
The establishment of a leadership group may be tacitly acknowledging that no one person in this squad embodies what should be a vital role and that suspicion was conspicuously exposed on an evening where Town had every opportunity to progress in a competition we barely get out of bed for normally.
A far from compelling and error strewn first half saw Town take the lead after 20, largely uneventful, minutes when Koroma created a yard of space for a sharp and well placed effort past a perhaps unsighted, perhaps just slow, keeper for an unlikely opener.
It was the first meaningful attack after Walsall should have taken the lead when Lowe got the wrong side of Pearson but fired wide past the onrushing Maxwell. It was a lesson which was not learned.
Another decent effort whistled past the far upright as the Saddlers responded to Town’s goal, but the game was fundamentally changed just before half time when a long ball caught out Pearson again and while the defender’s challenge on Earing was slight and the striker wouldn’t have pierced the defence as Maxwell easily claimed the through ball, the referee was given a straightforward decision to send him off.
At half time, Duff replaced Sorensen with Helik and moved to a back 4 which seemed sensible in the circumstances while Ward replaced Marshall to provide a stronger presence for holding up the ball, though not surprisingly, this wasn’t really achieved.
Within minutes, the manager’s plans appeared to be completely undermined by Headley pushing a Walsall player in the area for no apparent reason. The ball was on its way out for a dead but, instead, the hosts were handed a lifeline.
Maxwell easily saved a rather poor penalty attempt and a massive scramble ensued which resulted in a clearance by Hogg and Town could now surely use a massive turning point to their favour.
It turned out that they could, since they were about to score against the run of play again when a very good corner delivery by Evans was met at the near post by Ruffels who glanced in from short range.
All that was needed now was resolute discipline to capitalise on Walsall’s deflation at two setbacks which followed in quick succession.
The abject failure which followed was pathetic and worrying. Time will tell whether this was aberration or regression, but in the moment it reeked of weak submission in the face of an admirable comeback from the hosts. They not only overturned Town’s ill gotten advantage, they did so despite the circumstances which would bury many teams (including their current opponents).
A very poor attempted headed clearance by Evans fell nicely to Lowe who atoned for both his penalty and first half misses with a clean strike in to the bottom corner to halve the deficit.
Town’s disarray worsened. Passing accuracy, already poor throughout, declined as their shape, for what it was worth, disappeared and an equaliser looked inevitable.
It came when the woeful Headley allowed a cross field ball over his head and then failed to prevent Adomah sending in a cross which was cushioned in to the path of Lowe to complete his revival with a sharp finish.
With at least the potential entertainment of penalties looming, the Saddlers completed their comeback when a Gordon shot deflected in off Helik, whose miserable substitute appearance was complete (he hadn’t covered himself in glory on the equaliser either).
Town had a glorious chance late on to progress the game to spot kicks when Ward, with his only meaningful involvement, sent in a near perfect cross for Harratt to glance miles wide when any sort of contact would have brought an undeserved equaliser.
Pessimistic Huddersfield Town supporters, and the weight of evidence rather favours them over those with a rosier view, witnessed a typically shambolic early round cup performance yet again denying the club a possibly exciting draw - whatever the management or ownership, the stubborn refusal to advance has become beyond tiresome.
That multiple substitutions failed to inspire any degree of resistance or even basic organisation against the might of Walsall, even considering the numerical advantage they held, was an indictment of a ridiculously poor evening in the West Midlands.
A few days remain in which to recruit both defensively and offensively before a test of this squad’s character at New York stadium on Saturday lunchtime. It is a test they need to pass.
