Tremendous unbeaten start finally ends
The Huddersfield Town Under-18 side finally lost its unbeaten record this morning courtesy of a 2-1 defeat at Swansea City in the Professional Development League 2.
After nine wins and one draw in their opening 10 games, the Young Terriers finally met defeat in Llanelli on Saturday morning.
Jake Charles put Town ahead in the 10th minute with his ninth of the season, converting a free-kick in expert fashion, but two more set-pieces – a free-kick and a corner – saw hosts Swansea take all three points.
Despite the defeat, Frankie Bunn and Tony Carss’ side will still top the Northern table; ahead of today’s fixtures, Town’s Under-18s were 13 points clear.
Professional Development Coach Bunn told htafc.com:
“We’ve been on a great run, with nine wins and one draw in the opening 10 games, and to lose that record in the manner that we did was a bit disappointing.
“I’m frustrated that we didn’t perform. We lost two players to injury during the week – Ben Holmes and Ben Atkinson – but there are no excuses to be made there as the players coming in are well capable of doing the job. It wasn’t down to one individual; the entire team didn’t turn up on the morning. We will address that as quickly as possible.
“The manner of the goals we conceded was unusual for us. Our wall turned their backs on the ball for their free-kick, which was disappointing, and the second came directly from a corner, although we felt the referee could have been a little bit stronger as our goalkeeper was impeded on the delivery."
However, Town's youngsters will soon have the chance to put things right; they host Crystal Palace at Canalside on Saturday morning.
Frankie continued: “The beauty of football is that there’s always another game and hopefully we will be on our toes again at home to Crystal Palace on Saturday morning. Hopefully we can start another long spell without a loss.
“In youth football winning isn’t everything; it’s about development of players. However, we want to develop a winning mentality and I’m interested to see how we bounce back."
Town’s team (4-4-1-1):
Ed Wilczynski; Mikey Starkey (Rekeil Pyke, 80), William Boyle, Joe Wilkinson (c), Brad Carroll; Kedesh Goddard (Jack Boyle, 70), Philip Billing, Danny Kane, Regan Booty; Jake Charles; Flo Bojaj
Unused subs:
Sam Guthrie, Fraser Horsfall, Nathaniel Pells
