Defender comments on 1-1 draw
Anthony Gerrard looked to take the positives out of today’s 1-1 home draw with Brighton & Hove Albion, despite the Terriers conceding the equaliser in the final 10 minutes of the game.
“At the present moment, it has to be a point gained. Obviously we were disappointed to concede so late on after defending valiantly, but sometimes that’s the way football goes. Brighton are pushing hard too to stay in and around the Play-Offs.
“They didn’t have too many clear-cut chances and that’s because the lads carried our game-plan out really well. Unfortunately we suffered the sucker-punch before the end.”
Town took the lead early in the game through Oliver Norwood’s sixth goal of the season; a thumping free-kick that flashed past the Brighton goalkeeper.
Anthony continued: “Ollie can’t half hit a ball; he’s shown that against Bolton and Grimsby this season and he hit another one today. Their ‘keeper made an outstanding second-half save to deny him a second too. Hopefully he can produce another one on Monday.”
With three games to go, Town are still looking to get the points needed to secure Sky Bet Championship safety and Gerrard is targeting a win at Yeovil on Monday to accomplish that.
“There’s no point in beating around the bush – we’ve had a poor second half of the season. Hopefully we can secure safety as soon as possible. Every game is crucial between now and the end of the season, but we’d love to wrap things up at Yeovil on Monday.
“We won’t be taking anything for granted though – we have to put our all in like we did today. There are no easy games at the business end of the season. We’ll get rested up and go again on Monday.”
As the senior member of today’s team at 28 years old, Gerrard explained he aims to lead by example on the pitch:
“In certain games I don’t think the lads have shown enough grit and determination to see games out; we were naïve and thought we could just turn up and play our football. You have to win your personal battle first to do that; after that the football can take over.
“We’re trying to play a style of football that is good to watch, where we play passing football along the floor. It’s very hard to do that, because other teams are not prepared to let you.
“As an 18 year-old I played in a team that had old pros like Neil Emblem and Simon Osborn. They didn’t pull any punches with me, so I do the same.
“We had a good sit down after the Ipswich game, where a lot of home truths were said. I think that’s rectified things to a certain extent; we’ve picked ourselves up and gone again.”
