An incident on the M1 delayed the Town coach en-route to the City Ground last night and in the end the long trip ended in a defeat for a young Town Reserve side against a Nottingham Forest side. Lucas Akins (pictured) got his second goal in four Reserve games this season to level the scores after 54 minutes but a second Forest goal settled the game.

Town lined up 4-4-2 for the game and with normal Reserve team regular Simon Eastwood on England under-19 duty, we were able to call on an able replacement - England under-17 goalkeeper Alex Smithies! In front of the 18-year old, skipper Tom Clarke and Danny Codman were flanked by full-backs Tom Jackson and Danny Racchi.

In front of them, the midfield four were (from left to right) Danny Schofield, Mitchell Bailey, James Berrett and Luke Malcher with Lucas Akins joined up front by second-year Academy scholar Daniel Broadbent.

Forest played well in the first 45 minutes and striker Emile Sinclair - a former Bradford City trainee - scored the first right before the half-time whistle, capitalizing on some hesitant defending before rolling the ball past England under-17 goalkeeper Smithies. Akins and Clarke had gone the closest for Town in the first-half, both nodding headers just wide of the home goal.

However, John Dungworth's half-time team talk had a noticeable effect as Town came out in a rejuvenated fashion after the interval. Danny Racchi forced a good save out of the home goalkeeper with a long-range drive just before Akins' equaliser. He turned in a cross-cum-shot from his strike partner Daniel Broadbent to level the scores for the Terriers.

Forest were not to be denied though, finishing the match strongly and scoring a second through Matt Thornhill. He turned home a powerful Felix Bastians cross from the right-wing to put the game beyond the Town Reserves.

Reserve Team Coach John Dungworth was pleased with the night's work, indicating that the game was about more than the result to htafc.com.

"It was great that Tom Clarke got another 90 minutes under his belt, as it will help him with his confidence and fitness. The same applies to Danny Schofield, who got a little bit longer on the pitch than he did at Grimsby last week.

"We had a very young side out at the end of the game; it was Lewis Nightingale's debut at Reserve Team level and he acquitted himself very well, as did all the Academy scholars."

First-year scholar Nightingale came on for James Berrett, who had to be withdrawn due to illness. Luke Malcher, who was replaced by Curtis Roberts late on, has been troubled with a back problem for a couple of weeks now and first-team physio has sent him for a precautionary x-ray today.

Huddersfield Town

Alex Smithies, Danny Racchi, Tom Jackson, Mitchell Bailey, Tom Clarke (c), Daniel Codman, Luke Malcher (Curtis Roberts 80), James Berrett (Lewis Nightingale 46), Lucas Akins, Daniel Broadbent, Danny Schofield (Dave Pickering 76)

Unused Subs: Spencer Harris, Stephen Brook