PREVIEW: STOKE CITY (H)

19 September 2023

A look ahead to Huddersfield Town’s next Sky Bet Championship opponent.

- Huddersfield Town vs Stoke City
- Town host Stoke on Wednesday 20 September 2023
- Full preview of what to expect from the Potters

We’re back at the John Smith’s Stadium for the second time this week, when we take on Stoke City in the Sky Bet Championship.

Town achieved back-to-back wins on Saturday against Rotherham United after our first win of the season before the international break against West Brom and will be hoping this momentum continues as we go into the game on Wednesday.

The fixture against the Potters will be the final one with Manager Neil Warnock at the helm, as announced on Monday.

THE OPPOSITION

Currently sat in 19th place in the Sky Bet Championship after having won two and lost four of their opening six games, the Potters will be looking to improve this form and their 16th place finish last season.

Despite starting the season with a confident 4-1 win over Rotherham United, the Potters won their last league game against Watford on Saturday 19 August. This puts them on six points, just one point below Town, as we head into the game on Wednesday evening.

There has been a change in the squad over the summer, with 13 players joining the team, with the likes of Mark Travers, a goalkeeper from Bournemouth, joining on loan alongside former loanee Ben Pearson (pictured below).

Ben Pearson 16_9.jpg

Also joining the Potters on loan were Chiquinho from Wolves and Luke McNally from Burnley.

On the flip side, Tom Edwards moved on loan to Town over the summer - he'll be ineligible to face his parent club on Wednesday night - whilst goal scorer Jacob Brown transferred to new Premier League side Luton Town.

MANAGER

Alex Neil was appointed Manager of Stoke City in August 2022, following the dismissal of Michael O’Neill, who had managed the club since November 2019.

Neil earned his move to Stoke City after guiding Sunderland back to the Sky Bet Championship. The former Barnsley player had joined Sunderland in February 2022 and had successfully got them promoted back to the second tier in May.

Alex Neill 16_9.jpg

LAST TIME OUT

Stoke City fell short against Norwich City at the weekend as they were defeated 1-0 away from home by the promotion hopefuls.

Norwich’s summer signing, Jack Stacey, found the net late into the first half and secured their win at home, despite Stoke’s attempts to equalise towards the end of the game.

FORMATION

Fluid between a 4-2-3-1 and a 3-5-2 formation, Stoke City have won a game with both of these formations this season, however, in their recent defeat to Norwich City, they changed to a 4-1-4-1 formation.

Stoke City’s line-up (4-1-4-1):
Mark Travers; Mehdi Léris (Junior Tchamadeu, 74’), Michael Rose, Ben Wilmot, Lynden Gooch; Ben Pearson; Tyrese Campbell, Josh Laurent, Wouter Burger (Dwight Gayle, 88’), Bae Junho (Sead Hakšabanović, 61’); Wesley (Daniel Johnson, 61’)

WHO TO WATCH

Mark Travers

The 24-year-old joined on loan from Premier League side AFC Bournemouth in the summer and has quickly established himself as the number one this season.

Standing at 6' 3" tall, the Republic of Ireland international built his senior minutes through early loan spells at Weymouth and Swindon Town before replacing Asmir Begovic as the Cherries' number one. He's subsequently made over 60 appearances for his parent club before this loan to the Midlands.

Mark Travers 16_9.jpg

Ben Wilmot

The 23-year-old defender already has a lot of experience, having played for Stevenage and Watford, with loan spells at Udinese and Swansea City, before he made the move to Stoke City in the summer of 2021.

Multiple clubs were interested in Wilmot at the time as he had just played a vital role in securing Watford automatic promotion back to the Premier League.

Last season, Wilmot was voted as Stoke’s Player of the Year after he made 41 appearances and scored three goals as the Potters escaped a relegation battle and finished 16th.

Tyrese Campbell

Campbell came through the ranks at Stoke City and signed his first professional contract with the Potters in 2018 and made his debut against Leicester City in the Premier League in February 2018.

In order to gain more experience, Tyrese went on a loan spell to Shrewsbury Town for the second half of the 2018/19 season, where he scored five goals in 15 appearances.

Whilst at Stoke, the 23-year-old has scored over 25 goals in over 125 appearances.

TOWN TEAM NEWS

Neil Warnock provided a full insight into his squad availability in his final press conference as Town Manager on Monday 18 September 2023.

Check out what he had to say below via HTTV and HTAFC Sounds.

KIT

Town will wear their blue and white stripes for the game on Wednesday evening!

CLICK HERE to get your replica home kit via shop.htafc.com now!

TICKET NEWS

CLICK HERE to get your ticket for Wednesday’s Sky Bet Championship fixture against Stoke City now!

iFOLLOW HTAFC

If you’re unable to attend the game on Wednesday evening, you can watch and listen along via iFollow HTAFC!

A single match pass for the games is just £10, and supporters will be able to stream the full 90 minutes of action for that price.

Town fans will also be able to listen to Wednesday’s game through our live audio commentary by purchasing either a Monthly or an Audio Match Pass to tune in live. You can purchase a Monthly Pass for £4.49 or an audio Match Pass for £2.50.

CLICK HERE to sign up to iFollow HTAFC!

Match Reports

REPORT: TOWN 2-2 STOKE CITY

20 September 2023

Points shared at the John Smith’s Stadium this evening.

- Huddersfield Town 2-2 Stoke City
- Goals from Matty Pearson and Jack Rudoni
- Points shared in Warnock’s last game as Manager

It ended all square at the John Smith’s Stadium this evening in Neil Warnock’s and Ronnie Jepson’s last game at Huddersfield Town, with a 2-2 draw against visiting Stoke City.

Town opened and closed the scoring this evening through Matty Pearson and Jack Rudoni, meaning that the points were shared at the John Smith’s Stadium for Neil Warnock’s final game as Manager of Huddersfield Town.

Our visitors had the first chance of the game in the fourth minute as Sead Hakšabanović slipped the ball to Daniel Johnson inside the box, however, his attempted cross to the far post was over hit due to his loss of balance.

It was then Town’s chance to get an early goal in the through Josh Koroma from a narrow angle inside the box, he aimed for the bottom corner, but Mark Travers had stretched and pushed the ball away from danger.

Stoke City’s Wouter Burger sent a good through ball to Tyrese Campbell inside the box but the forward’s run was made too early and though the ball found the back of the net, the flag was up for offside.

Great play between Ben Wiles and Rudoni following a throw in, which saw Rudoni fancy his chances from outside the box, but this went straight down the middle and was caught by comfortably by Stoke’s ‘keeper.

After this there was a slight pause in play as referee Darren Bond asked to be taken off due to an injury and became the fourth official for the game, meaning Tom Reeves had to step in and referee the remainder of the game – this contributed to the nine minutes of added time at the end of the first half.

Town’s first goal came in the 31st minute after David Kasumu was fouled in the attacking half. Sorba Thomas stepped over the set piece and sent a brilliant cross that went straight to the head of Pearson at the far post for him to open the scoreline.

However, our opposition got a goal back less than two minutes later through Johnson after Campbell's initial shot was saved by Lee Nicholls and fell to the former Preston man, who turned it home from close range.

Kian Harratt had a good chance to regain Town’s lead just before the end of normal time in the first half, he was sent the ball by Koroma and shot from outside the box, but this went wide of the goal as the forward aimed for the top corner.

At the other end, Stoke’s captain Josh Laurent made a great run and sent the ball into the box for Campbell to run onto, but his shot went wide from very close range as the game headed into the final minutes of extra time – so we went into the break all square.

Starting the second half strong, captain Michał Helik pushed forwards and played into the final third, sending the ball to Wiles via substitute Delano Burgzorg, however, he couldn’t wrap his foot around the ball fully and it went straight to Travers.

Jaheim Headley, also a second half substitute, skipped passed his man after a beautiful ball from Yuta Nakayama, however, he couldn’t convert from a narrow angle and hit the side netting with his shot.

The Potters scored their second of the evening in the 62nd minute from a Hakšabanović corner, Ben Wilmot got his head to it at the near post and flicked it back into the bottom far corner.

It wasn’t long before the score was level again as Town scored their equaliser in the 68th minute! The run up to the goal was kick-started by Koroma as he out-paced his man down the left and had his shot pushed out for a corner, which led to Rudoni having the ball at his feet just in front of goal as he spun around in the middle and fired the ball home with his left, from close range.

Town were awarded another corner in the final minutes of the second half, as the Town supporters created an immense atmosphere and got behind the lads. The corner came after Johnson got the end of his boot to the ball before Rudoni could strike inside the box.

The points were shared after great efforts from both teams this evening.

Town’s Team (4-3-3)
Lee Nicholls; Matty Pearson, Michał Helik (c), Yuta Nakayama, Josh Ruffels (Jaheim Headley, 46'); Ben Wiles, David Kasumu (Rarmani Edmonds-Green, 39'), Jack Rudoni; Sorba Thomas (Ben Jackson, 46'), Kian Harratt (Delano Burgzorg, 46'), Josh Koroma (Brahima Diarra, 89')

Unused Subs
Chris Maxwell, Pat Jones, Kyle Hudlin, Tom Lees

Goal Scorers
Matty Pearson (31'), Jack Rudoni (68')

Booking
Rarmani Edmonds-Green (81')