Huddersfield Town

“I got some sleep last night for the first time in about two weeks, as my wife recently gave birth to our son Anton – that goal was for him,” Keith told htafc.com after the final whistle.  

“I know Crystal Palace’s Goalkeeping Coach really well as he was at Blackpool for a couple of years. I’ve just told him that it’s no good working on the ‘top corner’ saves – you have to get those near to your body with your feet!

“Joking aside it wasn’t the greatest ever goal, but it got us back in the game and got us a point. Any goal is memorable, but this is my first for Huddersfield and although it was fortuitous I’m pleased I got one.”

The game had it all – two red cards, a missed penalty and a goal apiece for two competitive teams – and Keith admitted that he hasn’t quite figured out how he felt about the point after a hectic 90 minutes.

“It was a strange game, but it had everything. Right now I’m not sure if I’m disappointed that we haven’t won the game, but I can’t fault the lads’ effort and commitment; we kept going.

“The neutral looking in from the outside will see that Palace only had 10 men for a long time and think we should have gone on to win the game. I believe that if we had scored the penalty we would have gone on and won comfortably, but hindsight is wonderful. 

“Their front three is as good as any in this league and Zaha scored a great goal. Probably, on reflection, a draw is a fair result. Even against ten men I thought there were some real positives today; we showed a lot of pride and came away with a result I thought we deserved.”

One minus point for Town was the 81st minute dismissal of Anthony Gerrard, which looked very harsh both on first viewing and after watching Sky’s replays.  

“As a tackling midfield player, I don’t think it’s even a foul,” Southern explained. “After 30 seconds Calum Woods got booked and I thought that made it hard for the referee. I didn’t think Damien Delaney deserved to get sent off and I certainly don’t think ‘Gezza’ did, but now both players will miss three games. Fortunately it didn’t cost us and we got a point, which I’m pleased about. 

“There is an appeals panel, but I had no luck recently so ‘Gezza’ might have to take his medicine and sit the next three games out. That would be sad for him as he’s just getting a run in the side.” 

With Peter Clarke dropped to the bench tonight, Southern proudly took the Captain’s armband for the first time on his 21st appearance for the Club. 

“I was very proud. Huddersfield is a fantastic club and I was very proud to lead the side. I’m pleased we didn’t lose the game with me as Captain and the goal was icing on the cake. 

“We got a point and we move onto Blackpool on Wednesday now. We’re ticking along nicely, but we need to keep picking up points away from home and try to win our home games.”