Huddersfield Town

Mark Robins was pleased with the team’s first run out of the season at Chesterfield this afternoon, as he told htafc.com at the final whistle:

“It was a good workout. On the football side of things I thought we looked ok at times, but Chesterfield were better than us; they are ahead of us in their games schedule,” Robins explained. 

“There are certainly a lot of things to work on technically and tactically; that’s clear. That will come later on. However, in all fairness you can’t read too much into the first friendly – this stage of the season is all about what you’ve got in your legs. We were ok without being sharp.

“We trained this morning, because we wanted to get a little bit more work into the players on top of the 45 minutes they would get today. 

“We’re back to work on Monday and then we have games on Tuesday and Wednesday, so they are coming thick and fast. Hopefully that will stand us in good stead for the season – we can get some of the cobwebs dusted off. The players need minutes in their legs and although some games are billed as Under-21 games, they won’t necessarily be that. 

“It’s up to the players; they have to show me they are worth those minutes as well.”

Despite the 2-1 defeat, Robins believes there were some good signs – particularly from Town’s summer arrivals.

“I think there were some encouraging signs, especially in the first-half. We made some decent passing moves and we’re trying to play out from the goalkeeper, which means we have to work better to get on the ball. I thought the distribution from the goalkeeper was ok today and some of the passing moves going forward were good.

“Jake Carroll did pretty well on the left hand side. He’s been brilliant, as have the likes of Matt Crooks, Jordan Sinnott and everybody else. The young lads have been excellent over the last couple of weeks and although it didn’t bear fruit today, that isn’t to say it won’t in the future – we just have to keep persevering. 

“In the second half Danny Carr came on and showed glimpses of how he can wriggle past people, but then you see the other side of him when he clipped a ball into no-one. He’s got to try those things and get used to the speed of the game, so he may be fed in occasionally. It was good for him to get a run-out and good for the supporters to see him.”

Jon Stead and Peter Clarke were in attendance at the Proact Stadium on the sunny afternoon, but didn’t feature; Robins explained why: 

“Steady has a tight groin. He knows his body, so he stepped out today. Peter Clarke is just coming back from his summer surgery and is doing well.

“We did pick up a problem with Calum Woods today, which we hope won’t be as bad as it looks just now. He has quite a mark on his collarbone. We don’t know the extent of the injury at this stage though, but fingers crossed he will be ok.”