Two senior players complete an hour on returns
Anthony Gerrard and Martin Paterson continued their recoveries with an hour for Town’s Development Squad in a 3-1 defeat at Crewe Alexandra on Wednesday afternoon.
The senior duo played as overage players for 60 minutes before being replaced as they enjoyed time on the pitch for the first time since their respective calf and knee injuries.
Joe Lolley also played in the first-half, but unfortunately two early goals put the hosts comfortably ahead inside the opening 10 minutes.
Midfielder Jordan Sinnott showed great technique to bend a free kick in from 25 yards out to reduce the arrears for the Terriers just after the half hour, but Crewe hit back to restore their two goal lead going into the break.
Town improved during the second 45 minutes, but couldn’t get the goal that would have made it nervy for the Railwaymen.
Senior Professional Development Coach Frankie Bunn told htafc.com:
“It was a disappointing first-half – there was some sloppy defending for Crewe’s goals. We were two goals down after the first 10 minutes and that is hard to recover from. You can’t concede three goals and expect to win games.
At the other end, we created a couple of chances and didn’t take them. We got back into it at 2-1, but then Crewe scored just before half-time.
“We changed the shape during half-time and we were a lot better after the interval, but we lacked a cutting edge in the final third; we created some good chances but didn’t capitalise on them. With better finishing it could have been a different result.”
Despite the result, Bunn admitted it was good to see Gerrard and Paterson back out on the pitch:
“We had four players in the side who haven’t played for a number of weeks and needed the game; the likes of Joe Lolley, Anthony Gerrard, Martin Paterson and Matt Crooks all made their first starts for quite a while. Everyone came through unscathed and with minutes under their belt.”
Town’s Under-21 team vs. Crewe Alexandra (4-2-3-1):
Lloyd Allinson; William Boyle (c), Anthony Gerrard (Ben Atkinson, 60), Joe Wright, Joe Wilkinson; Philip Billing, Matt Crooks; Ben Holmes, Jordan Sinnott, Joe Lolley (Daniel Carr, 46); Martin Paterson (Flo Bojaj, 60)
Unused subs:
Ed Wilczynski, Sondre Tronstad
