Chris reviews the 4-1 loss to Wolves
Chris Powell cut a disappointed figure after seeing his side fall to a 4-1 home defeat at the hands of visitors Wolves tonight.
Wolves looked dangerous going forward all evening at one end, whereas at the other the Terriers couldn’t convert enough of the copious shots at goal that were created throughout.
The Manager explained: “We created over 30 chances; we did have chances. I thought their ‘keeper made some good saves and there were one or two key blocks. We couldn’t score at the right times. If Vaughany had got his goal at 2-0 you would feel like you had a chance, but even at 3-1 it was always a tall order.
“Despite that, the players kept going. I thought Sean Scannell worried them on both sides. On a night like this, when we’re creating chances, we missed Nahki Wells; you’d think he would have taken one or two.
“At the other end two of the goals were our own doing. Conor’s own goal was unfortunate and ‘Butts’ normally doesn’t give it away, but tonight it went straight to their player for the first. He put in a very good pass and in a flash we were 1-0 down.
“They are a good team and countered on us really well; Kenny (Jackett) has fashioned a good squad. It was end to end, but they took more of the chances that fell their way.
“It was a hard game tonight. Apart from last Saturday, Wolves have been decent. In any given day you can beat anyone in the Championship, but there are some teams on a slightly higher level and that’s what we’re aspiring to get to. I’m trying to get the best out of my squad in each and every game.
“It’s a hard one to take. The band of fans we had at Millwall enjoyed the display, but obviously this evening isn’t one to remember for us.”
Powell made two changes for the game, handing January recruit Ishmael Miller a full debut and bringing Tommy Smith back into the team after the head injury that prompted a visit from the Yorkshire Air Ambulance against Leeds United.
He continued: “It was a very quick turnaround from Millwall, so tonight we put a couple with fresh legs in the team. I wanted to be quite attacking and positive, but it didn’t turn out that way.
“With Nahki missing it was natural to give Ishmael a start and try to get him up to speed. At times I thought showed what he has, whereas at other times it was a little bit difficult. We don’t really know him yet. He’s a player that does need the ball into feet and at times we saw he can link up with James Vaughan and the midfield, but at other times – when it’s not going for the team – the pass doesn’t get there.
“He hasn’t played for a while, but I wanted to leave him on as we needed our strikers on the pitch. I’m sure we’ll see a lot more from him.
“As for Tommy (Smith), we made sure we did things correctly with him. We’d never put him at risk, but he trained well and it was good to see him back.”
Town’s next game follows on Saturday, with a long trip to face high-flying AFC Bournemouth.
“Now we have to recover pretty quickly,” Chris said. “I’m pretty stunned by it all really, but we’ve got to go to Bournemouth and be ready for a really tough assignment. It hurts to lose any game, but we’ve now lost the last two at home and that hurts, because we’ve been pretty decent here. We need to get that back as quickly as we can.
“We’ve shown character to bounce back ever since I’ve been here and now we’ll have to see it again. I have full confidence that we will.”
