Irishman scored first goal for Town
- Danny Grant delighted to be on scoresheet
- Winger bagged his first goal for Huddersfield Town
- Irishman discusses his return from injury
Huddersfield Town winger Danny Grant was delighted to score his first goal for the Club as the B Team beat Birmingham City 3-1 at the John Smith’s Stadium in the Premier League Cup.
Brahima Diarra put Town ahead on 43 minutes before Jon Russell and Grant scored in quick succession in the second period to give the Young Terriers a commanding lead. Kyle Hurst netted a consolation for the Blues, but the hosts kept possession to remain unbeaten in the competition.
Grant, who took his goal superbly with a curling effort into the bottom corner, was thrilled to get his maiden strike and explained how frustrating his journey back has been.
“People know the year and the bit of bad luck that I have had, so just to get off the mark for the club, I was buzzing.
“I didn’t fancy it on my left foot if I am being honest, so I cut onto my right foot and I just picked out that far corner and I thought it was a good finish.
“It has been really difficult but thankfully, I have had good people with my family and friends around me and the club have supported me.
“But, even with all that support, it has been difficult and hopefully, there are better times ahead.
“I am still not fully match fit; as you can tell, I am coming off after 60-65 minutes and it’ll come with time, but to get games is the most important thing, whether that be the B Team or at any level.
“Hopefully, I can get more games and get fit, and, in a few weeks, I can complete 90 minutes and step up.
“There is a bit of rust there as you may have seen with the chances last week [against Middlesbrough] where I hit the post and was inches and today, I had one or two before I got the goal.
“I want to make that step into the First Team and be involved with the squad week in, week out.
“I don’t expect to jump straight in and start next week or anything like that, but over the year I could establish myself as a First Team player and come off the bench and hopefully make an impact.”
The 21-year-old played 68 minutes of their dominant victory over Birmingham. Grant hailed the Young Terriers’ play in and out of possession.
“I thought the performance was decent.
“I thought first half we pressed high, and I don’t think that Birmingham threatened too much.
“We kept the ball when we had it and we limited how long they had the ball.
“We got the goal, thankfully, in the first half and then we put the game to bed early, so it was good all around.
“We smothered the ball – that is what we planned to do – and we pressed high.
“Kian Harratt and I up top got up and against their two centre-halves and stop them from having the ball for more than two or three passes and I thought we did that well.
“I think we could have created more in the final third and playing out from the back I thought we did well and kept the ball well.
“As I said, we could improve in creating more chances, but we got three goals at the end of the day, so that’s just me being picky.”
