Saturday 21 July 2012

Match Report: Guiseley 1-0 Huddersfield Town

The terriers visited non-league side Guiseley for their first pre-season friendly of the new season and took with them a strong squad as Grayson promised he would do. Guiseley came out of the tie on top thanks to an early first half goal courtesy of Danny Forrest.

The first 45 minutes say Huddersfield dominate all areas of the field but were undone by a lovely Guiseley move which ended with Forrest shooting past Alex Smithies after just 15 minutes. The positives of the first half for the terriers was the ability on show by new signings Oliver Norwood and Sean Scannell. Both looked dangerous on the ball especially Scannell who managed to cause trouble down the wing despite having to receive on-field physio treatment to his ankle just 10 minutes into play.

Paul Dixon & Murray Wallace also featured in the starting XI for the first half and both looked impressive as they held their own at the back. Guiseley tried hard early on to get the breakthrough and prior to doing so, Smithies had to push away a good headed effort from James Walshaw at his near post. Huddersfield failed to threaten the opponents goal but did come close to equalising through a free kick from new boy Oliver Norwood but his curling effort went inches wide of the upright.

The other close effort for the terriers came from academy graduate Jimmy Spencer when he was superbly played through by Wallace but he could only hit his volley wide of the mark. The first half came to a close and as the teams re-emerged after a 15 minute interval, Grayson's entire lineup had changed. In this brand new eleven was newbie Adam Clayton as well as Last seasons top goalscorer Jordan Rhodes.

Although the second half wasn't as naturally flowing as the first from the terriers you could see why Grayson has brought Clayton in to play underneath him. Hard tackling & neat passes came from Clayton as he tried his best to impress and dominate the middle of the park. However, Guiseley were not giving in and they started to get lucky as Rhodes smashed uncharacteristically over the bar. Shortly after, Novak was denied by Guiseley goalkeeper Steve Drench who pushed away his drive at goal from a free kick.

Jordan Rhodes was the centre of all the second half attacks and it looked like he had equalised for the terriers with a header but an amazing near post block denied him. Things just didn't go Town's way and the final whistle went to end the first pre-season friendly with a 1-0 loss.



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