Huddersfield Town new voices must bring new impetus as play-off test presented

The Easter weekend begins with a Good Friday fixture against the Royals

Huddersfield Town will look to draw themselves back into play-off contention amidst a period of uncertainty at the club as they welcome sixth-placed Reading to the Accu Stadium.

The Easter weekend begins with a Good Friday fixture against the Royals, who, under Leam Richardson, have established themselves as top-six contenders and are one team the Terriers are looking to chase down.

Reading hold the final play-off spot currently, while Huddersfield are down in 10th, but only four points separate the two sides heading into Friday’s contest, with the hosts looking to kick off this interim management spell under Jon Stead and Martin Drury in the right way.

Liam Manning’s compassionate leave does mean the Town players are now adapting to another, or two other, leading voices on the training pitch and in the dressing room, at least for the rest of this campaign.

Huddersfield have been strong at home this term with just two defeats in 19 league matches, but Reading find themselves in the top six in part due to having picked up the fifth most points on the road this term – 24 from 20.

A 3-0 home win on Tuesday night over head coach Richardson’s former employers, Wigan Athletic, was the perfect response to defeat in their last away game at Stevenage last weekend.

After Reading’s midweek win over Wigan, first team coach James Beattie said: “They’ve played well and they’re a good team since Gary [Caldwell]’s gone in there and we knew that it was going to be a tough game, but we said to the lads that we need to work hard in possession, out of possession, and I thought both of them things, we executed very well today, and yeah, it was a great result.

“The lads have got the structure, and they enjoy the way we play, or we try and play, and as I say, the work goes into the weekend. It’s a tough game, but we look ahead.

“The Stevenage result hurt us, and we were disappointed, so we wanted to come back stronger and give the fans something to shout about and show more of what we’re about and perform like us. The game against Huddersfield and Lincoln the following Monday will be no different.

“We’ll take it steady. We’re just trying to maintain or trying to find some sort of consistency in performances, and if we do that, then I think we’ll be OK, and we’ll be competitive in games, as we’ve seen today. We’ll just keep working hard and see what the games bring us.”

Whilst the Royals are still without top scorer Jack Marriott, his deputy Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan has been stepping up in his place. The 22-year-old has scored three goals in his last three games and will be looking to add to his tally in Reading’s trip to West Yorkshire.

The Terriers won the reverse fixture all the way back in August, a 2-0 away win thanks to late goals from Jack Whatmough and Cameron Ashia, but a lot of time has passed, and things have changed for both since.

A tough defeat away at fellow play-off contenders Plymouth Argyle ended Manning’s spell for this term on a sour note, following on from an encouraging performance at home against runaway league leaders Lincoln City in a 2-2 draw.

Whether Huddersfield’s interim gaffers move away from the 3-4-2-1 shape deployed under Manning and trial different personnel, or try not to alter too much in a short space of time, remains to be seen, with Reading the first of seven more big tests.