Huddersfield Town captain’s ‘massive’ verdict as vow made on next season

Town skipper Ryan Ledson knows the expectation for next season

Huddersfield Town skipper Ryan Ledson insists that his side “will be better” in League One next season. The Terriers are set to embark on their third consecutive campaign in the division after registering a ninth-placed finish last term.

Town recorded 67 points from 46 matches played, as they ended up eight points adrift of the play-off places. The Terriers were unable to achieve their promotion aim last season, and Ledson said on the club’s latest episode of Unrestricted: “It’s not on anyone else, it’s on us – me, all the players, that we’ve got to be better, and for next season, we will be better.

“This club’s a massive club, and it comes with expectation, for everyone that is – players, staff included, and we need to rise to that.”

Town picked up ten points from their final seven games under the interim management team of Martin Drury and Jon Stead, who stepped up after Liam Manning was granted compassionate leave.

The Terriers scored late goals in the pair’s first two matches in charge, against Reading and Leyton Orient over Easter, to take four points from those games. However, Town then conceded three consecutive late equalisers against Wycombe Wanderers, Cardiff City and Bolton Wanderers, as their play-off hopes came to an end.

Town rounded off the season with a convincing defeat to Mansfield Town, as well as a thumping win at AFC Wimbledon on the final day. Drury has since been appointed to the head coach role on a permanent basis, with Stead remaining as his assistant.

Reflecting on the duo’s time in interim charge, Ledson said: “I think we performed really well.

“I think from the coaching side of things, from Martin and Jon, they’d really put their opinion in, and we galvanised, and I think we were unlucky not to win more games.

“I think we honestly should’ve went five out of five wins to be honest, but it was a real sense it was all coming together, and putting in performances that we know we should as a squad.

“I think they’ve been top drawer since they took over, and just gutted more so for us and for them, and obviously everyone connected with the club, that we didn’t pick up more points, because we should’ve, and we should have found ourselves a lot higher than where we are.”

The Terriers struggled late on in games throughout the season, with Town conceding 20 goals after the 75-minute mark across 17 League One matches.

That led to them dropping 15 points across those games, although that was in part mitigated by them gaining nine points through scoring late goals.

Jack Whatmough acknowledges that his side need to be more streetwise next term, with the defender, who featured just six times for the club in an injury-hit campaign, saying: “It’s just been a cut-throat season, where we’ve conceded late goals, and the teams that have gone on to go get promoted haven’t done that.

“Sort of the dark arts of the game if you want to say, and I think Lincoln have been brilliant at it this year, especially when they came to our place. We’re 2-0 up, and they stick in and get a result, potentially the thing that we’ve missed out on a little bit.

“It’s so easy for me to sit here and just say that when I haven’t been out on the pitch, because I could’ve been involved in it if I was playing, so it’s learning, it’s understanding, and it’s for next year to rectify it, put it right, and the mistakes that we as a group think we might’ve made that we can change for next year.”