The international break is firmly in the rear view mirror, and with that comes the return of a full slate of EFL fixtures. At last. It was hard to know where to look with so many mouth-watering matches on the docket across all three divisions, but this game was one of that immediately stood out before a ball was kicked. Huddersfield and Wednesday have both made it clear that they intend to be right at the top end of the third tier when things finally start to shake out, and they’ve both proven on multiple occasions that they have more than enough quality to get there. With just thirty-odd miles separating them, there was sure to be a bit of needle in this too, and who doesn’t love a bit of needle? Two top teams, a local-ish derby, both free-scoring and both resolute at the back, how could this game ever live up to the hype? How about some miraculous saves, clinical finishing, a calamitous own-goal, a huge late comeback, and one of the most controversial refereeing decisions you’re ever likely to see? Will that be enough for you?
Martin Drury had a glittering CV before taking over full-time as Huddersfield boss, but that doesn’t always guarantee success. He’s had spells as a coach at Bradford, West Brom, Manchester United and even Valencia, but these days it’s probably his time at Brentford that most catches the eye. The Bees have a knack for hoovering up and developing promising young coaching and playing talent, and Drury is just the latest product of that system. He took over as Huddersfield manager after Liam Manning left the role for personal reasons, and it’s fair to say the Terriers’ fans took some convincing that it was the right move. Who can blame them? Since their relegation to the third tier, the Huddersfield manager’s position has been a procession of failed experiments and a complete lack of joined-up thinking on the board’s behalf. Mike Duff is experienced at the level but was given a squad that was the complete antithesis of the style of play he’s had success with in the past, and that failed miserably. They then suffered from whiplash as they pivoted to Lee Grant, who had absolutely zero managerial experience and wanted to play an entirely different brand of football which, again, didn’t work. Then came Liam Manning, which obviously didn’t work out for non-footballing reasons, but it still represented a complete departure from their direction under Grant. In short, the Huddersfield hierarchy seemed absolutely clueless about what they wanted their football team to look like, but you know what they say about broken clocks. In promoting Drury from Manning’s backroom staff, Huddersfield have their first bit of continuity in years and, lo and behold, it’s working a treat. The Terriers look like they could be set for a serious tilt at promotion this year, and Martin Drury is the mastermind behind it all. Not bad for a first proper job in management, I suppose.
His opposite number this weekend was Wednesday’s Henrik Pedersen, who had been around the block in Europe before finding himself in the official 2025 Worst Job In World Football last season. The explosive end to the Chansiri era bled onto the pitch in dramatic fashion, and Pedersen was left with half a squad of players that weren’t even good enough for the division in the first place, along with an 18 point hurdle to overcome. They were the worst side in Championship history, but it’s hard to blame the Dane for their misfortunes. Many thought the ushering in of a new era for Wednesday would see a new manager at the helm, as these things often do, but the new owners decided that it was only fair to give Pedersen a crack at League One with an actually competent team. So far, so good. Wednesday have only lost once this season, and are only four points from the top of the table with two games in hand. An alright showing for a team patched together from scraps over a busy summer. Maybe Pedersen is better than we thought?
He certainly coached a good away performance in a tricky game last weekend, his Owls side seeing 70% of the ball and taking more shots than Huddersfield, but it was the home side that created the more clear-cut chances. The first of these fell to in-form striker Joe Taylor, and nobody is more shocked than him that he didn’t find the back of the net. With just twelve minutes on the clock, Huddersfield caught Wednesday on the counter and broke into their box at pace. Bojan Radulovic played a perfect pass across the box to an unmarked Taylor, who was thwarted from six yards out by a scrambling Joe Lumley wonder-save. Owls defender Yan Valery had left Taylor free in the box, and Lumley saved his blushes with a fine stop. The ‘keeper immediately let his defender know he needs to get across and cover the run in future, why didn’t you come on over, Valery?
Lumley made two further saves to keep the scores level at 0-0, and the home side couldn’t quite believe that they’d got to half time without finding the net. However, as is often the case with goalkeepers, and particularly those with reputations for being as erratic as Joe Lumley, you either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain. In the first minute of the second half, Lumley played a pass out wide to Reece James (not that one) that was just a little too short on power and a little too central, and the full-back could barely reach it. He made it to the ball on the stretch, but his attempted clearance went only as far as Archie Collins, who had pressed forwards to join in with the Huddersfield attack. The ball ricocheted off of Collins, who will probably tell you it was actually a masterful first-time assist, and into the path of Joe Taylor, who more than made up for his earlier miss. He brought the ball under control at pace with a great first touch, sat Liam Cooper down on the turf with his second, and buried his shot comfortably beyond Lumley to give his side the lead. How that man wasn’t called up to Wales duty I will never know. That goal marked his sixth in eight league games this season, it looks like Huddersfield fans are finally getting to see the real Joe Taylor after a difficult start to his time at the club. I don’t think we’ll be seeing him farmed back out on loan to Wigan any time soon.
As good as he’s been, Taylor isn’t the star of this Huddersfield team, that honour goes to summer signing Derensili Sanches Fernandes. The excellently named Dutch winger joined the club from Excelsior, and has been the standout player in the division, never mind just the club, so far. He is a shining reminder of what makes football fun in the era of efficiency. He loves to cause chaos by driving at defenders with the ball, and is equally adept at setting up a teammate or firing the ball in himself, with four goals and four assists in just nine league outings for his new club. There’s also always a certain charm and excitement about an unknown player coming into the lower tiers from abroad and lighting it up, you can’t help but enjoy it. A football fan’s dream, and a League One defender’s nightmare. What’s not to love? His latest victims were poor old Reece James and Billy Mitchell. Fernandes received a looping ball out on the right wing and brought it down well, holding off James in the process. He waited for his teammates to join him before slipping the ball between the two Wednesday players that were trying to tackle him and into the path of the onrushing Collins. He did what every good forward should do and followed his pass into the box, receiving the cut back from Collins and finishing first-time with his left foot at Lumley’s near post. There’s a slight hint of luck to how he squeezed the ball through to Collins, and Lumley should probably stop the shot on balance, but when you’re playing as well as Fernandes is you make your own luck. At 2-0 with 20 minutes to go, Huddersfield looked all-but out of sight. We all know how the EFL works however, it’s never over until that final whistle rings out.
Wednesday really started to turn the heat up after the second goal, surging forward and firing the ball into the box at any opportunity, forcing a few good saves from Matt Young along the way. Try as they might, no Wednesday player could break through this Huddersfield defence… luckily for the visitors, one of their hosts was feeling particularly generous. Wednesday recycled possession following a corner, bending another hopeful cross into the area from deep. It wasn’t a bad ball in, but it wasn’t a particularly great one either, and it looked to be evading all Owl’s heads and flying out for a goal kick. That was until, unprompted and under little-to-no pressure, Huddersfield defender Ibane Bowat elected to nod the ball past his own goalkeeper to halve the deficit. Bizarre. Now with just a one goal disadvantage and 88 minutes on the clock, Wednesday smelt blood.
In the end, it wasn’t smelling blood that was the issue, it was seeing it. As is often the case in modern football, all the coverage surrounding this game that should be focussing on how two top sides put on a great display of League One football has solely been centred on a controversial refereeing decision. I usually find discourse around referees, particularly at this level with limited technology to support them, pretty ponderous, but this incident was different to the usual EFL-ref-missing-something-obvious rubbish. In the dying embers of the game, Wednesday swung in a corner that was met by the head of Liam Cooper and tipped wide by a strong Matt Young save. The referee gave a corner, the linesman gave a corner, it’s a corner. Fairly routine stuff. You’d think. On the replay, you clearly see Marcus Harness goes for the ball with a high foot and catches Cooper square in the face, and a penalty should definitely be awarded. Unfortunately for Wednesday, none of the officials have seen it so it can’t be given and Huddersfield saw the game out to win 2-1… right? Here’s where the issue lies. The referee sees Cooper crumpled on the floor with a cartoon-style boot print on his face that was pouring with blood, and he realises that he’s obviously missed a foul. He scurried off to his assistant, who clearly also hasn’t seen it, and then they decide to give the penalty anyway. Ultimately, the decision is correct, but you just cannot give a foul there if you haven’t seen it. Does being technically correct justify such a bad process? I don’t think so, and I’m not sure I like the precedent it sets either.
Jamal Lowe showed excellent composure to bury his penalty after a five minute wait to take it, sharing a photo post-match of Young’s penalty notes that simply read “chat shit” next to Lowe’s name. Perhaps the research might need to be a bit more thorough, or the sledging harsher, next time. It’s a shame that this game will always be remembered for the controversy at the end, because it was a fantastic display of third tier football from these two sides. There was some great end-to-end action and, on reflection, a draw feels like a fair result. I came into this weekend certain that both of these sides would end up at least in the play-offs this season, and this game did absolutely nothing to convince me otherwise. It’s a good year to be a blue and white striped side in Yorkshire.