Huddersfield Town chief on ‘well-rounded away performance’ in Reading victory

Huddersfield Town boss Lee Grant was impressed with his side’s ability to handle the atmosphere in their 2-0 win over Reading on Saturday.

The Royals hosted their first home encounter under new owner Rob Couhig, and fans enjoyed a fireworks show and a Q&A session with the new owners before the midday test.

However, late goals from Jack Whatmough and Cameron Ashia handed Noel Hunt’s team a second consecutive defeat without scoring, while the high-spending Terriers remained top of League One with their second straight win and clean sheet.

Despite the fact that there were only little more than 12,500 fans in the stadium, the excitement and mood before the game were apparent, as the former Derby County goalie had anticipated.

“We understood pretty clearly it would be the case, with the pyrotechnics, the atmosphere and energy in the stadium and a response to the defeat last week,” he told the club’s TV station. “We anticipated everything, and Reading delivered early on. I enjoyed how we handled the first part of the game. I believe the boys would have been upset not to have had more success with some of the situations we created in the early stages of the game. In overall, over the course of 90 minutes, the boys and guys handled it quite well.”

Despite coming close to Fin Burns in the second half, the Royals continued to struggle in the final third, failing to put goalkeeper Owen Goodman to the test.

As with every away victory and clean sheet, Grant described the day as “a really well-rounded away performance.”

“It was a really different game with lots of different aspects that we knew we would have to bring,” Grant said, comparing the victory to last week’s 3-0 thrashing of Leyton Orient. “Pre-game, we talked about one or two specific things. We knew we’d have to control the game in tight situations, and we knew we’d have to demonstrate our character and belief, which I think the boys did admirably. Overall, it was a really well-rounded away performance.

Reading travels to Portsmouth in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday before hosting AFC Wimbledon at the SCL Stadium on Saturday.