Town Boss Andy Ritchie On Tonight

Last updated : 15 February 2008 By Thetashkentterror
Andy Ritchie
Huddersfield manager Andy Ritchie spoke to the assembled press after his side's 2-1 defeat at Brunton Park this evening, Ritchie suggesting that the match mirrored United's 2-0 win at the Galpharm Stadium back in August :


"I'm disappointed because we've been undone by two corners. We've been good at set-pieces recently but tonight we didn't deal with them. I think they will have been disappointed to be only 1-0 up at half-time as we didn't get to the pace of the game, but we weathered the storm and we had our own chances in that half in the last ten or fifteen minutes.

"If we had shown a little bit more composure, we probably could have gone in level but it would have been a bit undeserved. We talked beforehand about how they would start quickly but we just didn't manage to match it early on.

"I'm a bit annoyed with their first goal as the linesman dropped his flag when he was about to give an offside. He dropped it and then gave a corner instead - can he not pick that up and use the buzzer to give the original offside? I asked him at half-time and he denied it, but our fans saw it as they gave him some stick when he gave another offside later in the half.

"I thought that we were the better side for long periods of the second-half and we had two or three chances to level it, but we've given away a corner because Matt couldn't pull his hand away from the header quickly enough. Regardless of that, we haven't dealt with that as three of four of our players went for the same ball and the ball fell to them.

"That was frustrating, as every rebound seemed to fall to their players tonight - especially in their box. We battled hard in the second-half and I can't have a go at the players for their performance then, although we didn't do ourselves justice in the first. I think this game mirrored our first game at the Galpharm in August when they had the better of the first and us the second.

"We've had a really good run recently and we're not going to take this to heart too much. We will look at it and dissect it, but for long periods of the second-half I thought we were going to get something. It just wasn't to be. They are a good side.

"Unfortunately his (Luke Beckett's) back was a little bit stiff and when he got off the coach at the hotel he felt a bit of a twinge. It got a bit tighter but we had a look at it here and decided to let him try to warm up. However, he was struggling to put his socks on and he couldn't manage it. This is the third time this has happened to us this season, but this is why we bring the extra men with the squad.

"His back has been a little bit sore for three weeks now, but up until now we have managed to control it with medication. Unfortunately, it just got a little too much for him today. We'll have to monitor his and Worthy's (Jon Worthington's) condition for the next 48 hours ahead of Saturday."