The manager of Huddersfield Town, Darren Moore, has spoken out on the lacklustre bench he selected before his team’s goalless draw with Watford.
As the Terriers fought the Hornets for a point, just six names were on the bench.
Due to the absence of eleven first-team players for Huddersfield, Moore was limited in his options during the match.
Among those missing were captain Jonathan Hogg and frontman Delano Burgzorg.
Understudy goalkeeper Chris Maxwell was on the bench alongside Luke Daley, Tom Iorpenda, Josh Austerfield, Brahima Diarra and the returning Josh Ruffels.
In his post-match press conference, Moore explained: “In the last 24 hours leading up to it, we lost two players in terms of David [Kasumu], and then we lost Kian [Harratt] yesterday. That knocked two off. That’s why the bench looked so sparse today.
“These are unforeseen circumstances that can happen in football and you just have to get on with it. Credit to the players, we all knew as a group today what had gone on in the last 24 hours.
“Credit to the players for the way they adjusted and just got on with the job. I’m really pleased for them and pleased with the way they went about their work today really, individually and collectively as a group
“Hopefully, they leave this stadium feeling like [it was] a job well done. It gives us something to work on, something to build from next week in preparation for our next game.”
Kasumu was missing due to a hamstring issue, while Harratt was unavailable because of personal reasons.
Moore said: “We did have some late changes in the 24 hours before the game. In terms of preparing, I’m just so grateful that when we prepare, we put all the players in scenarios and situations where unforeseen and unexpected circumstances can come. The players, from a mental point of view, will have seen that work first-hand.
“I’m always saying to the players, ‘just because you think a certain individual can play, they may even start the game and have to come off the pitch within two minutes and somebody else has got to go on’.
“It’s getting the players ready so for it to actually happen today, from a mental point of view, the players will have seen that all of them have got to be really ready.
“We didn’t expect the bench to be as sparse as what it was today but it goes to show that even in the lead-up to games, you can suffer one or two casualties. It’s about adapting and adjusting and getting on with the game as best we can.
“It didn’t detract from the work that we’ve done this week even when we lost those key bodies.”
