Sheffield Wednesday Fans Column: Third time lucky for sunshine in Huddersfield

Despite its weather I’ve still got a lot of affection for Huddersfield and good memories of my time there; lots of drinking, some studying and eating the best bacon sandwich I’ve ever had in the pub on the railway station.

The entire town was being rebuilt by Robert McAlpine at the time. You couldn’t fail to notice it, his name was on everything, especially the newly built McAlpine Stadium. I’m still struggling to comprehend that this was 20 years ago.

This affection for Huddersfield has to be put on hold this week. They stand in the way of us making a return visit to Wembley. While The Terriers have overachieved this season, we have continued to solidify ourselves as promotion contenders.

Let’s not beat about the bush, we finished higher than last season, we have the Wembley experience from last season so we know what to expect and we have beaten Huddersfield twice this season. We have every reason to be confident.

The Fulham game was a non-entity. Ten changes, down to 10 men thanks to the stupidity of Marco Matias and we still managed to compete against a team that most pundits already assume will win the play-offs. We played well considering the circumstances. Winnall, Wildsmith and Palmer deserve honourable mentions for making the most of their first team appearances.

Huddersfield will be without keeper, Danny Ward, after his sending off against Cardiff. Second choice, Joel Coleman, has had some impressive starts this season, in nine appearance he’s kept four clean sheets, one against Manchester City.

With a full strength team, sadly minus Gary Hooper, I’m confident about our chances against Huddersfield. This time next week, we will know whether we are play-off finalists and I’ll know whether I’ll be sitting on the opposite side of Wembley to my other half.