00:00 Buggies fans, welcome to Express and start.com. My name is Johnny Drury. I'm here at a Sodden
00:13 John Smith's stadium after we've seen very much the old footballing cliche game of two
00:18 parts for as bad as Albion were in the first half, they were electric in the second half,
00:24 four goals in 22 minutes, unbelievable turnaround, Coxie, a bit of a rollercoaster of emotions
00:31 today.
00:32 You say game of two halves and go home.
00:33 Yeah, reaction done.
00:34 Summed up in a few words. Yeah, from the worst half of the season, probably. I think, I think
00:40 we think it's the worst, arguably the worst half. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it was bad,
00:44 wasn't it? Really bad, really bad. I mean, interestingly, Albion had 61% of the ball,
00:48 which it didn't feel like. And whenever they had any of that 61%, they were either giving
00:53 it away or in danger of giving it away. And not one goal was it not one shot on or off
00:58 target. It was dire. And put us up deserve to be ahead. The only sort of saving grace
01:05 was that it was only one mil. And I was thinking a half time. This is a crucial halftime in
01:10 the season. Now, I mean, dropping points here, you know, draw would be bad enough, really.
01:14 But defeat here would have been a disaster. Let's be honest, in the in the top six race,
01:18 I think the gap had gone down to just two points, hadn't it? So Holland, Holland, Holland,
01:23 Norwich before today. So to have lost would have been a serious blow and sort of checked
01:28 any momentum built up away that whole, you know, away record back to being disastrous.
01:33 And the manner of Huddersfield's goal was awful, wasn't it? Not not great from Palmer.
01:38 First, always kick out. I think Albion then lose it in the middle. Third, poorly, challenges
01:44 and they're in to score and slot it under Palmer. It was just the first half was dire,
01:47 wasn't it? And the second half was just a total opposite. Well, it was Albion were absolutely
01:52 rampant. They were lethal, ruthless game done at 4 1 by 74th minute. I mean, credit Huddersfield.
02:00 They kept going relegation back inside in the drop zone. They could have had another
02:04 two or one, couldn't they? And made it really interesting. And we will also say at 1 1,
02:09 even though the goals were so quickly together, Palmer makes a crucial save at 1 1 after an
02:12 Ockeye error. But we'll obviously get on to the full goals. Two from the magic man, the
02:18 in-form man, Mikey Johnson. One of the goals of the season in Ockeye, his first of the
02:23 season. Ockeye, of course, what an absolute miss.
02:25 You know what that was? A massive ping. You like that one, don't you? You like that one?
02:32 I like that one.
02:33 I'm really relieved from that. Very good. Yeah, ping. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we had a great
02:37 view of it, didn't we? In front of the away end. The second it left his foot. Yeah. A
02:42 beauty. Johnson scored the first equaliser. Good work from Viamin, actually worth mentioning.
02:47 But the second, Karl Barclay, hope tome bit more agricultural. That's not not a goal of
02:53 the season contender, but we will say Karl Barclay was for me, Albion's best player today.
02:59 Better than Johnson with the two goals. Really good. The only one with a bit of credit in
03:03 the first half was Barclay on his return to the side, by the way, out for what he missed.
03:08 I don't know. Four games, probably something like that. And he's came in and recaptured
03:11 his form. Yes, Huddersfield are big. They like to go long all of this. But Barclay still
03:15 stood. I mean, first off, if it wasn't for Barclay, I think I'll be probably go free
03:20 two or three.
03:21 Could have been so just looking between that first half and the second half, first half
03:24 Albin. I thought they looked nervous, frightened, but they look nervy in the first half. Huddersfield
03:29 did press well. I'll be just didn't get to grips with it. They were poor on the ball.
03:33 They give the ball away a lot. And we say a lot of times I'll be obviously got this
03:37 style of playing out from the back.
03:39 But the difference in the second half is that they went direct, not in the traditional sense
03:44 of getting it and just launching it as far as you can. But they went more direct, you
03:48 know, like the modern coaches say, beat the press. And when they went more than coaching,
03:52 I've got your A4B license after that. When they went a bit more direct, it just worked
03:58 in it. It seemed to just, you know, even in the I think they had two shots in the first
04:02 four minutes of the half. Yeah. Fearlong, I don't know. Yeah. Well, I said effort from
04:06 distance and it just mixed it up and it shows that it shows as well that, you know, core
04:10 branding, the senior manager wants to play out from the back and has got the style of
04:13 playing for courses.
04:14 Yeah. But he'll mix it up when he has to. And he had to today. Yeah, definitely. I think
04:19 you could see from the first of all, he switched Wallace up top almost with Viamond, didn't
04:24 he? For a bit of direct running to stretch the defence, maybe to turn them around straight
04:28 away. Balls from fairly deep, not aimless, but into the channels behind the defence,
04:33 second turn. And it just it rocked Huddersfield almost from the off, didn't it? Corners straight
04:38 away, start second half, furlong header, as you mentioned, and it just built from there.
04:41 And then the first goal comes on 52 minutes. You're right. I did think as well in the first
04:46 half, as well as the technically tactical side of it, I thought I'd end up tired. Jaded.
04:50 I saw a few fans say that on online. Obviously, the game was on Sky today. No hiding place
04:55 really was there. And I've been looked tired. They'd Carlos even mentioned it post-match
04:59 and he doesn't always do this, but he said, you know, a couple of battles, 50/50s jaws
05:02 where we come off second best, including the goal, you know, the Huddersfield goal. And
05:08 I did wonder and I did ask Carlos. He doesn't bite at this kind of thing. But if he had
05:12 to get into them at the break, you know, if he had to have a few words, I'm sure he had
05:15 a raised voice. I would imagine because he was less than impressed in the first half,
05:18 wasn't he? But the tactical switch is a key one. And as well as you mentioned that sort
05:24 of change in styling going a bit longer, I've been re-energised after the break, didn't
05:28 I? But I think the key point in that is getting the rewards early, getting the goals quickly,
05:33 50, 70 minutes, 60th minute, turning the game around, not letting the other areas have a
05:38 moment's breath really in a breather and a foot all and at two, one, certainly at three,
05:43 one by 66 minute. I mean, what an absolute beauty of a call that was by the way. It's
05:47 done it. Game was over. It wasn't like three one, certainly by four one. And I mentioned
05:52 bringing Bartley back crucial today as important as a victory. It could well be Thomas Assante
05:57 off the bench late on. He's been out about a month. Body's back just before the international
06:03 break when hopefully more still come back. Obviously one game left before the break.
06:07 Bodes really well. It's a fine win on an excellent away run now. Five unbeaten. That hasn't happened
06:13 since VAR 2021. So best part of three years. That's something given how bad the away record
06:19 wasn't and Corcoran's reference.
06:20 Quite apt to mention VAR, I swear at the camera.
06:23 Yeah, yeah. Didn't fancy his Hawthorne's return, did he? Yeah. Long serving though
06:27 by Watford standards, I would say. But yeah, you found this resilience, a way to win away
06:33 as well. Two wins and three draws, is it, in that five unbeaten run. But look, we know
06:38 how it is at Hawthorne generally. So if the points keep adding up, you said on the pod
06:42 didn't we on the way back from QPR, pick up most of those home wins in the remaining five
06:48 at home and then winning a couple of draws away, we're already, you know, already a win
06:52 here, isn't it? So, and yes, there's a harder way games to come, but hopefully more body's
06:56 back by the time Albion go, if not Millwall and Stoke, the other side of the break, then
07:02 certainly the two aways at Chef Wednesday and Leicester at the end of April. I mean,
07:06 we know how hard Leicester's going to be. You know, you could be talking about Matt
07:08 Phillips on the side, couldn't you, and Josh Madger, hopefully. So a long way to go before
07:12 that. Nine left, obviously Bristol City at home next weekend, but a day to savour today
07:16 and let's have it right. Mother's Day, 1300 baggage travelled at God knows what time this
07:21 morning, you know, you'd be on the road for a midday kickoff. Thanks, Sky. But yeah, 1300
07:30 credit to them and they had a right, you know, four goals right in front of them to enjoy
07:33 in that second half and it was a memorable one. I think one we'll look back on if and
07:37 when Albion get in the top six.
07:38 Are we going to call it a Terrier-like second half display then?
07:42 You can if you like.
07:43 Rude at night. There we go, final score.
07:44 I'm still recovering from ping, to be honest.
07:45 Yeah, yeah, yeah. I thought it was pretty good.
07:46 No, it was fine. It was fine. Let the fans decide.
07:47 There we go. Chalk and cheese. Poor first half. Brilliant second half. Much more reaction
07:56 to come today and tomorrow and the baggies broadcast will be back this week where we'll
08:00 talk all about it and preview next week's game against Bristol City. Final score here
08:04 in Yorkshire. Huddersfield 1, Albion 4. All the rest of your reaction, you know where
08:08 to go. Expressingstar.com.
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