The Tanner report: Huddersfield 1 Fulham 2

I had the utmost respect for those Fulham diehards on a very wet night – when the match was televised – who made it up to the Smith Stadium and were rewarded by a 2-1 victory.

I watched it on the telly. Some of the key incidents I am sure I would have missed had I been there.

In the first half Ivan Cavaleiro failed to pick out Anthony Knockaert with a cross but the latter was offside. The Huddersfield equaliser was 18mm over the line.

Joe Bryan’s decoy run to the left of Cavaleiro prevented Huddersfield defender from closing him down so the Portuguese winger could deliver a curlier for the Fulham winner.

Three crucial incidents all well analysed.

The commentator Gary Weaver was well informed too clearly doing his homework. Nonetheless when the camera went after the whistle to the celebratory Fulham fans I wished I was amongst them.

In the first 30 minutes at home to Blackburn the players looked uneasy about the emphasis on passing particularly out of defence. Last night the tactic went well and Huddersfield were passed out of the game.

One of the ironies of the set-up is that Knockaert who is left-sided plays on the right and Cavaleiro who is right-sided plays on the left. This leads to narrowness and one of the reasons why the ball out of defence versus Blackburn did not make it to the opposition half was the absence of wide men.

Last night the tactic worked better and the two wide men were an ever-present thorn in the Huddersfield side.

With two home games to come against Millwall and Nottingham Forest we will be looking to improve on our third place.