Huddersfield Town have one last issue to address to keep promotion dream alive

There’s not many areas in this Terriers side that require urgent improvement, but a look at the Championship goal time figures make one fairly clear – especially in the wake of the 2-2 draw away to West Bromwich Albion.

Late goals are a fact of life in football, with some 24% of all Championship goals this season coming in the final 15 minutes of games, where by rights you might expect it to be more like 19% even after accounting for injury time. Tired legs, tired minds and sheer desperation are a perfect recipe for more goals.

Unfortunately for Huddersfield Town, a lot of those late goals are going against them this season – particularly away from home.

Karlan Grant’s penalty and Andy Carroll’s header were the seventh and eighth goals Town have conceded in the last ten minutes of games on the road this season; only bottom side Peterborough (14) have conceded more. Meanwhile, Levi Colwill’s injury time winner at Sheffield United is the only away goal Town have scored in the last ten minutes of games this season – and even that came after the Blades had grabbed a late equaliser.

Town got away with that one, then, as they did with the consolation goals Bristol City and Fulham each scored with Town already two goals to the good. But the equaliser they shipped to Peterborough in November, the winner Cardiff scored a few days later, QPR’s late winner, and West Brom’s late double have combined to cost Carlos Corberan’s side seven points this season.

That’s not a colossal total, by any means, but enough that we would be talking much more seriously about automatic promotion, and enough that their play-off place would by now be all but assured.

Statistics can be crafty like this. If you go looking for them, you can