Huddersfield Town need to embrace unfamiliar new situation as underdog tag no longer fits

There really isn’t a more perfect nickname for Huddersfield Town than the Terriers. The perception even among the fans of the club as being small dog with a lot of fight is ideal for a club in a proud provincial town that has spent much of its history either challenging towards the top of whatever division they have found themselves in at the time, or scrapping against relegation.

Even in those headier seasons, though, Town have often been regarded as the underdog; certainly over the past 20 years or so. As much of a back-handed compliment as that might be, after a while, that bakes itself into the DNA of a fanbase.

It’s true that Huddersfield Town were written off as potential relegation fodder coming into this season, but at the time that perception did not seem unfair; not among the bookies, not among the media, not even among the fans or us in the local media. Things had been so bleak in the second half of last season, and so many of their summer signings came in with a point to prove at Championship level, that what they have achieved this season was entirely unpredictable.

Up until around the midpoint of the season, Town were still getting written off. ‘They’ll drop off at some point’ seemed to be the prevailing sentiment. But again, that seemed reasonable at the time, particularly after the mini-wobble in results around November.

As late as the 22nd game of the season – the 1-1 draw with Coventry City at the John Smith’s Stadium in mid-December – Carlos Corberan’s side were actually a point worse off than they had been at the same stage last season, and we all know what happened next on that occasion.

But that game marked the second game in their remarkable unbeaten run – and since then, Town have been given their