Jaded Huddersfield Town can only hope break does them good as special season ebbs away

As spring begins to bloom, Huddersfield Town are wilting. Bournemouth made an absolute mockery of the idea that Town might be able to challenge them for second place as they ran roughshod over an ailing and jaded-looking Terriers side. For the second time in four days, Carlos Corberan’s side were outclassed in all departments on their way to a damaging loss that kills off any shred of hope they might push for automatic promotion and once again calls their play-off credentials into question.

There was a sense coming into this game that either side could be either on top of their game or completely off it, especially in light of each team’s recent performances and results. But the visitors’ expensively-assembled squad were always going to get something out of this game if they were at their best; unfortunately for Town, they were.

As has so often been the case since Bournemouth came down from the Premier League, the Town defence were completely unable to deal with the quick movement of the Cherries attack, with Dominic Solanke causing particular problems as he repeatedly got in behind the Town defence and wrought havoc. He has now registered six goals and two assists in his four Championship outings against Town.

There were aspects to Town’s performance that made it easier than it should have been, mind. Tom Lees, in particular, was badly off his game, getting caught out of position on the first goal to leave the defensive line outnumbered and later failing to clear after Lee Nicholls had saved from Dominic Solanke, allowing Jefferson Lerma to slide home an opportunistic second goal.

Just like Jonathan Hogg in midweek, that left Corberan with little choice but to hook an experienced player at half-time, with Levi Colwill