'We've done a lot of work' - Huddersfield Town boss outlines set-piece focus
· Tom Coates · 2026-08-10 · nguồn gốc
'We've done a lot of work' - Huddersfield Town boss Martin Drury outlines set-piece focus for Terriers
Martin Drury discussed Huddersfield Town’s set-piece focus after their defeat to Preston North End
Huddersfield Town head coach Martin Drury has revealed “a lot of work” has gone into his side’s use of set-pieces over the summer.
The Terriers returned to competitive football at the weekend, drawing 1-1 with Preston North End in the first round of the Carabao Cup before exiting the competition on penalties.
Huddersfield were particularly threatening from set-pieces at Goodison Park, which hosted the fixture as a neutral ground due to ongoing development work at Preston’s Deepdale home.
Their opener came from a Lasse Sorensen free-kick, which was headed home by defender Radinio Balker.
Martin Drury on Huddersfield Town’s set-play work
“I think, as we know in League One, set-plays are a major part of it,” Drury told Huddersfield’s YouTube channel post-match. “We wanted to improve that.
“We've done a lot of work across the summer on that. I think the staff in Jon [Stead], Dale [Tonge] and Alan [Knill], I think they've done brilliant, brilliant stuff with that across pre-season.
“We've looked a threat from a lot of set-plays, and with the defensive set-plays as well. If you look at the amount of times we've had to do that today in terms of long throw-ins, free-kicks and corners, I thought Jack Whatmough was excellent in terms of dealing with that. I thought Balker was excellent.
“I thought Matty [Young] in goal came for things when he needed to come for things and punch things and call things. I thought they were excellent.”
Huddersfield Town’s late blow
Huddersfield may have threatened from set-pieces but were undone by a long throw-in, which they failed to clear in the build-up to Jusef Erabi’s stoppage-time leveller.
The equaliser gave 10-man Preston the opportunity to advance on penalties and to rub salt in the wounds, the winning spot-kick was scored by ex-Terriers loanee Delano Burgzorg.
Huddersfield will have a chance to bounce back on Saturday (August 15), when they host AFC Wimbledon in the first game of their League One campaign.
“The one moment that you don't get that right against a Championship team, and you give them a chance, they take that chance,” said Drury. “Then you end up drawing the game 1-1 when you should have won the game.
“We get back to work immediately and we start looking at next week, what that looks like, how we think we can go about the game to win the game, the same way that we did today.
“I'd say it's disappointment today that we've drawn the game when we felt we were in the ascendency and we should have won the game. But we'll take positives from today and the things that we want to improve and develop.”