Fans return for Huddersfield’s trip to Southport

Huddersfield will have their own supporters present at a match for the first time under manager Carlos Corberan as they make a trip to the North-West to take on National League North side Southport.

The Terriers got their preparations for the new Championship campaign off to a winning start last week with a 1-0 victory over League Two side, Harrogate Town.

The scoreline may seem uninspiring on paper, but this time of the year, the focus is all about building up to match fitness and working on tactical ideas and formations for the new season.

With that in mind, Corberan used 21 different players last weekend with only goalkeeper Lee Nicholls completing the 90 minutes as the manager made wholesale changes at half-time. A similar scenario is envisaged this weekend at the home of the non-league side.

Josh Koroma scored the only goal and he’ll be looking to build on that this weekend to gain even more confidence for the Carabao Cup clash with Sheffield Wednesday on August 1st.

New signings Jordan Rhodes, Ollie Turton, Matty Pearson, Levi Colwill, Josh Ruffels and the aforementioned Nicholls will be hoping to make a good impression in front of supporters and enter Corberan’s thoughts for starting positions.

Opponents Southport have a little bit more time to prepare for the new season as they don’t face Gloucester until August 14th.

The Sandgrounders started pre-season with a 2-0 defeat to Blackpool on Saturday but bounced back with a victory over Runcorn Linnets in midweek.

Connor Woods and Dylan Vassallo got on the scoresheet as Southport recovered from going a goal down.

Manager Liam Watson took a similar approach to Corberan by making plenty of half-time changes to get minutes under the player’s belts while four trialists took to the field in the hopes of earning a contract.

The forecast is looking great for the weekend in what is sure to be another lovely occasion as we get used to the return of the most vital element of football, the supporters.

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