The Terriers squad has been stretched thin by injuries and a suspension, forcing the manager to look to the youth ranks for players who may be able to take the step up.
Darren Moore began incorporating the younger players into his senior training sessions even before his selection headaches became more intense, claiming that he already saw them as “part of the first team.”
Over the past year or so, a number of Huddersfield Town youth players have advanced to regular Championship action, including Pat Jones, Josh Austerfield, Rarmani Edmonds-Green, Brahima Diarra, Ben Jackson, Jaheim Headley, and Kian Harratt. For their match against Leeds United this coming weekend, Moore was compelled to call up two more young players off his bench: Tom Iorpenda, a central midfielder, and Luke Daley, a left back, for their maiden Championship calls.
Town are likely to need to lean on their youngsters to make up the numbers against Watford this weekend, with the injury list growing and captain Jonathan Hogg serving a one-match ban for picking up his fifth yellow card of the season.
Moore had already begun to lay the groundwork for the youngsters to start moving towards that kind of involvement, however. He explained at the end of the October international break: “I’m getting used to the structure that was here before with the B team players. They have to be part of the first team now.
“What we’re doing with them—and the players understand—is we use the term’squeezing every pip out of them’, really, in terms of where we need them to be and where they want to be. We’re working extremely hard with them, and they’ve responded very, very well as a group, so that’s been really pleasing to see.
“I keep saying that the real positive I’ve got with them is that they’re such an honest group, and they are definitely receptive to what’s going on. We have to allow the work to sort of settle in with them and get into them from a physical and mental point of view, but certainly as a group and in terms of where they are, they’re expected to step up, and we want them to step into the situation.
“We’ve had some amazing conversations with each of them separately and together, and they’re a vital member of the team both now and in the future.”
Other recent B team graduates, Etienne Camara and Nicholas Bilokapic, were sold to Udinese and Peterborough, respectively, this summer, while Scott High, Aaron Rowe, and Brodie Spencer are all now on loan.
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