Huddersfield Town have been on the fringes of getting promoted for the past four seasons, three consecutive top-10 finishes before finally making it into the play-offs last season. While Millwall ended any hopes they had of reaching the Championship, manager Lee Clark has brought back a Terriers side with renewed hope this season (Huddersfield v Bournemouth).
Standing in their way is a Bournemouth side bidding to make it back-to-back promotions, only months after they nearly went out of business. Surely it will be a bridge too far for the Cherries to overcome a good Huddersfield side.
At the start of the 2008-09 there were question marks over whether Bournemouth would even be allowed to play in the Football League after entering administration with debts of nearly £4million. Since then it has been a backs to the wall job for the Cherries and they have thrived in adversity, reclaiming their place in League 1 last season after a fantastic campaign under Eddie Howe. While Howe left half way through the season Lee Bradbury has managed to carry the south-coast club over the line and secure a play-off spot.
However, things haven’t gone smoothly recently for Bournemouth, Bradbury’s side collecting just two wins from their last 12 matches as their season ended with a whimper. They maintained their place in the play-offs, but only by the skin of their teeth as Leyton Orient came within a point of overhauling them. Life on the road hasn’t been particularly good for the Cherries and they head to Huddersfield with just six away wins to their name all season. They haven’t enjoyed their trips to the Galpharm Stadium either, failing to win their since Huddersfield completed their move to their new ground. With that in mind you can see why the West Yorkshire club are 7/10 to beat Bournemouth in the 90 minute market, with the Cherries on at 19/5 and the draw at 7/2.
On paper things are pointing towards a Huddersfield win, even if they haven’t won a play-off game at the Galpharm or Leeds Road. Saturday’s 1-1 draw in the first leg extended the Terriers unbeaten run to 26 matches and their home form has one again been very good. They have lost three games at home all season and Huddersfield fans will rightly be expecting to see their team end their play-off hoodoo. The Terriers have been up twice through the play-offs in five attempts but will be keen to erase the memories of last year’s disappointment by at least reaching the final.
Huddersfield might count themselves as lucky not to have a deficit to overturn from the first leg after Ian Bennett’s penalty save at Dean Court. Clark won’t want it to be that close on Wednesday night and will hope Jordan Rhodes, Danny Ward and Benik Afobe can turn it on for the usually free-flowing Terriers. The game to have over 2.5 goals in it can be backed at 5/6, or you could go for it to have between 3-5 goals at evens.
Huddersfield are the 5/4 favourites to be promoted via the play-offs and should justify that tag against Bournemouth by booking their place at Old Trafford. However, this is the play-offs and with the Cherries constantly upsetting the odds over the last few years you can?t totally dismiss the chance of the underdogs getting through again.
Want £200 Free? Click here to visit Bet365 and claim your free money.