When Neil Warnock begun his second Huddersfield reign with victory over Birmingham City, there was a feeling that the veteran boss had injected some much-needed belief behind the scenes at the John Smith’s Stadium.
However, successive 4-0 defeats to Burnley and Coventry City have told a different story, particularly the latter as the Terriers made individual mistakes and capitulated in front of their own supporters.
With Cardiff City and Rotherham United both winning on Saturday, Huddersfield now find themselves cut adrift from 21st spot with just 12 matches of their season remaining.
The fixture list is unforgiving as far as Huddersfield are concerned with West Bromwich Albion, Norwich City and Millwall to follow in the matches after Tuesday’s game.
With all but 10 of their points this season coming on familiar territory, it leaves Warnock and his squad under pressure to bounce back on Tuesday if their campaign is to not peter out over the coming weeks.
As far as Bristol City are concerned, Nigel Pearson had been hoping that a 3-0 defeat to Manchester City would be quickly shaken off given that they still possessed an unbeaten streak in the Championship which had lasted since the end of 2022.
Instead, his side went down to a 2-0 defeat to Cardiff in South Wales, both goals coming in the second half as Bristol City lost an away game in the Championship for the first time since October.
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The Robins also saw their nine-match unbeaten run come to an end, leaving the club 11 points adrift of the playoffs yet still holding a match in hand on many of the teams above them.
Such a scenario effectively leaves Bristol City facing a must-win contest at the home of the division’s bottom-placed side, but they have prevailed in just one of their most recent five fixtures on the road.
Jaheim Headley will miss out for Huddersfield after suffering a hamstring injury during the early stages versus Coventry.Ben Jackson is expected to return to the squad to deputise at left wing-back, and further alterations are expected given the manner of their latest setback
