[MNTerrier]

VS


Date; Saturday April 23rd
Venue; John Smiths stadium
Kick off; 3pm



 The Terriers come into this game safe in the knowledge that they will be playing championship football next season after securing their position with a gritty if unspectacular 1-1 draw against self professed "best at this level" Neil Warnok's Rotherham. Birmingham too have little to play for with only 9 points left  up for grabs this season Brum find themselves currently 10 points outside the playoff zone
 So what kind a spectacle can we expect from a meaningless game in which bth clubs are only fighting for league position, well i dont expect much to change from huddersfield, i dont think Wagner ever thinks a game is meaningless and i fully expect him to field as strong a side as possible, he has already stated he wants the club to finish as high as possible and i dont doubt he will strive to make that happen
Town come into this game unbeaten in 3 and with 2 home games left they will want to put in strong performances, Birmingham by contrast come into the game after a relatively poor run of results,have not won since April 9th and only won 1 of their last 8 games its a run of poor results that ended any chance they had of making the playoffs, but make no mistake this is still a top ten team and will pose a stern test



Town should welcome back into the first team Jamie Paterson who made a welcome substitute appearance tuesday after a brief injury, a question mark remains over Joe Lolley who left the field limping tuesday night, other than long term injury to Johnathan Hogg, who probably wont play again this season town have no new injury problems
Birmingham are left waiting on injuries to Maikel Kieftenbeld and Jon Toral, with local press suggesting that both players could miss the end of the season



Use this11.com for drawing your football tactics

Wells has stated his aim is to get to 20 goals, hes on 17 with 3 games left, can he do it

[Lord Snooty]

It would be nice to win all remaining three matches. That would take us to 59 points and a point more than our highest so far since our promotion to the Championship.

[SHEP_HTAFC]

Nice thread Mnt
I hope Wells does get to 20. I think he's had a good season, and does a lot more for the team than just score.
And unlike a Vaughan or Miller, he rarely gets injured.
Now we just need another good striker as cover or as a number 10.

[theo_luddite]

An excellent chance to get more points off a team in the top half of the table. Like some others that are up there in the top half, it's due to the fact that they defend first and try and catch you on the break second. Vaughan has yet to score for them - cue a goal on Saturday - and he has been mostly on the bench if he hasn't been injured. They haven't been any better than us in the second half of the season and it hasn't just been our fans singing "are you Villa in disguise?" during games at St. Andrews this season.

They and PNE, amongst others, will both finish above us this season but it will take a of of persuading to convince me that either of them are really any better than us. The table doesn't lie at this time of year and all that, but it does occasionally once you get beyond the Top 6 and Bottom 3. With nothing to play for you would like to think they might come and try and play football but don't bank on it. Despite leading 2-0 against PNE with only about 15 minutes to go they couldn't hold on this Tuesday night. Donaldson is their biggest threat up front now that Gray has moved on to Leicester.

[JUSTASILLYOLDGIT]

Vaughan can't play against his"parent" club Theo, so he won't be scoring on Saturday.

[theo_luddite]

Of course, silly me. Thought he'd gone permanent already but obviously not.

[Amelia Chaffinch]

That's probably wishful thinking, theo.

[WakeyTerrier]

Not sure how we approach this one. Last season when we were safe Powell wouldn't give any of the young players a run out which disappointed Dean, so will Wagner give some of the young lads a run out now?

Or as I suspect, will he be trying to get as many points from the 9 available as possible and go with his strongest squad of players?

My starting XI (if fit)
Steer
Smith,Hudson,Lynch,Davidson
Whitehead,Huws
Scannell,Paterson,VLP
Wells

Bench
Crainie,Matmour,Billing,Dempsey,Allinson,Lolley,Bunn

Thank god Leeds have moved out of 15th spot, when Wagner said we were targeting 15th Radio Leeds Utd went into overdrive claiming it was because we wanted to finish above them.......NO IT WASN'T!
It was because last season we finished 16th and we want to show a year on year improvement.

Anyway we now have the chance this weekend to move into 15th or even 14th thanks to the following fixtures

QPR V Reading
Wolves v Rotherham

---

Oh yes, I nearly forgot. It's Towns foundation game this weekend so out with the Blue and white stripes and in with the Pink and White

[theo_luddite]

Was thinking along similar lines Wakey. It was the thin edge of the wedge for Deano last season with Powell. He further drove in that wedge by bringing in Miller and giving trials to other old lags like Best rather than picking the kids.

I think Wagner's record for playing the kids this season speaks for itself. Lolley and Billing have more than shown they are up to the job. They wouldn't have had a handful of starts between them if Powell was still here. He's won the right in my opinion to play whoever he likes. Might not be Deano's opinion mind. There's more than a few at the end of their contracts that Deano might want to see try earn another. Then again - if you ain't done enough by now your are probably looking elsewhere this summer.

[MNTerrier]

Dempsey starts ahead of Smith who is on the bench, Billing has a calf problem, Bojaj on the bench

i dont know why but i fancy Van la Parra to score today