Huddersfield Town head coach Michael Duff has confessed that former Bristol Rovers favourite Antony Evans is starting to look more like the player the Terriers signed in the summer ahead of the midfielder’s return to the Mem on Saturday afternoon.
The 26-year-old made a total of 142 appearances for the Gas over three seasons in BS7, helping the West Country outfit to secure promotion out of League Two in the 2021/22 campaign while being named their player of the season last term after providing 10 goals and nine assists in 52 appearances. He also wore the captain’s armband for a notable chunk of the second half of the campaign in former skipper Sam Finley’s absence.
Rovers received a “significant fee” for Evans last summer, according to former manager Matt Taylor, which Bristol Live understands to have been in the region of £450,000, and got off to a perfect start, scoring on his debut against Peterborough United before then getting a second goal against Bolton Wanderers the following month.
However, starts have been difficult to come by for the midfielder in a Huddersfield shirt, who has had to deal with an ongoing toe issue, but a change in fortunes since the turn of the year has seen Evans register four assists in his last nine appearances while the ex-Gas midfielder has started the last three matches for Duff’s side.
Speaking to local media ahead of Saturday’s trip to north Bristol, the Terriers boss admitted: “The last two performances he’s probably looking a bit more like the player what we signed, what we wanted. He has had a really disruptive season. Stop, start. Injuries. Again, you talk about bad luck, it was Matty Pearson who landed on him in a game and that’s where it all started three or four months ago and he’s not been able to get going.
“It’s the first time he’s had a real run where, he’s still playing in pain but it’s pain-free enough. I think the most obvious thing from that is his corners. He had a couple against Bolton and Birmingham where he’s just chipping them in because he was in too much pain. Well now you see his corner and free-kick ability when he’s wazzing them in with real sort of dip and spin. That shows you that he’s pain-free enough. His performances have been good.
“It will be a big afternoon. [He was] captain of the football club down there so, I know it’s not his part of the world, but he spent a bit of time there and sort of made his name there so hopefully he can go down there, deliver a good performance, we win the game and he can shake everyone’s hands and go home.”
Following their relegation from the Championship last season, Huddersfield, who were in the Premier League as recently as 2019, were deemed one of the promotion favourites. The West Yorkshire outfit may still find themselves back in the second tier next term but a recent run of just four wins in their last 14 matches has seen Duff’s men slip to sixth place in the League One table. Just one point is currently keeping them in the play-off positions ahead of seventh place Bolton Wanderers who play Rovers as their game in hand next Tuesday.
Away form of late has been stronger than at home for the Terriers who have won seven of their last 10 games on the road while failing to score in their last six matches at the John Smith’s Stadium as they look to finish the season in the play-off positions at the very least.
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For the Gas though, they too will be fighting for the remainder of the campaign but for very different reasons as they look to avoid relegation to League Two.
A goalless draw at Shrewsbury Town on Tuesday night saw their advantage above the drop zone return to three points but a run of four matches without a win ahead of back-to-back home games against play-off chasers in Huddersfield and Bolton before heading to Lincoln City next weekend has supporters extremely concerned.
“It’s a tough place to go in terms of they pack them in,” Duff declared on Rovers ahead of Saturday’s game. “It’s a funny ground but they do make noise.
“They’re scrapping for their lives. New-ish manager. A time of year when the contracts and that, with a new manager, people will be trying to earn themselves deals.
“As we’ve proven already, as has been proven already this season, in this league, if you are not ready and the opposition are, you won’t get the results that you need.
“The mentality has to be the same as the other night and Saturday. The performance has to be the same and hopefully the result will be different.”