Terrier on the Terraces: Positives to be taken from QPR loss

Town - with the youngest squad in the Championship - more than matched their hosts, who could rely on a number of former international stars and could even afford to leave players of the calibre and experience of Shaun Wright-Phillips on the bench.

In the first-half Town were much the better side, playing some simply exhilarating football.

It was simply unfortunate that the Terriers couldn’t make the supremacy they enjoyed pay off, and two second-half goals from £4m man Charlie Austin showed the quality of finishing Town lacked in the first period.

Nahki Wells’ equaliser - his second goal for the club in his first start after his debut winner against Millwall - was scant consolation.

Another positive to be drawn was the return from injury of James Vaughan.

Town miss the 12-goal striker when he isn’t there leading the front line.

As well as Danny Ward and Martin Paterson have done in his month-long absence, he offers a different dimension to anything else anyone in the squad offers.

Defenders don’t know a moment’s peace when he’s around.

His pace and power worry opposition players, and it’s great to have him back fit.

But most pleasing is how Town seem to have some strength in depth at last.

The overhaul of the squad over the last two years, which was started by Simon Grayson when he brought in the likes of Oliver Norwood, Adam Clayton and Joel Lynch, has continued. The emergence of players like Tom Smith from the development squad, as well as new signings has given Mark Robins a deeper pool of talent to select from.

Recent games have seen Town without skipper Peter Clarke and Joel Lynch as well as Vaughan.

Town have coped well in their absence and it all bodes well for when the squad is back to full strength in the coming weeks.