• Huddersfield keeper is League One play-off final shootout hero
• Sheffield United pay the price after dismal end to their season
Alex Smithies could be forgiven for fearing this was going to be a season to forget. After missing the first few months of the campaign through injury, Huddersfield's 22-year-old goalkeeper made his first appearance of the season at home to Sheffield United in February – his team lost and his manager, Lee Clark, was sacked. However, Huddersfield rallied and on Saturday, after a nervy and largely action-free 0-0 draw, they beat the same opposition thanks to a penalty shootout that Smithies will never forget.
The goalkeeper made two saves, scored a spot-kick himself after all the outfield players had taken one, and then wheeled away in ecstasy after his United counterpart, Steve Simonsen, blasted the shootout's 22nd penalty over the bar to send Huddersfield into English football's second tier for the first time in over a decade. As Huddersfield-born Smithies jumped and japed and waved to his many friends in the Wembley crowd, his back-up, Nick Colgan, showed the value of experience.
"Nick saved a penalty in the shootout a few years back [in the 2006 final, giving Barnsley victory over Swansea] and he was so excited that he kicked the ball into the crowd and never saw it again, which he says he has always regretted," explained Smithies. "So this time he went and got the ball for me and got everyone to sign it and give it to me, which was very thoughtful of him. It's a great memento that I'll hold on to forever."
If this play-off was ultimately decided by goalkeepers, the clubs' campaigns were mainly defined by strikers. United's inability to find the net enough since their top scorer, Ched Evans, was imprisoned for rape in April, caused them first to drop out of the automatic promotion places and then fail to prevail in the play-off even though they did not concede in any of their three post-regular season games. Huddersfield, meanwhile, have Jordan Rhodes, who made little impact at Wembley but struck 40 goals through the season to help his team get there.
A natural-born finisher, Rhodes can be expected to take the Championship by storm – but Huddersfield accept that their grip on him may not be as long-lasting as Smithies' on Saturday's match ball. "We don't want to sell him and getting to the Championship should definitely help us keep him because he has ambitions to play at the highest level, but we also have to accept that every player has his price," says the Huddersfield manager, Simon Grayson, who suggested that price could be double the £4m that West Ham offered for the 22-year-old in January. "We don't have a price in mind but I saw £8m quoted in the paper recently and if we got that, well, that's a lot of money."
Rhodes said: "I've got a few years left on my contract and until I'm told otherwise I'm a Huddersfield Town player and I'll continue to give 100%." Read More
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