Mid-season report: Huddersfield Town

Huddersfield Town enter the New Year just four points adrift of a playoff place in the Championship under manager Mark Robins.

The Terriers have fared inconsistently in England's second tier thus far, recording back-to-back victories just once all season.

Nevertheless, Town, who emerged unscathed from a relegation battle last season, sit 11th in the table and remain within touching distance of the top six at the halfway stage of the campaign.

Below, Sports Mole looks back on how the Yorkshire-based club have fared from August until now.

August

Robins welcomed seven new faces to the John Smith's Stadium during the summer months, with James Vaughan receiving most of the plaudits by virtue of his early form for the club.

The 25-year-old, who arrived for a fee in the region of £600k from Norwich City, looked one of the bargains of the transfer window by hitting eight goals in his opening six fixtures for the Terriers in August - including a double in the 2-1 Capital One Cup win over Bradford City.

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Despite boasting an in-form marksman, though, Robins's men slumped to two defeats in the opening month as Nottingham Forest recorded a 1-0 victory on the first day of the season.

Nonetheless, Huddersfield bounced back in style, with Vaughan helping the club to a 1-1 draw with Queens Park Rangers, before the ex-Everton youth fired a hat-trick in the 5-1 thrashing of Bournemouth.

The West Yorkshire outfit could not carry their form into September, however, as Barnsley inflicted a 2-1 defeat on them toward the end of the month.

September

Sitting 11th-placed in the Championship table, Huddersfield recorded an unbeaten month in England's second tier - albeit with three draws - but bowed out of the League Cup with a 1-0 defeat to Hull City.

The team registered stalemates with Doncaster and Blackburn Rovers either side of a 2-1 victory at home Charlton Athletic, with Vaughan and Joel Lynch on target.

Town ended the month with a 1-1 draw against 10-man Blackpool, as Vaughan kept up his impressive scoring run to reach double figures for the season.

October

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Huddersfield slumped to defeats in each of their three matches in October to Middlesbrough, Watford and Leicester City respectively.

However, some pride was salvaged by the end of the month by recording a 3-2 victory over bitter rivals Leeds United in the West Yorkshire derby, with Danny Ward, Jon Stead a Tom Lees own goal helping Robins and Co. to the bragging rights.

November

Victory over their neighbours did not prove enough of a morale boost for Huddersfield, as the team started November in the same dismal fashion as they had begun the previous month, with the club going down 2-1 to Wigan Athletic early on, before slumping to a 3-1 home defeat to Birmingham City.

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Languishing 15th in the standings Robins demanded a response from his troops and found one, with victories over Sheffield Wednesday and high-flying Burnley providing the perfect riposte to a run of five defeats in six matches.

December

With six fixtures in four weeks Huddersfield had the opportunity to make inroads toward reducing the five-point deficit between themselves and Reading, who had occupied sixth - the final playoff place.

Despite opening the month with a slender 1-0 win away to Bolton Wanderers through Oliver Norwood, Town failed to build on the early success and slumped to successive defeats to Ipswich Town and the Royals.

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Martin Paterson then struck an 85th-minute equaliser to hold in-form Derby County to a 1-1 draw at the John Smith's Stadium, before Robins's troops called time on 2013 in style with a resounding 5-1 demolition of Yeovil Town.