Smithies named as temporary Terriers Captain

ACADEMY product and Huddersfield Town's number 1, Alex Smithies, has been handed the captaincy for this Saturday's Championship clash with run-away leaders Cardiff City.

The announcement came on Friday that Smithies would take the armband after Skipper Peter Clarke was ruled out for 2 weeks after suffering concussion last weekend in the 3-0 defeat at Derby County.

Caretaker manager Mark Lillis explained his decision to htafc.com

"After a bit of consideration, I decided to call Alex Smithies in to my office and hand him the captaincy. He deserves it; he is 22 years of age and he is a local lad who is a very good communicator.

"He came through the Academy at the Club and if you look at some of his performances over the past six months, they have been very good. He is a talker and his reaction when I told him was very good; I think he was a bit surprised when I hugged him, I think he thought I was going to give him a kiss! This experience will help his career down the line."

This is certainly a good vote of confidence in Smithies, and hopefully one which he will thrive on as Town head into perhaps the toughest match of the season.

Cardiff have won their last 5 away matches on the spin, the latest was a 1-0 victory over neighbours Leeds United and came courtesy of a debut goal from Huddersfield born Fraiser Campbell!

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