Terrier on the Terraces: Town need to bolster squad

Back-to-back Championship wins against Bolton and Watford have followed on from an improved performance in the 2-2 draw at Rotherham on Boxing Day.

Victory against Watford was particularly impressive, given the manner in which Town dominated a side chasing promotion.

It was 3-1, a scoreline which suggests Watford were in the game when in fact they weren’t. Watford boss Slavisa Jokanovic was clearly disgusted with the way his side were brushed aside by what was arguably the best Town performance of the season.

Town will still be looking to strengthen in the transfer window despite recent results.

Players that manager Chris Powell wants to move on have already started to leave the club, with Danny Ward and Adam Hammill moving to Rotherham, initially on loan, last week.

At the time of writing, Anthony Gerrard looks to have played his last game for the club, not even featuring on the bench against Watford, when youngsters Phillip Billing and Matt Crooks found themselves as part of the match day squad.

Jon Stead has gone back to Bradford, with his Town - and Championship - career now coming to an end. It’s also unlikely that Martin Paterson will be able to force his way back in to the reckoning.

Although clearing the decks has its advantages, freeing up wages to bring other players in, it does leave the squad looking extremely thin.

Town currently only possess two fit strikers - hardly an ideal position when one is the injury-prone James Vaughan - with Grant Holt having returned to Wigan.

Letting half-a-dozen players leave means half-a-dozen must also come in to bolster the squad. At the moment, injury and suspension problems in any number of positions could be crippling.

With that said, however, this transfer window provides Chris Powell with the chance to put his stamp on the squad.

Results, mixed as they have been, have been achieved with Mark Robins’ and Simon Grayson’s signings.

The transfer window gives Powell the chance to bring in his own men and implement his own ideas to a fuller degree - a positive by any standard.