Liam Manning has stated it was lack of discipline which cost Huddersfield Town in their defeat to playoff rivals Stevenage.
In a tense match at the Lamex Stadium, Alex Revell’s team clinched a late win thanks to substitute Carl Piergianni, putting Boro to within reach of overtaking Huddersfield should they win their two games in hand over their opponents.
Terriers’ Discipline Comes To Fore
Town boss Liam Manning was frustrated by his side’s lapse in judgement with minutes left on the clock, giving away a setpiece which allowed Stevenage captain Piergianni to snatch all three points.
🫡 @StevenageFC skipper rises high!#EFL | #SkyBetLeagueOne pic.twitter.com/sX6iFMh4xw
— Sky Bet League One (@SkyBetLeagueOne) February 14, 2026
Speaking to the Yorkshire Post, the former Norwich City boss focused on their discipline in the second half, which he viewed as the decisive factor in the match.
“You’ve got to be disciplined and not give away cheap free-kicks If you compare the second half to the first, we gave away more.
“When you get to the later stages, and you’re getting tired, you can’t make some of the decisions we did if you want to come away with something from the game.
“If it finishes 0-0, which it could have done, you come away thinking we’ve showed fight, and some togetherness, resilience and spirit and you accept it’s a bad game and move on.
“For me, it was a two-minute period where we kind of switched off a little bit, a few too many errors. That’s the frustrating bit, it’s probably on us again, it feels like it’s on us.”
Town face a quick turnaround to their next game, facing a Doncaster Rovers side that bested them earlier in the week to dump them out of the EFL Trophy on penalties.
Decisive Game In The Playoff Race?
Stevenage’s win has given them new life at a time they looked to be slipping further and further away from challenging from the top six, while certainly putting a dent in Huddersfield Town’s push to get out of League One.
While they can take some solace that Luton Town dropped points against leaders Cardiff City, results in favour of Bradford City and Reading are likely to put pressure on the Terriers ahead of two Yorkshire derbies against Doncaster Rovers and Barnsley.
It was not a pretty performance on the day for Huddersfield, failing to truly challenge Stevenage goalkeeper Filip Marschall, and they will need to be better than their past three performances have shown or could find themselves on the outside looking in to finish in a playoff place.