Huddersfield Town and Portsmouth are fighting very different battles in their respective divisions this season. 

In the Championship, Huddersfield sit bottom of the table and are simply looking to survive under Mark Fotheringham, whilst Portsmouth hover outside the League One play-off places and have an eye of competing for promotion under Danny Cowley.

One player with a foot in both camps (sort of) is Josh Koroma, who is on loan with Portsmouth from Huddersfield and working with Cowley once again after a brief spell together at the John Smith’s Stadium.

 

After failing to set the world alight in 2021/22 in a promotion-chasing Huddersfield side in the Championship, and then having a limited impact under Danny Schofield in the early stages of the current season, Koroma is looking to rediscover his best in League One under Cowley.

Koroma has made 16 appearances across all competitions for Pompey since arriving, starting eight games in total. The 24-year-old has returned four goals in that time, two of which have come in League One.

The last of those was on October 8th in a 1-1 draw with Fleetwood Town and, disappointingly, the goals have now dried up for the forward. He’s without a goal in 10 games across all competitions.

Amongst the comments heading out of Huddersfield when Koroma’s loan move to Portsmouth was confirmed, Leigh Bromby stated: “Portsmouth are an ambitious side playing at a good level, and we feel like this is a great opportunity for him to recapture his form and fitness.” Four goals in four games across late September and early October was Koroma in good form, what’s followed isn’t.

Huddersfield’s confirmation of Koroma’s loan to Portsmouth was short and snappy, perhaps an indicator that his time at the club might actually be over. He’s contracted until the end of the 2022/23 campaign after a 12-month extension on his deal was triggered back in the summer. Beyond that he’s set to become a free agent and it isn’t clear if there’s a pathway back into Fotheringham’s plans, with the forward not really in good enough form to tempt you into extending that contract.

Given it’s a new head coach at the John Smith’s Stadium, you wouldn’t like to put your neck on the line and say there’s no future for Koroma at Huddersfield. Stranger things have happened and Fotheringham’s side are struggling for goals in the Championship.

The issue is that it would be a risk to bank on Koroma scoring goals at that level as freely as he did under Carlos Corberan two years ago.

He’s not quite cutting it for a side at the sharp end of League One, so the basic maths tells you it’ll be even tougher for him to do it in a struggling Championship side.