Town boss Lee Clark spoke to his club's official website and the Daily Examiner ahead of his side's League One game against Carlisle at the Galpharm Stadium this evening, Clark understandably happy that the Terriers defeated Chesterfield 1-0 at home on Boxing Day :
“All wins are vital. After a couple of weeks without one it was a very nice feeling on Monday night. The games come thick and fast over this period - as they do over Easter. It is all about looking after the players and making sure they recover properly - the players won't be put through too much training.
“The statistics against Chesterfield backed up that we are back to where we were. We made 442 passes, we were in the high 20s on the crosses and we had 20 goal attempts. It was back to the proper Huddersfield Town passing performance unlike the one against Bournemouth, which I always said was a one-off. We rectified that in that exciting derby at Sheffield Wednesday (4-4 at Hillsborough) and took up where we left off against Chesterfield.
"We have made sure that the players are ready for Carlisle, which will be a very tough game. Carlisle are a good side. Greg (Abbott) has them playing good football, but as well as that they are also very hard working. We are under no illusions that it will be a very tough encounter, but if we play like we have done over the past couple of games then we will give ourselves a very good chance of getting something from the game.
"They have a never say die attitude. We will need to match them for the full 90 minutes. Their game plan as always is to take on the opposition, in their own system. They are not a team that looks to sit back, they have got good footballers in the middle of the park who try and take on the opposition.
“I am not sure teams are where they should be at this time of the season - but the table never lies. We feel that we could have had somewhere between four to eight points more than we currently have. Victories that were turned into draws or last minute penalty misses have cost us during the first half of the season; despite that there have been times when we have stolen points."
“This season more clubs are putting good runs together, certainly the top five teams. They all have 40 points and above all ready, which shows that everyone is ready to go toe to toe with one another. It is important that we stay focused, hope that the teams around us drop points and make sure that we keep adding to our total.
"We need to win as many games as possible to try to get a cushion, similar to what Charlton have at the moment. Teams are waiting for their rivals to make a bit of a ‘rick’ and then trying to take advantage, and if we could go second, it would put that little bit of pressure on the others. But, I was at Sheffield United on Tuesday and they handled that top-two incentive well.
“When you are playing like Jordan Rhodes is, you learn to live with the speculation that follows. I think at the moment he is thriving under it, he is seeing that experienced managers want him in their teams and it is inspiring him. His all round game this season has been terrific - not just his goal scoring form. He is buzzing around the training ground in his unassuming way, he isn't loud but you can see that he has a spring in his step. Jordan will hopefully play at the highest level with us, but he is going to go there eventually
“I spoke to the Chairman (Dean Hoyle) about the transfer window on Wednesday and he said let the fun begin. I hope that there are four or five of my players are linked with other clubs, as it shows that they and the Club are doing something right. It is fantastic to have the backing that I have. The Chairman has said it publically that the players will not be leaving the Club and he has also spoken to them privately. They looked him in the eye and were adamant that they wanted to stay here.
“I have got two players in mind to bring in. If I can get those two I will be delighted. The Board are aware of my targets and we have been in the process of working out what is the best way to go forward. It is a silly transfer window and the value of players goes up; the price of the player might also go up because of who we are, which is frustrating. During the month we will have players coming back from loans and players leaving because their loans are up, so we will have to assess the situation with each player and work out what to do. The team I have at the moment is very strong so if I can't get those two players I won't be too worried.”