Huddersfield Town final team selection all about winning not planning for next season

The ninth-placed Terriers round off their season with an away clash at the 19th-placed Dons

Huddersfield Town interim boss Jon Stead says he will be picking a side that gives them the “best opportunity” of ending their League One campaign with a win at AFC Wimbledon this afternoon.

The ninth-placed Terriers round off their season with an away clash at the 19th-placed Dons, with both sides confirmed to be playing League One football next term.

Town are eight points adrift of the play-offs heading into the final day, while the Wombles secured their safety with a 1-0 win at Wigan Athletic last weekend.

The Terriers are tasked with ending their season on a high following the disappointment of last weekend’s 4-1 defeat to Mansfield Town, and discussing team selection for the final-day encounter, Stead said at a press conference on Friday: “I can’t see there being wholesale changes. You’ve mentioned about the importance of this game, and every player needs the opportunity to show what they’re about, and there’s still things that we need to know, there’s still things that we can learn about the group.

“I’m very mindful that I felt last weekend was very different, a different feel to the other games, very different in terms of performance, and I think we want to make sure that is that as well, and there’s nothing underlying with that, so I think there’s an opportunity there for the players to go and show [they’re] back to themselves a little bit, and get an exciting performance that shows that grit and passion and determination that we want from our players.

“We might have a look at a couple of the younger lads, but I think we’ve done that already as well, obviously with George (Sebine) who has played some good minutes.

“That’ll get finalised today, but we need to win the game, and we’ll be putting out a team and a squad which we feel that gives us the best opportunity to do that, regardless of who that might be. That’s still our remit, that’s still our job, that’s what we’ve been put in this position to do, so we’ll continue to do that right until the final minute.”

Providing team news ahead of the clash, Stead added: “In terms of injury wise, I think Balks (Radinio Balker) should be okay. Obviously we missed him last week with some swelling in his knee, so that seems to have settled down, so touch wood we get through this morning and he’ll be okay to come back into the squad, which is really, really good.

“We’re still assessing Jak (Alnwick), so that’ll go down to the wire on that. He had a back spasm, so it’s settling down, but whether he makes it for tomorrow, when I get back to the training ground this morning, and we get the final assessment and see what he looks like in training today, we’ll make a decision on that.

“Lee (Nicholls), he’s coming back to some controlled stuff now with Chris (Elliott) the goalkeeper coach, but he’s not been in with the group, so again, this one will come too soon for Lee.”