What Huddersfield Town did against Lincoln City highlighted as ‘belief’ message sent

The Terriers drew against an Imps side that are now 21 matches unbeaten

Huddersfield Town head coach Liam Manning is looking for his side to “take confidence and belief” from Tuesday’s draw against League One leaders Lincoln City as they prepare to face Plymouth Argyle tomorrow afternoon.

The Terriers conceded an injury-time equaliser in midweek against an Imps side that are now 21 matches unbeaten in the division, a run that leaves them five points clear at the top.

The late setback leaves Town seventh in the League One table, on 57 points from 38 matches played, one point outside of the play-off places with eight games of their campaign left to play.

They take on a Plymouth side next up that are tenth in the division, with Tom Cleverley’s side having had a remarkable upturn in form since the 3-1 defeat at Town in the reverse fixture in November.

That result left them bottom of the table, on 13 points after 15 games, but the Pilgrims have taken 43 from the 23 matches that have followed to propel them to within two points of the top six.

“It shows what time and patience and consistency does I think. Fair play to them as a club for not making a change with Tom, which I’m sure there’d have been lots of noise around it,” Manning said at his pre-match press conference.

“Tom’s a terrific coach, he’s shown that I think in what he’s done prior, but also here now, and again I think they’ve come through what was obviously a challenging period now, and that’s for me elements of how you learn, how you grow, how you improve, how you build a strong culture where you’re together, because you’ve had those tough times.

“They’ve been in a good spot, but as were Lincoln, and I think in terms of how close we were there the other night, we have to take confidence and belief from that.”

The Terriers were two goals ahead after 20 minutes in midweek through strikes from Ryan Hardie and Ryan Ledson, before Josh Feeney’s own goal made it 2-1 nine minutes later.

Ryley Towler then struck three minutes into stoppage time to deny Town all three points, and reflecting on Tuesday’s contest, Manning said: “Especially first half, I thought there was some good moments, in terms of how we defended.

“Out of possession, in defending the box, defending crosses, dealing with that side of it, I think we caught them a little off guard actually, in terms of when you look at how they’ve had a lot of success is teams getting after them, and opening up spaces for second balls, and exposing people, the direct play, whereas because we had a lot of bodies in the middle of the pitch, I thought we dealt with it quite well, and first half showed some good moments attacking wise.

“We’ll always want more, we’ll always want more control, and I thought we had a couple of phases, first half especially, where we kind of sustained it in their half, and got into good areas, and found that right blend and balance of attacking quickly, playing territory, but then also keeping the ball in the right area of the pitch, which is in and around their box.

“Second half naturally, I think you come out, they’re chasing a goal, so they commit bodies more further forward, they’re even more direct, and we got penned back in, and probably didn’t look after the ball as well as we’d like, and progress it up the pitch as well as we’d like, but to get so close was obviously why you get the other emotion on it as well.”

The Terriers head to Home Park without an away win in four matches, after drawing 0-0 at bottom-of-the-table Port Vale last weekend, and Manning added: “Games are ticking by right, so I think in terms of us wanting to get points on the road, it’s a hugely important part of it.

“Last Saturday away at Port Vale, there were elements to the performance that were good. I think it’s taking the good bits from that, taking the good bits from Tuesday night, and trying to bring it all together on Saturday in what is a tough game.”