Huddersfield Town

Following the long trips to Charlton Athletic and Brentford, Powell gave the latest injury news going into the weekend. 

“Joel Lynch is training now, which is good for him; obviously he’s been out a number of weeks so we will monitor him. 

“Nahki Wells is doing some light training but we are still likely to be without him. 

“Jack (Robinson) has got a slight knee problem but we’re hoping that the extra 24 hours without training will help him. We will have to see how he recovers and how he is.

“We’ve picked up one or two knocks from the two games but we’re hopeful those lads will be ok on Friday and be up for selection against Rotherham.”

With those knocks might come opportunities for the Club’s Under-21 players, as Powell explained:

“That’s why they’re here; that’s why they’re employed by the club. They’re football players who have to come under consideration, whether that’s through injuries or their own good play in training pushing me to play them.” 

Town still sits 11 points above the relegation zone despite the two recent defeats, but Chris insisted his side will continue to fight and not get any closer to the bottom three.

“You’re never safe until 46 games are done. You’ve got to look at all eventualities and I’m not relying on anyone else but ourselves. We must do what we have to do and not rely on others failing to win games, because you can get caught out.” 

In the last two away games Town have conceded seven goals, taking Town’s total to 60 for the campaign.

Powell continued: “Sadly for us this season, from when the first ball was kicked, defending has been a problem for us. We’ve conceded too many goals whether we’ve played a back four or three. Whether it’s been as a team or individually, we have made too many mistakes. I’m not going to shy away from that.

“It’s not good enough for a side that’s got a lot of creativity and can score goals. We haven’t done enough and should’ve had more clean sheets than we have. 

“We talk and talk about it, but it’s down to us on any given day. It hasn’t been right. You can have an off day and still squeeze out a 0-0 or a 1-1, but it hasn’t been good enough on a regular basis for us and we know that. We’ve still got 11 games to go to make that better, just for our own sanity. 

“I want us to be better. I like my squad, but of course I want to be better and we have to look at ways to making improvements. We quite clearly have to improve defensively.”

Rotherham United will arrive at the John Smith’s Stadium one place above the bottom three and Powell wants his side to match the fight that the Millers will show:

“Rotherham will come here knowing that Wigan has just started to pick up a couple of results. They will be thinking they have to do something to drag one or two other teams into it. 

“They had a poor result last time out, so whether Steve (Evans) makes changes or not we will have to see. However, it doesn’t matter who the opposition is on Saturday - it’s about us. 

“The amount of points that are separating six or seven teams is just one or two, so we know things change pretty quickly.

“Rotherham are fighting but so are we. We have to carry on and get results. We’re up against it a little bit because of where we are at mentality wise because of the last two games but we’ve got to come through the other end.

“We need a reaction. We need a response as we didn’t do ourselves or our football club justice on Tuesday. The fans that came to both games were magnificent - their support is second to none- but we didn’t give them enough and it’s up to us to turn that around.”