Huddersfield Town

It looked like Owls’ substitute Sergiu Bus had condemned Powell’s side to a sixth defeat in 11 games with his 86th minute goal, but the players rallied and Ishmael Miller scored his third Town goal to earn a point.

After the game, Powell said: “It was a game that wasn’t free-flowing. I suppose in some respects you can look at the pitch and say it wasn’t conducive to that football, but then you have to show a different side to yourself. We needed to get ourselves going and take something from today.

“It looked as if it would be a stalemate, but then all of a sudden they get a scrappy goal. However, our response was very good. The players had a real determination about them and I’m very pleased they responded in that manner. 

“Given the manner of the goals, I’ve got to be happy with the point. We did things right today; we were very organised and looked decent on the counter-attack. 

“We’ve conceded late goals a lot this season, so it’s about time we’ve had one. That’s good for the team’s confidence too.” 

Powell handed a Town debut to loanee Reece James and commented on his performance:

“Reece James acquitted himself fairly well on his debut. He’s a good user of the ball and I thought he did well, because it’s tough playing wing back. We wanted to play Jacob Butterfield a bit further forward, but he took it upon himself to go left and help a new, young player today. Hopefully Reece will improve over the remaining six games.”

Chris also picked out the contributions of scorer Miller and Joel Lynch:

“I also thought Ishmael (Miller) made a real impact, which is what you want from your subs. I’m pleased for him as that’s his third goal, which could have been four but for the handball on the line against Fulham. He’s making his mark.

“If there’s any justice, the highlights will show Joel Lynch’s clearance off the line from Nuhiu today as that earned us the point in many respects. Ishmael will get the plaudits, but that was such good defending from Joel; he never gave up on it, which is exactly what you want from your defenders. It was heroic.”

With six games left, Powell is keen to get wins on the board as soon as possible to help secure Town’s Sky Bet Championship status after a run of just one victory in 11 games.

He continued: “We’re not safe yet; I’m not going to deny that. It’s still up to us not to rely on anyone else. We should have more points, but it hasn’t happened and we are where we are. 

“In the remaining six games, we have to do our best to get points and ensure we’re safe. I wish this season was different, but it’s not. We want to get to 50 points and then go beyond that. To do that, we need a few more.”

Next up is high-flying Ipswich Town on Easter Monday, when the Terriers will target a first home win since the 3-0 victory over Reading back on 24 February.

“I watched Ipswich on Friday and even though they’ve had an extra game, they had a hard game. We know they’re quite a physical team; they’re quite direct, but they’re good at it. We’ve got to make sure we stand up to that and be brave on and off the ball.

“When we play the sides in the upper reaches we normally do pretty well, so hopefully that will be the case again. 

“Hopefully our players will be ok when we see them again on Sunday morning – fighting fit and ready for the game on Monday. 

“Monday’s game will come too early for Jonathan Hogg, sadly, but we’ll try to get him right for next Saturday.”