Huddersfield Town

The experienced centre back is in line to make the 400th appearance of his career against the team where he started back in 2000/01.

“I was only just made aware of that (milestone) on Wednesday!” Mark admitted. “It’s a great milestone for me and I’m looking forward to it, weirdly enough against my first club Fulham. 

“I try and focus on each season on a game by game basis really; I don’t think about how many appearances I’m up to in total. The games come thick and fast.” 

After improved performances against Birmingham and Norwich heralded two draws, Mark wants the team to go one better against the Cottagers this weekend. 

“We’re looking to maintain the standards we’ve set over the last two games,” he continued.

“We played well on Tuesday and we worked hard in the game to get something, which we definitely deserved. It was an even game; they had chances, but so did we. We could have taken all three points, so at the time we were disappointed only to get one. However, we would have probably taken it before the game. 

“We look back on it and know there are things we could change, but overall the last two performances have been really good. We’ve bounced back after a bad week; now we have to maintain it.” 

With the league table taking shape ahead of the final games of the season, Hudson was adamant he is not monitoring the 10 point gap between the Terriers and the relegation zone:

“I’m not thinking about the bottom three – I’m looking up. I wouldn’t say we’re safe because it’s not a word we’re using; we’re trying to gain more points and positions to move up the league. We’ve got an ambitious group in the changing room and we want to finish the season on a high.

“We’ve lost points in games, but we’re a young group learning its way and we’ve made mistakes along the way – particularly late in games. Fulham away was one, where I made a glaring mistake; we bossed possession, but conceded poor goals. We’ve got to learn as individuals and players how to see games out. We could have more points and be higher in the league, but we are where we are. We can’t dwell on the past. 

“We’ve talked about the final 10 games being a ‘mini-season’ and we’ve started it well. We want to get as many points as possible from the eight remaining games, when we have some big teams to play. 

“We’ve could have taken three points off one of the form teams in Norwich and that’s what we’d like to think we can achieve in every game now. We do have injuries, but with the team we’ve got out we can still hurt the opposition.” 

Hudson has been an ever-present for the Club since joining in late August 2014 and reviewed his first season in the blue and white stripes:

“Personally I’ve been up and down. Obviously I’m really happy to play every game and lead the team week in and week out. I’ve had dips in a long and gruelling season, but I’ve hit a bit of form recently. 

“Not many of us have played every game. You have to try and maintain a level to hit in your mind and try and hit it next time if you have a poor game. I’ve been around a while, so I don’t worry about the odd poor game too much!” 

Mark believes the form of Saturday’s opponents Fulham is the quintessential example of the toughness of England’s second tier, as he explained:

“We want to put Fulham on the back foot straight away and take all three points; that’s our focus. 

“They have some players, like Bryan Ruiz and Scott Parker, who have played at the top level for a long time and bought the likes of Ross McCormack for a lot of money, but despite that they’ve found it difficult. 

“They started poorly and changed the manager to Kit Symons, a man I know well. He has ideas of how he wants the Club to move forward, but it’s difficult to put those in place next season. 

“I think they’ve won one in 13, which says a lot about how tough a league the Championship is. It’s a hard league for any squad and any team can beat another.”