Huddersfield Town

Huddersfield Town Caretaker Manager Mark Lillis thinks Nottingham Forest’s first goal – an own goal from James Vaughan – knocked his side’s confidence in the Capital One Cup defeat tonight.

Championship pace-setters Forest went on to win the game 2-0, with Henri Lansbury putting the game to bed late on.

“Obviously when the score was 0-0 we thought we had a chance of getting a result; we’d brought some fresh players into the team and played some good stuff. Unfortunately Vaughany then scored the own goal,” Lillis explained.

“I thought that kicked us in the tummy a little bit, as we seemed to lose a little bit of belief. Despite that, we tried to keep playing against a good team. I think they will easily make the top three in the Championship this season. 

“I thought the fans were great again tonight. I’m disappointed we’ve lost, but I thought some of the stuff we played and the effort was good.”

On substitute Vaughan’s bizarre own goal, Mark explained: 

“He wanted to see it after the game, so I’ve just watched it with him. The ball moved on him at the last minute and instead of flicking it over for a corner, it’s flown in off his head. It happens. 

“James is frustrated and a little bit down, but sometimes that happens in football and that’s the last we’ll talk of it. We need him at the other end of the pitch scoring goals and he’ll get stronger in the next month and begin to start games. That will be a fantastic boost for Huddersfield Town.”

Town suffered an injury setback in the second-half, as Lillis described: 

“We’ve had an injury again tonight – Tommy Smith has a groin problem, which is a blow for him. As I said when I took over, we need the 20-odd players ready to contribute because you’ll always get injuries and loss of form.”

Having taken Caretaker charge of five games now, Lillis believes his side has plenty to be pleased about – but can still improve.

“I’m pleased with the back four, who I think have been outstanding and are gelling brilliantly. I brought Joe Murphy in as well – he’s not a number two and will provide Alex Smithies with the best competition in his time at the Club. Joe had a tummy bug and didn’t train on Sunday or Monday, but having spoken with him this morning he wanted to play, which was fantastic.

“We can be better in the final third. We need to get back to the by-line more and get crosses in, because we’ve got players who can score them. When we had to move Conor to right back I brought Duane on to try and break the lines, which he can do for us, but tonight it didn’t happen.” 

Now Town’s Capital One Cup adventure is over for another season, attentions turn back to the Sky Bet Championship and Saturday’s game at Watford.

“The main thing now is that the players return to training on Thursday in a bright fashion, because we have Championship points to play for at Watford. We’ll have a head count on Thursday and select a group of players to go down there, pull the Huddersfield Town shirt on and get a result. We’ll go there and have a real go. 

“The indication is that I’ll take the Watford game ahead of the international break, at which point we can take stock. Getting a result at Watford is my focus now; the work on them will start tomorrow. 

“We want to go into the international break with more points on the board. A cup run is great, but we’ll be judged on Championship points this season.”