Simon says onus on his players to stand up and be counted
Simon Grayson believes his players will have a point to prove against Bristol City on Saturday after back to back defeats.
The Terriers has conceded seven and scored once in its last two outings and Simon believes Saturday provides his players with the perfect opportunity to get back to winning ways.
“Saturday is an opportunity to get back to winning ways on home territory,” he said. “We have got a good group who don’t lose matches through a lack of effort. Sometimes their hearts rules their heads and they do make mistakes, but we had a meeting on Monday and training has been good since. The group is always trying to improve and they do hurt when results go against them – especially the Millwall result. I think some of the players will have a point to prove on Saturday.
“Every game in the Championship is going to be a tough test and each team poses a different kind of challenge. We want to try and replicate the performance against Wolves. There were spells in both the Peterborough and Millwall games where we played well and on a different day the outlook of the results may have been different.”
He continued: “The supporters are realistic and understand what we are trying to achieve this year. As long as they can see that the players are working hard for the shirt, then they will be happy with that. We would love to win every home game, but I think the supporters appreciate the manner in which we are trying to play.
“We can’t be complacent against Bristol City because they have some good players. They have scored plenty of goals this season, but they have conceded a few. I am sure they will have been working hard on the training ground to try and rectify that. It will be up to us to produce a performance that is good enough to win the game.”
Former Town player Jon Stead is amongst the Bristol City team and Simon expects the striker to receive a good reception.
“He played a big part during his time at the football club and then got his big move to Blackburn. I am sure that he will have plenty of family and friends watching the game, but hopefully he has a very quiet game and we come out winners.”
To finish, Simon updated htafc.com on the current status of his squad and how he will change things without the suspended Jack Hunt.
“We played Joel Lynch at left-back against Millwall to combat their threat in the air. Calum Woods did well when he came into the team and so has Paul Dixon. I want options in every area as over the course of the season you will pick up injuries and suspensions. On Saturday we will be without Jack Hunt so we will have to shuffle the pack.
“Paul played on Monday night (development match) so he could have a run out, but he had to come off after getting a kick on his knee. He will train on Friday and could be in contention for the game on Saturday.”
He added: “James Vaughan is a doubt, but he has got a good opportunity. We won’t rule anyone out until Friday when the players in question will have to prove their fitness.”
