‘Keeper confident of positive results
Alex Smithies is confident the Terriers can return to winning ways this week following the 4-1 defeat at Brighton.
“It is a massive opportunity for us,” he said. “We need to pick up as many points as possible; we want two wins.
“Middlesbrough got a good result on the weekend, but they have been on a poor run of form lately. Charlton is also a winnable game on Saturday, a team that we have already beaten this season.
“This kind of match is the reason why we want to play and stay in the Championship. It will be a good atmosphere as they will bring a few fans over. We need to pick up points against the likes of Middlesbrough to earn the right to stay in the Championship.”
Boro’s win against Cardiff was only their second of 2013 and Alex believes the first goal on Tuesday night will prove vital.
“They have suffered a few defeats and everything doesn’t change after one win, so they will still have doubts in their minds. If we can score the first goal it will give us the initiative and hopefully we will have a good crowd at home who will get behind us; we will give it everything. The start is so important and we need to be at it from the first whistle. It will get the fans behind us and give them something to shout about; it will also put Middlesbrough under pressure and start to bring back those doubts.”
The Academy graduate enjoyed keeping successive clean sheets last week and felt a lack of concentration cost the Terriers at The Amex.
“It was nice to keep two clean sheets last week, but we were handed a reality check on Saturday,” said Smithies. “We stayed in the game for seventy minutes, but everything fell apart from there. We need to bounce back. We can’t afford to lose concentration like we did on Saturday; what happened will be fresh in our minds on Tuesday night.”
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