Huddersfield Town

The midweek 2-1 win was the first ‘from behind’ victory for the Terriers this season and the striker believes it could be a turning point for the side.

“You could probably see the disappointment on everyone’s faces when their goal went in – even though you could hardly see the ball go in the net!” Novak joked, making reference to the fog on Tuesday night. 

“The two substitutes came on and gave us the lift, with big Alan Lee coming on and scoring and ‘Wardy’ coming up with something special.”

Novak admitted he was delighted for Danny to grab the headlines after his frustrating period on the sidelines with a broken metatarsal. 

“I’m very good friends with ‘Wardy’ and to lose him for six weeks was massive,” Lee continued. “Hopefully he’s back now and to say he’d only trained once, to come back and did what he did was brilliant. The corner delivery he put in for the equaliser and then the shot for the winner were fantastic.”

The former Gateshead man also believes that further injury comebacks could give Town a boost between now and the end of the season.

“’Wardy’ made a big impression and we’ve still got the likes of Keith (Southern) and ‘Becks’ (Jermaine Beckford) coming back as well – they are two massive players who have played in the Premier League. When they come back I’m sure they will revitalise everyone and give the fans a lift as well.”

Saturday’s meeting with Charlton will be the third of season after a mid-season FA Cup clash at the Valley, but Lee doesn’t believe that will make a big difference to the game.

“It’s the same as playing someone for the first time, because every team knows a bit about you. We know their strengths and weaknesses like they will know ours, so we just have to go out there and put a performance on to get three points.”

Victory over the Addicks this weekend could theoretically lift the Terriers as high as 12th in the table, which shows how closely bunched teams in the npower Championship still are.

Novak continued: “Two weeks ago everyone was talking about us being one of the prime candidates for relegation because of the run we were on, but we’ve had a few good results recently and hopefully on Saturday we can carry on climbing the table.”

Despite this, Novak was adamant that the main aim has to be Championship survival this campaign.

“I don’t want to give it up anytime soon; it’s great. League 1 is a difficult division to get out of and although you’re coming up against better players, you do get a little more time on the ball in this League. It’s good to test yourself against international and ex-international players.”