Robins previews Burnley clash
Mark Robins has described Saturday’s clash with top of the table Burnley as a great opportunity to put a marker down.
Burnley has been in a rich vein of form this season, winning ten of their opening 16 Championship games.
Town completed the double over the Clarets last term with the win at Turf Moor being Mark Robins’ first in charge of the Terriers.
“It was in different circumstances, but the same three points are on offer this Saturday,” he said. “It is a fantastic opportunity for us to beat one of the top teams and put a marker down. They are miserly in defence and have got threats in Sam Vokes and Danny Ings. Kieran Tripper and Jason Shackell are both good players and I know them well having signed them when I was at Barnsley.
“Scotty Arfield will also be back and I am sure that he will want to do well,” Mark continued. “I am pleased for Scott because he is a good lad who didn’t get too much of an opportunity during my short spell last season with him. He is a good professional and I just hope that he has an off day tomorrow.”
Town has responded well since its last home showing and Mark wants his players to impress in front of what is expected to be one of the biggest crowds of the season.
“The Birmingham performance was very poor and we don’t ever want to see a repeat of that. What we have done since then has been good, though. We are capable of being really good, but sometimes bad and it is important now that we start performing consistently well.
“We are better than we were last season and most of the times are good to watch. I want to set the bar as high as possible. I am a firm believer that if you put in the work, good performances and results will follow. We are mid-table at the moment and I think that is fair on reflection.”
Town has developed a reputation under Mark of giving its youngsters a chance, with Tommy Smith being another example of this at Hillsborough last weekend.
“We need to develop a culture and the Club is trying to be run in a way that will one day make it self-sustaining,” said Mark. “We will hopefully get to a point where instead of going to a club and looking for a player, we will look within our ranks.
“We did that with Tommy Smith last week and he put in a performance. The trick now is to see if we can get that type of performance regularly out of him. I have no qualms about his mentality because he handled Hillsborough very well, but this Saturday will be another very tough test.”
Town did make a loan signing before the close of the emergency window with Manchester City striker Harry Bunn joining the Club’s Development Squad.
“Harry is a good player and an opportunity to sign him came up at the last minute,” Mark said. “He will work with Steve Eyre primarily, but will also be in and around the First Team so I can have a look at him. He is highly thought of, but has suffered setbacks with injuries.”