Huddersfield Town

Smithies kept his ninth clean sheet of the season at the Valley on Wednesday night, making an excellent one on one save to deny Marvin Sordell in the second half.

Rhodes returned to the score sheet against Burnley last weekend and having trained with him, Smithies knows all about the striker’s strengths.

He said: “You always expect him to hit the target and even if I saved the first one, he would always be there for the rebound. He is very accurate and he always works you. I enjoyed training with him and he brought the best out of me. 

“He has been a little quiet of late, but I suppose that only shows that he is human! Jordan doesn’t need a lot of chances to score; you have to be on your guard to keep him quiet. 

“We are both extremely competitive and I won’t be giving him an easy ride on Saturday. I know his game well, so hopefully that will work in my favour.”

Smithies’ shut out at the Valley was his second in three matches and helped Town earn a point.

“It was a good clean sheet and a good point in the end,” said Alex.

“We looked to win the game, but with the conditions the way they were it proved difficult. The goalmouth was hard and soft in places, which made kicking the ball tough. 

“You always need a plan B and I think at times we have been guilty this season of not going to it quickly enough. We used our heads on Wednesday night and didn’t try and overdo it; we could have nicked three points on another day.”

Town’s last display on home soil was a resounding five goal victory and Alex believes that he had his Terriers have the ability to defeat Rovers.

“Both teams will be going for a victory so it could be quite an open game,” he said. “We have got more than enough about us to win and we should look to build on the clean sheet and point from Charlton.”