Paul Dixon says Huddersfield Town are determined to “put in a better shift” in Tuesday night’s friendly against Sheffield United at Bramall Lane.
The 27-year-old Scottish international says the squad were disappointed with their performance in Saturday’s 1-0 defeat against Scunthorpe and have been made well aware of what’s needed against the Blades.
Dixon played at left wing-back at Glanford Park – joking he had lost 5kg in weight because of the sweltering conditions – and he’s hoping to get the nod again from manager Mark Robins, who will leave James Vaughan’s possible involvement (calf niggle) until the last minute.
“We know it’s pre-season and, ultimately, the results don’t really matter because there aren’t three points to play for, but we still need to perform a bit better than we did on Saturday,” said Dixon.
“The most important thing at the moment is to get fitness into our legs, but we also want to perform to breed confidence going into the season.
“That’s why it will be great to get straight back into things against Sheffield United and hopefully we’ll put in a good shift.
“We want to score some goals, obviously, but we also want to work on our defending as a team.
“This is what the gaffer has said to us because we need to keep the goal protected and make sure Alex Smithies doesn’t have so much to do.
“It’s basically down to working hard to make sure we get back into our team shape a bit quicker when we lose possession, so that we make it harder for teams to get through us.”
Former Dundee United player Dixon, who has three caps for his country, is happy to play whatever role he’s asked as the left back as long as the team are doing well.
“I played the wing-back role last season, so I am relatively used to it, you could say,” he explained.
“Whether it’s wing back or left back, though, I am ready to play. Whatever the manager decides.”
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