Huddersfield Town boss Chris Powell believes his players missed out on the chance to prove themselves worthy of a first-team spot in the 4-3 pre-season friendly defeat at Rochdale and admitted it required 'a few choice words' to get a second-half reaction.
Town started sluggishly and found themselves 2-0 down within 15 minutes and then 4-2 at the break despite goals from Nahki Wells and Sean Scannell.
Powell's men stopped the rot in the second half, with Wells grabbing his second before both he and Joe Lolley passed up chances to find a leveller but the manager felt the damage had already been done courtesy of some early defensive gaffes.
“I wanted the players to show me why they should be in the team and as a collective it didn’t happen in the first-half. Some of the goals we conceded were poor,” Powell said.
“We didn’t get going as a unit, which was tough. We need to play a bit smarter and organise a bit quicker to get to grips with games.
“It may be pre-season, but nobody should think that winning games doesn’t matter because it does to me. There may be no points at stake, but there soon will be and we must have that mentality.
“We had a poor start and although Nahki got us back in it, they then scored again. It is those moments that we have spoken about; when you have had a bad period and come under pressure, only to get yourself back in it. You need to take advantage of that.
In pictures: Rochdale AFC 4-3 Huddersfield Town
“These things sometimes need to happen to you so you can work on it on the training field. There are areas for me and the technical staff to look into and arrest as soon as we can so that when the season starts, we know how to handle it.”
Town technically came out on top in the second period, with Wells scoring the only goal of the half and the manager conceded an improvement after the break was due to some heated dressing-room discussions during the interval.
“I thought it was a chalk and cheese performance,” he added.
“I certainly didn’t see what I wanted to in the first-half, but I did in the second after a few choice words, which I don’t really want to be having in pre-season. They showed the mind-set they should have had in the second period.
“In the second-half we limited them to one chance, whereas in the first-half they had five or six. It was more of what I want to see from the players; we looked fitter and stronger.
“That was more like it and after the game I’ve told them we now need to replicate that for a longer period than 45 minutes.
“If there are any positives from today, I will take away the good response from the group. I also thought Nahki was almost unplayable in the second-half, plus it’s good that some of the players got 90 minutes and Jonathan Hogg is back.”
