HUDDERSFIELD Town chase back-to-back Championship wins against Charlton at the John Smith’s Stadium tomorrow with Mark Robins telling his team: “Don’t look down.”
The manager knows following up Tuesday’s encouraging 2-1 home victory over Middlesbrough with another three-point haul would be a big step towards securing Championship survival.
Town, in 16th, can leapfrog Charlton, two places above, and Robins, confident midweek match-winner Danny Ward will overcome a knock picked up in training, said: “We’re not looking below because we don’t want to be there.
“It’s all about building on what was a good performance against Middlesbrough, seeing if we can improve that bit more and continuing to move up the table.”
Ward, who lashed in a spectacular late clincher against Boro on his first appearance in more than two months after a broken metatarsal, has taken a kick on the back of a leg.
Robins explained: “We pulled Danny out of the session to be on the safe side, but the physio has taken a good look and it doesn’t appear to be anything sinister.
“That’s encouraging, because I thought he produced a great cameo appearance the other night, and we want to build up his time on the pitch.”
Eight-goal top scorer James Vaughan will complete a two-match suspension, but Robins is hopeful centre-back Anthony Gerrard, who has been troubled by an Achilles problem and had to come off early against Charlton, will be fit to figure against Chris Powell’s team.
The boss is also keeping close tabs on full-back Calum Woods , winger Sean Scannell and striker Jermaine Beckford, who all have hamstring injuries.
Beckford, who scored when Town won 1-0 at Charlton in the third round of the FA Cup in January, is unlikely to make tomorrow’s game, but could be in contention for the big game at his old club Leeds seven days later.
Robins is looking forward to his first taste of a West Yorkshire derby, but is firmly focused on getting the better of a Charlton side who have picked up seven of their 11 wins this season away from home.
“I know we’ve played Charlton twice already this season, beating them in the FA Cup after drawing down there in the league, but tomorrow’s a different game,” he said.
“They are a well-drilled, hard-working side with some quality in the squad, and with the likes of Johnnie Jackson in midfield, they make some strong attacking runs.
“They also have pace out wide, and I also know (striker) Danny Haynes, who was with me at Barnsley.”
Jackson and Haynes were the men on the scoresheet in Charlton’s 2-2 draw at Peterborough on Tuesday, and the former says last season’s League I champions are confident of survival.
Charlton looked home and dry back in January, but a run of only one win in eight games has sapped some of that optimism.
“You look at the league table and you do your working out, how many more wins you think you’ll need and things like that. I think that’s unavoidable,” he said.
“But we have always had belief that we are more than capable of sustaining our Championship status and we still do.
“It was pleasing to stop the run of defeats and get a point against Peterborough. We would have liked all three, but it’s another point on the board and we move on to Huddersfield.
“I haven’t studied what has kept teams up in previous years. I think it’s just about trying to gain a bit of momentum and going onto the next game and trying to get those wins.
“We just have to worry about ourselves rather than other sides and just churn out as many points as we can from our last 10 games.”
Hampshire’s Keith Stroud will referee the game.
It’s his ninth season in the Football League and his 29th match this term.
