Chris Powell urged Huddersfield Town to take the positives from their 2-0 Championship defeat at Hull City into the Capital One Cup first-round clash with Notts County at the John Smith’s Stadium.
Powell’s side are set to tackle the League II Magpies without Sean Scannell (hamstring), James Vaughan (concussion) and Joe Lolley (shin).
All three were ruled out of the opening-day clash at the KC Stadium and are unlikely to be available until Saturday’s visit of Blackburn Rovers at the earliest.
But their boss, who gave full debuts to Jason Davidson, Martin Cranie and Dean Whitehead and brought Kyle Dempsey off the bench, remained upbeat.
“There was a lot to like and things we can carry forward,” said Powell. “We showed a lot of application and passion.
“It was the moments that undid us, not the overall performance.
“We worked hard to stifle them in the first half, but didn’t stay with the runner (Clucas) for their first goal.
“The response from both my players and our fans to going behind was good.
“We drove forward at the start of the second half, but we needed to get an equaliser at that stage.
“Jason Davidson had a great chance which he put over, and on reflection, you would rather it fell to a striker.
“Jacob Butterfield made their keeper make a great save before a moment of quality from Akpom made it 2-0.
“I am disappointed to lose, of course, but there are positives to take forward.”
Of the three full debutants, Powell said: “Dean Whitehead did well and Martin Cranie made some very important interceptions. He was very calm with the ball and knows the game very well.
“Jason settled into the game well and I was pleased with all three of them.”
Cup opponents Notts County were 2-0 winners in their League II game at Stevenage.
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