Chris Powell says his Huddersfield Town squad is “tighter not lighter” as he looks to push up the Championship standings with a profitable raid on Millwall.

With injured trio Joel Lynch (groin), Jonathan Hogg (thigh) and Tommy Smith (concussion) sidelined at The Den, Powell has selections to ponder in addition to whether striker signing Ishmael Miller gets a debut bow.

Victory would give Town a 10-point gap on the bottom three and, in the wake of Dean Hoyle’s £37.2m backing of the club over the last six years, Powell has pledged to do all he can to ensure they remain competitive in a tough and testing division.

The boss – who is looking to add a left-back and possibly other defensive cover in the loan window – explained: “Dean has done quite exceptionally here and, while we’ve seen at other clubs how people have promised to do this and that, at Huddersfield Town Dean has actually done it.

“That’s the major difference and you have to remember they rarely get it (the money) back, so what’s happened here with the club and PPG Canalside is truly a major undertaking.

“We need to be clever with how we spend money, do our best to minimise the losses each year and look to other revenue streams than the turnstiles, but all I want as manager is a squad to be competitive in this league.

“We can shape that with know-how and experience and a bit of youthfulness with players coming through from the Academy, and that will help us moving forward.”

Powell confirmed Joe Lolley is a big part of his planning going forward.

“I look at Joe as a player who can really affect us in a positive way over a period of time,” he explained.

“It’s up to him to show he can do that and I really do want to give him the chance. Hopefully we can unleash him on teams and he can show on the Championship stage what he shows us in training all the time.”