Gareth Lewis is confident Huddersfield can build on last week’s home win over Broadstreet and rattle up National II North victory No5 at struggling Stockport on Saturday.

The men from Lockwood Park found the perfect response to their heavy 47-7 defeat at Otley a fortnight ago with their 27-14 triumph the last time out.

Lewis acknowledged it was just the reaction he had hoped to see.

But the upbeat player-coach is demanding even more against a Stockport side who have lost all nine of their fixtures to far.

“This weekend we play Stockport and the following week we host leaders Ampthill, and I want our approach to be exactly the same for both games,” said Lewis.

“After getting back to winning ways against Broadstreet, it’s important we keep on building at Stockport. We don’t want to take another backward step like we did at Otley the other week.

“Even though Stockport are struggling, we’ve never had an easy game against them, so I’m sure they’ll be seeing this fixture as an opportunity to finally get their season up and running.

“We can’t afford to let that happen.

“Apart from that awful display at Otley, we do feel we’re getting there, step by step, and proving to be a very competitive team at this level.

“Hopefully, we can go to Stockport this weekend and prove it again.”

Huddersfield are, however, forced to make one key change, with in-form utility back Tom Hodson missing out after rolling an ankle against Broadstreet. It’s hoped he’ll be back next weekend.

But with Elliot Hodgson and Michael Clarke having just made a successful return to action following injury, Lewis knows he still possesses more than enough strikepower out wide to get the job done.

“The backline we’re taking to Stockport is effectively the one that brought us so much success last season,” added Lewis, who revealed outside centre Ben Mitchell was man-of-the-match in the win over Broadstreet.

“Obviously, it’s disappointing to be without Tom, but it’s hardly the end of the world.

“The side we’re sending to Stockport is more than good enough to get us a good win and put us in good heart for the visit of Ampthill the following week.

“The collective hope is that the events at Otley the other week will have given us the wake-up call we all needed and our attitude for the games ahead will be spot-on.