WINGER Danny Ward has challenged his Town teammates to aim even higher than Saturday’s second-half show and said: “That’s the benchmark.”
A storming Ward-inspired fightback saw the Terriers come from a goal down at the break to earn a first league win of the season.
Jordan Rhodes and in-form Lee Novak took the plaudits for scoring the goals, but Ward’s dynamism ignited both the team and the fans.
An example of what delighted supporters was Ward’s solo run on 80 minutes that was halted on the edge of the box by John Joe O’Toole’s trip.
Livewire Ward took the free kick himself and Rhodes curled a shot just over the near post from the left-hand corner of the area.
Ward said of his display: “The manager (Lee Clark) told me to put pressure on their full-back and that’s what I tried to do. I love taking players on.”
But the overall second-half show pleased Ward more and he added: “That’s the minimum benchmark. We’ve got to aim to play better than that in every game.
“There’s a lot of really talented players here. We knew we had the personnel to turn the game around and get that first league win.
“At half-time we took on all the responsibility ourselves for what had happened. We sorted everything out and then showed great belief to come back from it.”
He added encouraging words from boss Clark helped.
Town started well but went off the boil after Kayode Odejayi quickly cancelled out an early Rhodes strike.
On-loan Reading striker Michail Antonia put Colchester 2-1 up on 27 minutes.
Odejayi then had a header ruled out for offside and a foul on Town keeper Ian Bennett.
But Clark did not do a half-time rant.
And Ward said: “The manager told us to play with much more confidence and that we should believe in ourselves more.”
Clark’s opposite number, his former England Under 21 coach John Ward, praised Town’s fans for getting behind their team in the second half.
He said: “They played a massive part. That’s the thing that’ll give Huddersfield the best chance of being in the top two, which I’m sure they will be.
“Apart from one defeat in 30 matches, Huddersfield have been very consistent. Lee (Clark) is doing a fantastic job.
“The result was disappointing because we were ahead of the game against a team I think will be promoted.
“But we ran them close.”
Ward also felt there was a suspicion of offside against Rhodes in the build-up to Town’s winner, which forced keeper Mark Cousins to come off his line early.