Nahki Wells heaped praised on the tactical tweaks by head coach David Wagner which helped bring Huddersfield Town their memorable 2-1 win at Newcastle United.
The star Bermuda international striker - said to be attracting interest from a string of Championship rivals - made a goalscoring first appearance of the season following a knee injury.
Wagner sprung a surprise by also selecting Elias Kachunga, the German frontman signed on loan from FC Ingolstadt with the possibility of a permanent deal.
Watch Town's celebrations at St James' Park:
While Town took up the boss’s favoured 4-2-3-1 system (Wells up top) going forward, when Newcastle had the ball, it became a 4-4-2, with the strikers coming together and the widemen tucking in.
“The boss wanted two strikers to nullify their midfielders dropping in,” explained Wells, Town’s top scorer for the last two seasons who now has 40 goals for the club.
“We usually press higher but we knew how they wanted to play and if we pressed higher we would encourage them to play the ball over the top and that’s what they wanted to do.
“Dwight Gayle is a top striker and they wanted to get him in behind.
“We tried to nullify their strengths, stop them from doing what they wanted to do, keep good shape and cause them problems.
“They were knocking it around the back but doing us no harm.
“When we won it back we wanted to attack them on the break, which we did.
“I was working in a few areas which were a little bit foreign to me. I just tried to give it my all.
“This partnership could flourish. Elias and I won’t play together all the time but when we do we will work hard and do well for the team.”
Wagner thanked his scouting and analysis staff for their help in the build-up to the St James’ Park visit, and revealed he only finalised the tactics on the eve of the game.
“I would like to give them a big compliment,” he smiled.
“Myself, (assistant) Christoph Buhler and (coach) Andrew Hughes had a long discussion.
“At the end I said if we don’t try it, we won’t know if it works!”
