JOEL LYNCH wants Huddersfield Town fans to pump up the volume at the John Smith’s Stadium.

Simon Grayson’s side have Championship assignments at Charlton this afternoon and Middlesbrough on Tuesday.

Then it’s successive home derbies – the all-West Yorkshire showdown with Leeds a week today (12.30) and Roses battle with Bolton on Saturday, December 8.

Both United and Wanderers will bring big followings, and defender Lynch says strong vocal backing can help bring victories.

The close-season signing from Nottingham Forest knows making a ground a cauldron, like at Millwall’s New Den, where Town were recently beaten 4-0, is a massive plus for the home team.

The centre-back pointed to some tension among Town fans during last Saturday’s 2-1 defeat by his first club Brighton.

“It was a bit eerie around the stadium. We know the fans are 100% behind us, but it would be great if they could really raise the roof,” he explained.

“When we play at home, it’s got to be our fortress. There are some places, like Millwall, that teams don’t like going to because of the atmosphere.

“Fans really can be the extra man. In some first halves, we’ve started slowly, and that’s where supporters can often help by urging us on.”

Lynch admits Town were slow out of the blocks against Brighton, for whom Will Buckley netted both goals before the break.

“We lost the game in the first half,” he said. “We started slowly and it’s something we’ll have to work on altering.”

Lynch also accepted errors proved costly and continued: “We’re causing our own downfall at the moment. We’re only conceding goals when we make mistakes.

“Those mistakes have cost us throughout the season. When we’ve lost games it’s not been because the other team is better than us.”

Lynch had an unwanted role in Brighton’s second goal, saying: “Keith Southern got the ball stuck under his feet, it was put through, and I got my feet mixed up.

“The ball then went past me to their striker and he did well to turn Peter Clarke before scoring. All in all, there were three mistakes leading up to the goal.”

He complimented his old club and added: “Brighton are hard to play against because of their formation (4-1-2-3) and movement.

“I don’t think there’s any other team in the division with that sort of set-up. They’re like the old Swansea.”

It was a third home defeat for Town and sixth in all and Lynch added: “The lads were gutted to lose. We had chances and a few penalty appeals late on. Hopefully we can bounce back today.

“In the first half, we were off the pace, but I thought we dominated in the second. We seem to do okay when we get into games, it’s how we start that’s a problem.

“That said I’m sure we’d all have taken eighth place at this stage. We’re still doing well and have surprised a few people, but I don’t think we’ve played to our full potential yet.”