The Town boss has already stressed positive results are what matters right now, however they come
Huddersfield Town boss Liam Manning says his side need to “find a way to win” tomorrow afternoon’s League One clash at bottom-of-the-table Port Vale.
The Terriers take on the Valiants at Vale Park tomorrow, who sit at the foot of the division on 27 points from 33 matches, 11 points adrift of safety with 13 games of their campaign left to play.
Vale have picked up nine points from ten League One matches since Jon Brady’s appointment in early January, while they reached the quarter-finals of the FA Cup with a 1-0 victory over Premier League outfit Sunderland last weekend.
Meanwhile, Town sit sixth in the table, on 55 points after 36 games, one point inside the play-off places with ten matches remaining.
The Terriers were 5-0 winners against the Valiants in the reverse fixture in December, and asked at his pre-match press conference whether tomorrow’s hosts are a different side to then, Manning said: “Completely, not just them but us as well, when you look at January and the changes here.
“When you look at our squad, different, in terms of ins and outs, even in January if you look at obviously a change with me coming in.
“If you look at Port Vale, they’ve obviously massively picked up since Jon’s gone in there, and are obviously on a good cup run. A difficult place to go. Everybody will talk about the pitch, but no excuses, it’s the same for them, so for me we have to have that mindset, especially on the road, we have to be better.
“We have to relish the opportunity to go there and impose ourselves on the game, and find a way to win, and that’s very much the message for everybody – focus on what we need to do, and that’ll be in a very tough game against a team that are extremely well organised, that will have a lift from the cup run that they’ve had, that are fighting for everything, and we have to match that.
“We have to match that fight, that intent, that purpose, that positivity, and that’s the starting point Saturday.”
Town head into the clash having lost their last three matches on the road, all by a 1-0 scoreline, and the Terriers’ boss added: “We know the last few away haven’t been where we want to be, and Saturday’s an opportunity to correct that.
“For me, it’s not necessarily chase the result, but chase the performance that will get us the result.
“We know we’re going to have to scrap, we’re going to have to fight, compete, want to run, want to play forward, want to defend our box, want to attack their box, do well on set-pieces. All the bits that you need to win a football match, we have to make sure that we focus on that.”
