Grayson Happy With The Basics

Huddersfield Town were forced to grind out yet another victory in front of more than 4000 traveling fans as they took on Barnsley on Saturday. The terriers went into the game as favorites and lived up to their reputation of a team fighting to be in the play-offs with a 1-0 win but it didn't come as easy as what Grayson would of liked. However, the manager was very pleased with the three points and the work ethic which the whole team showed;

"I thought today was a very professional performance from the players with some good quality, hard work and endeavour, the basics you need to win a game in this division. To come to Oakwell is very difficult anyway without it being a Yorkshire derby and I thought we did ever so well. We created some good chances and put them under pressure, but at only 1-0 up going into the latter stages of the game you do wonder if it's going to be one of those days where they nick one after we've dominated the chances throughout the game. However, today was a very professional performance."

"We wanted to pass the ball a little bit because I feel we'd been going too long a bit too early at times in the first half and I thought we passed it well in the second half. I criticised the performance away from home at Millwall a couple of weeks ago when we showed a lack of discipline and lost the game, but today we showed the other side and that's why we won the game."

"Full credit to the players, because they adapted to do what we had to today. Every man out there contributed; people like Jermaine will get the plaudits because of his goal, but Adam Clayton and Keith Southern were outstanding in midfield as was Danny Ward when he came on. Paul Dixon had a good game too; everyone did throughout the team. I said to the players five minutes before we went out that the only motivation they need is to make sure they stay in the team. We have ten others desperate to get in the team and everyone has to do what they can to keep playing. Adam Hammill, Calum Woods, Anthony Gerrard and Oliver Norwood are all unlucky today; probably the three unluckiest are Anton Robinson, Scott Arfield and Murray Wallace who didn't even get in the 18. That is testament to the squad we have got; they are pushing each other week in, week out and that's probably why we are doing well at the moment."

The terriers got their first and only goal in the match just when Grayson had switched both Novak & Church and the manager paid tribute how flexible he can be with his team because of the quality of players Huddersfield now have;

"We have the flexibility in that Lee Novak will play anywhere for the team and Simon Church can play out wide. We set off with Simon on the right hand side and Novak down the middle, but we thought we could cause them different problems by moving Simon down the middle and within a couple of minutes it had worked. It was an exciting line-up we put out with Scannell, Novak, Beckford and Church in the team. Sean showed a different side today; he worked extremely hard and showed quality with the pass that found Simon's run. Jermaine got across the first man and did what he's good at by putting the ball in the back of the net. It was a really nice goal."

Grayson was also very happy with the concentration levels of his team, especially Alex Smithies who was quiet all game but produced saves when he was needed to do so;

"To get anything in the Championship you have to keep going right to the end. If you don't concentrate it doesn't matter who you're playing, you will get punished. Full credit to the players as they showed a desire not to get beaten today."

Jermaine Beckford scored Huddersfield's only goal of the game but the striker went down in the second half and called to the dugout to be substituted. Grayson did so and he gave fans an update of his strikers fitness levels after the game;

"Jermaine went on a run and felt his hamstring a little bit, so it was more of a precaution. You'll all get to know Jermaine's mannerisms over the next few weeks! He's scoring goals and I thought he worked well with the other strikers today and we were a constant threat every time we went forward."

Grayson gave Simon Church his loan debut for the terriers and he both impressed the manager and the fans with a sterling performance;

"I thought he did very well. It was unfortunate that he couldn't get on the score-sheet, but he worked tirelessly hard on the right hand side and down the middle. When you're away from home and you have two strikers that are constantly willing to run behind the defence, you have a great opportunity in a game. It would have been nice if he could have rounded off his performance with a goal, but I'm sure there are goals to come from him."

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