Grayson: I thought it was ‘Fan’tastic

Huddersfield Town Manager Simon Grayson savoured a Vital win over leaders Charlton Athletic this afternoon that saw his Huddersfield Town side close the gap to second place.

Speaking to the clubs official site; htafc.com: Grayson commented:-

‘It was important to produce that sort of performance today. I thought it was a fantastic, positive atmosphere and the players responded to that,

‘I asked the players to run themselves into the ground and they did that for me today. We won the game through sheer endeavour, good quality at times and a desire to succeed. I think the shape of the team was a lot better today and the back four didn’t take any prisoners – the two centre backs were outstanding and Tom Clarke looks like he was played at left-back for a long time. The midfield four were tight to their players and we were very hard to beat – Charlton very rarely threatened our goal even when they had 11 players on the pitch.

‘Tuesday night was good, but tonight was a big improvement against a good team. I have said all along that I don’t believe there is a better team in the division than the one that I have. There has been something missing over the course of the season and we are trying just to tweak a few things. Charlton are good team and are well organised, but we proved today that we are a match for anybody.’

‘The fans love watching players do bits of skill, but sometimes they get more enjoyment from seeing a player work hard and close down the ball. You have to earn the right to play and the players have worked harder over the last two games to do that. Gary (Roberts) is getting better game by game; he struggled at first with his groin, but his part in the penalty epitomises what I want the players to do. I don’t want the players to have any regrets when they leave the football field.’

Grayson was also impressed by the full debut of Premiership loanee from Stoke City; Diego Arismendi and he said:-

I thought Diego gave us composure and he is a presence who can handle the ball. It would have been the third game in a week for Joey (Gudjonsson) and we have tried to ease Diego in over the last couple of weeks and he was one of the players that I thought was outstanding today.

‘He hasn’t played a lot of football this year so his fitness levels will be down, but he showed his qualities today. He knows when to slow and quicken the tempo in the game; he tired towards the end but today would have done him a world of good.’

Let’s all enjoy this evening and look forward to the next 8 games as the season comes to it’s climax! Exciting times, second is within our grasp!