Carlos Corberan insists Huddersfield are ready for the play-offs

Posted Saturday, May 07, 2022 by PA

Carlos Corberan said his Huddersfield side are ready for the Championship play-offs after a 2-0 victory over Bristol City.

The Terriers finished the regular season by rising into third position thanks to goals from Harry Toffolo and Danny Ward.

Despite making six changes with one eye on their play-off campaign, the hosts opened the scoring thanks to an impressive solo run by Toffolo after the half-hour mark.

And Ward doubled the lead when he fired in his 14th league goal of the season shortly before the interval.

Huddersfield, who will face Luton in the play-offs, extended their unbeaten run to seven games as they target a return to the Premier League after a three-year absence.

“This team has been growing by every minute in every game situation,” said Corberan.

“Our target today was to finish in the highest position with the highest points possible and fortunately we’ve done that.

“The team were excellent, and I wanted to see this improvement of the team because it can give us the confidence that we can dominate one game.

“The changes were to prepare every player and the team in the best way we can.

“I was prioritising the individuals more rather than the collective because I wanted to help every player be ready for an important moment.”

Ahead of their play-off meeting with Luton, Corberan added: “They are a very competitive team and I didn’t have a favourite [of who to play].

“In those two games we’ve already played, you can see how tough and how demanding this game is going to be.

“There is no favourite in the play-off; the Championship is special and the play-offs even more.

“We won’t train any differently. The week is going to be exactly the same as the other weeks throughout the season.”

Bristol City, who entered the fixture on the back of five matches without defeat, had their fair share of opportunities.

Strike partners Chris Martin and Antoine Semenyo were both thwarted by Jamal Blackman in an end-to-end first period.

Veteran defender Timm Klose had an opportunity to halve the Robins’ arrears but his clean strike whistled narrowly wide of the far post.

Despite scoring 62 goals this season – a tally bettered only by the top-six sides – City could not find a breakthrough in their final outing of the campaign.

Boss Nigel Pearson said: “They’re as good as anybody in this league including the two that have gone up and they’ve got a great chance of progressing.

“When you have your chances against sides that you play who are better than you, you have to take them, and it didn’t quite happen for us today.

“For our fans, it’s been a frustrating year, it is for us as well. They’ve probably had a bit of an up and down season in terms of loving us, liking us or disliking us.

“We’ll get better and the challenge for us now is to put together a campaign which gives us a chance of getting promoted ourselves.

“We need to aim high, there’s no point setting the bar low. Players that come in will need a strong desire to achieve.

“We need to find that competitive edge that allows us to overachieve results wise. We need to strengthen our squad, and we will.”