'˜Anything is possible' - Huddersfield Town refusing to limit ambitions, says Michael Hefele

The Terriers returned to winning ways on Tuesday night with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Aston Villa at the John Smith’s Stadium.

Tommy Smith’s winner was enough to extend Town’s advantage over the chasing pack in the play-offs race to 11 points and maintain the pressure on second-placed Brighton & Hove Albion.

Six points separate David Wagner’s men from the Seagulls with the Yorkshire club having a game in hand, the April 25 trip to fourth-bottom Wolverhampton Wanderers.

“I am always excited at Huddersfield Town,” Hefele, Town’s man-of-the-match in the Villa triumph, told The Yorkshire Post when asked about the possibilities surrounding the run-in.

“But we have to just focus on ourselves and keep both our feet on the floor. Just work hard, game to game. We have achieved nothing yet.

“There are many, many games to go and many points to collect.

“All we are doing is looking to quickly recover and then be ready again for the weekend at Brentford.

“There are, though, possibilities for us, everyone knows that. And I do look at what the others are doing. We will see if they win every game or not.

“But, really, it is on us to win every game and collect as many points as we can. Huddersfield Town has no limits, we have been like that all season. Nothing changes.”

Wagner’s refusal to set any targets for the Terriers during pre-season, either in terms of points or league position, was very much made with the need to instil the mentality of there being no limits to what the club can achieve in 2016-17.

Clearly, the players have bought into that philosophy during a campaign that has already yielded 21 wins from 35 outings.

Town’s previous best season at this level since last winning promotion to the top flight in 1970 came around the turn of the Millennium when Steve Bruce’s side led the division at Christmas only to finish a disappointing eighth following a late collapse in form.

A repeat seems highly unlikely this time around, though whether Wagner’s men will be able to rein in Brighton remains to be seen.

Certainly, a glance at the remaining fixtures reveals a similar run-in for the two clubs. Brighton must travel to fourth-placed Leeds United a week on Saturday but, otherwise, their run-in will be largely played out against teams in the bottom half of the table. Included in that schedule are meetings with four of the bottom six clubs.

The highest-placed side Town are still to face is Fulham, while games with three of the bottom six also await Wagner’s men.

On paper, therefore, the two challengers most likely to join leaders Newcastle United in next season’s top flight could be expected to bank a similar amount of points before the curtain comes down on May 7.

Pressure, however, can play a big part at this time of year so fans of not only Huddersfield but also Leeds United and Sheffield Wednesday, the two clubs who complete a trio of White Rose sides in the play-off places, can expect plenty of twists and turns in the coming weeks.

For Hefele, who since October has made a place in the Huddersfield back four his own, encouragement comes from the contrasting ways that games have been won in recent weeks.

Against Brighton and Leeds, for instance, Town were comfortably the better side, even allowing for an 89th-minute winner from Hefele being needed to see off Garry Monk’s men.

Against Villa on Tuesday, the contrast could not have been more marked with those two displays due to Bruce’s visitors being the better side.

“Aston Villa was a dirty 1-0,” added the German defender. “Against Newcastle last weekend (when Town lost 3-1), it was perhaps a better performance with short passing and good football. But no points at the end.

“I would rather have this, as it helps towards our target of no limits. It was the same at Rotherham (when Huddersfield triumphed 3-2 thanks to a stoppage-time winner from Smith), we did not play as well that night but we won.

“We have not played every single game like we did against Brighton or Newcastle when we had a lot of ball possession, that just isn’t possible.

“There are times when you have to play the other game, the ugly game. We have to win those ugly games. We did that against Aston Villa.

“Huddersfield Town is a serious team, a top team. We can play the short, passing game at times but also, when needed, can play like we did against Aston Villa.

“We changed our style to play Villa. They closed us down a lot but we handled that well. We played from the offence to defence and goalkeeper. It was a great game for us.”