Birmingham City v Huddersfield Town: Terriers receive another 'slap' with fresh blow plus Michael Duff on Kevin Nagle

A torrent of injury issues have inflicted the Terriers of late and a fresh and significant blow came to the light on Monday with the news that number one Lee Nicholls is out of action for ten to 12 weeks’ with an elbow injury which requires surgery.

Nicholls had been ‘managing’ the issue, which was aggravated in the pre match warm-up at Reading on Saturday, which forced him to withdraw with Jacob Chapman stepping into the breach.

With another senior custodian in Chris Maxwell still not quite ready for first-team selection, the Aussie will again line up in goal in Tuesday’s daunting game at league leaders Birmingham City.

Given Town’s luckless time of it of late, with key defender Michal Helik also facing an extended spell out of action, it is probably no surprise that the fixture itinerary affords them few favours either.

Alongside key injury problems, form is another major concern. Town head to the Midlands on the back of a tough run of six defeats in their past seven outings in all competitions.

Duff, who has no current plans to enter the free agent market and bring in goalkeeping cover, as it stands, said: “We won our first four games of the season and it’s really, really early days.

"There’s a lot of expectancy at the football club, but there’s a lot of changes that need to happen as well.

"It’s working through it, while trying to pick results and performances up.

"That’s just where we are at. I have been through it as a player (before) and definitely as a manager. You learn about yourself and your squad.

"Everyone is always all right when you are winning. But I said at the start when we won four in a row not to get too carried away, football can slap you down pretty quickly and it has done.

"But it can always change quickly into a positive as well. It’s about believing in the players because we think we have a good squad.

"The last week has been a tough week. The two home games were really, really poor and there’s no point me trying to come out and defend those performances and say we were unlucky.

"They were below the level that was needed.

"Saturday was slightly different. It was a better performance. I don’t think we were brilliant, but we deserved to win the game.”

Despite Town currently doing it tough, chairman Kevin Nagle has resisted the urge to air his thoughts via social media after announcing his displeasure in early September following an EFL Trophy loss at Doncaster Rovers, a third loss on the bounce.

Asked whether he would be concerned at recent events following a trio of defeats following the win at Bolton Wanderers on September 14, Duff continued: “I spoke to him last Monday and will speak to him again (on Monday).

"I’d imagine he’s exactly the same as everybody else. Frustrated and disappointed with the last few games.”