Grayson determined to put an end to the Terriers’ home play-off jinx

The Terriers lead Milton Keynes Dons 2-0 after a hugely impressive display at stadium:mk on Saturday and are considered the overwhelming favourites to book a trip to Wembley on Saturday, May 26.

Despite that, Grayson, who has triumphed in five of six play-off semi-finals as either a player or manager, insists no-one at the Galpharm is thinking too far ahead.

He said: “What happened with Manchester City on Sunday shows you can’t take anything for granted. Anything can happen, as they proved by scoring twice in injury time to win the League.

“Everyone thought City were dead and buried going into stoppage time but they came through. There have been other games like that in the past, too, so we will not be complacent.

“We have said from day one that we have 180 minutes of football to get to Wembley and we have only played 90.”

Town’s emphatic victory at Milton Keynes means Karl Robinson’s men have it all to do in tonight’s return.

Before the weekend, the Dons would have been able to take encouragement from Huddersfield’s wretched play-off record on home soil with the seven ties at either the Galpharm Stadium or Leeds Road having failed to yield a win.

Instead, the Terriers have drawn five and lost two semi-final ties at home since making their bow in the end-of-season promotion deciders 20 years ago.

Ahead of tonight’s return, Grayson insisted the club’s less than impressive record is not something that had concerned him even before the first leg triumph.

He said: “Records are there to be broken. I have been involved in teams where we have broken records that no-one thought was achievable.

“If we draw the game, we get to Wembley so I will set the team up exactly the same as Saturday. But we want to win and will be positive so, hopefully, that record can be broken.”

Callum Woods (toe) and Scott Arfield (ankle) are both major doubts after limping out of the first leg, while Gary Roberts could come back into contention after being unable to find a place in the 16 at Milton Keynes.

Grayson added: “It (leaving out Roberts) was tactical as we had other players I felt could influence the game. The five substitutes rule makes it so difficult when carrying a bigger squad.

“I needed a back-up goalkeeper, wanted two attacking options in Alan (Lee) and Kallum (Higginbotham) plus a midfield option in Anton (Robinson) and a utility player in Tom Clarke. Gary could consider himself unlucky but he could be involved in the second leg.”

On tonight’s tie, Grayson added: “We have to be on our guard.”