Huddersfield Town caretaker boss Jon Worthington hails 'committed' and 'passionate' players plus praise from Sunderland counterpart after keynote win

To a man, Town produced a strong display to claim their first home league win over the Wearsiders since March 1986 and secured the points, thanks to Matty Pearson’s close-range rebound on 37 minutes.

Huddersfield had to repel significant late pressure from Sunderland, with Lee Nicholls making two key saves, but also had opportunities at the other end in another wholly committed team performance following uplifting showings against Southampton and Sheffield Wednesday.

Town, up to 20th, held out and are now five points clear of third-from-bottom QPR, who lost at Stoke City.

Worthington, who has stepped up impressively from academy manager following the departure of Darren Moore and is likely to take the team for Saturday’s home game with Yorkshire rivals Hull City – with a turnaround of less than 72 hours - said: “It was another really enjoyable game.

"It was a really committed, passionate performance from the lads and it had to be.

"We had to go from Saturday’s disappointment with the result and I was really happy with our energy levels and desire that the lads showed.

"It was all about the result, but I was delighted with the performance levels as well. If we play like that, we will win more than we’ll lose.

"From the first minute, we were on the front foot and ran forward and supported each other. It was really positive and the clean sheet was a positive from Saturday.

"I know that Matty Pearson and Tom Lees were happy with the clean sheet. It’s hard not to focus on the positives.

"There were lots of good characters and leaders out there and it was a real squad effort. We dug in together to get over the line and get a result."

Sunderland chief Michael Beale cast aside his disappointment to praise Huddersfield for their committed performance.

He commented: "We should applaud Pearson tonight as he kept one of the best players in the league (Jack Clarke) a little bit quiet.

"Everybody is caught up with something, whether it’s chasing the play-offs or fighting for their lives down the other end.

"But if you look at the form guide, Huddersfield are not in such a bad place and had scored seven goals in the last two games.

"We knew they’d come at us, they went for Southampton at the weekend and knew they’d be up and at it and we spoke about it. We didn’t do as well as we’d like in the first half.

"Sometimes, you have to give credit to the opposition. They are fighting for their lives and to a man, they were up and at it and made it really difficult for us to play our football.”