Huddersfield Town head coach provides positive updates on Jack Whatmough, Sean Roughan and Ryan Hardie
LIAM MANNING admits he learnt a lot about his Huddersfield Town players on Saturday.
Exactly a fortnight on from his maiden match in charge, the Terriers head coach again saw his side handle adversity at the Accu Stadium and he felt it was even more instructive than events against Bradford City and Luton Town.
Manning, who boasted a 100 per cent record in charge ahead of the meeting with Blackpool - who led 2-0 at the break - said: "It's probably a little bit easier when you're ahead or when you're underdogs with 10 men because there's no pressure on you.
"Coming here (on Saturday), expectation changes because we're on a decent run.
"We'd obviously won two here (before), so the expectation changes. Everybody's turning up expecting us to win, which as everybody knows is not easy to do at this level.
"That was the challenge for the lads and really good learning. How do we cope with that? How do we respond to adversity in a different way? How do we handle that expectation?
"Because if you want to achieve anything, you have to go on consecutive games of wins.
"I think it showed a lot about the group that they fought to the end, which for me is non-negotiable. It sounds easy, but it's not. Having worked with many groups, it's not always a given."
It was an afternoon when Town's strength from the bench came into focus, with Mickel Miller, Lasse Sorensen and Cam Ashia making contributions in particular in a game which also saw deadline-day signing Bobby Wales make his debut as a substitute.
Manning, whose side host Doncaster Rovers in the EFL Trophy on Tuesday, added: "You have to look at who we've got out as well. We've some really strong players out and we're still able to put out a really strong line-up and have strong options from the bench.
"We've got a few close to coming back. Sean (Roughan) and Jack (Whatmough) is out training now. So you've got those.
"Ryan (Hardie) is not a million miles away. So all of a sudden, you start adding some of those guys, it will feel like new signings and add more quality in competition as well.
"I have to take my hat off to the lads. I've challenged them to put the team ahead of themselves.
"I think you see that with Cam's five minutes, he comes on and does what he does. Meeks (Miller) has had very few minutes, but did exactly what the team needed."