Huddersfield Town stamina delights Mark Fotheringham as festive fixtures continue with Rotherham United visit

A tough training regime under the Scot, ramped up during the four-week break in Championship fixtures for the World Cup, paid dividends at Deepdale, where Huddersfield came from 1-0 down to score twice in the final 15 minutes.

So the Terriers – who expect to have Sorba Homas back – are looking forward to another game quickly, and Thursday’s visitors Rotherham United have been dragged into the group of teams directly above the relegation zone.

"I think it's an advantage for us," coach Fotheringham said of the quick turnaround. "I think you could all see the work we did in Marbella (at their training camp), the last 20 minutes the power and the strength the guys have got in their legs. It's a real credit to themselves.

"I want to pride myself and my staff on being the fittest team in the league and I think we're slowly getting towards that level but we can always keep improving.

"Although a lot of the fans are off in the festive period it can be quite boring for them because they're out of their routine so they look forward to coming to the games and spending it with their family and we just want to give them a good feeling after the game because we know they're the best fans in the league.

"The guys are very motivated, you can see there's a real focus and cncentration about the group and we're really looking forward to the task ahead."

Even after their victory, Huddersfield are still bottom of the table, five points adrift of safety with a game in hand. Rotherham are one of four teams levels on points directly above the dotted line, with Hull City another.

But whereas the Millers are yet to win since the resumption, Huddersfield morale has been lifted by their first win at Preston since 1969 and as is often the case, a positive result has been followed by positive news on the injury front.

"There's nothing significant," said Fotheringham, when asked if he had any fresh injuries to contend with. "The guys that weren't in the squad and the lads that were on the bench had a really good session and we talked them up, it was very intense.

"Everybody seems like they're in a good place. The only issue we've got is Ben Jackson's not feeling well. There's been a bit of a bug going around so he's looking most likely that he's going to miss out."

Danny Ward is a doubt but Thomas comes back into contention after surprisingly being rested at Preston.

“Sorba trained fine yesterday (Tuesday),” said Fotheringham. “It was a very intense session and we did some really hard runs at the end, and he was the best out of the whole group in that respect. He puts demands on himself and he pushed himself really hard through that session yesterday.

“I’ve used the squad really well and we’re trying to keep players fresh as best we can, and I’m sure he’ll be involved in this next game.”