Huddersfield Town's priorities are three points and a clean sheet, says caretaker coach Narcis Pelach

And he sees a first clean sheet of the season as the starting point for life after Danny Schofield.

Pelach is taking caretaker control, assisted by Paul Harsley and Paul Clement, following the sacking of Schofield this week and he inherits a team which has won one of its first nine games of the season, drawing another.

This is no audition for the Spaniard, who came to West Yorkshire as one of Carlos Corberan's assistant in 2020, and has been told the plan is to keep him in that role when Schofield's replacement is appointed.

With an international break starting once the Cardiff game is over, the football staff can only afford to think about the next 48 hours.

"It has been difficult. It can't be any other way," he said. "It's always a sad moment when a head coach leaves the club. We've been in this situation twice now in a short period of time.

"It's not a good moment but we have to move on. That's football and we have to try and compete tomorrow.

"It's not an ideal situation but we know what football is but and are going to try and compete and prepare the best way.

"Tomorrow has to be a win.

"Cardiff are going to be trying to do exactly the same but if we compete better and our levels of concentration are higher we're going to have a chance because in the last two or three games we've been close but for some reason it hasn't happened. That's our fault.

"It's important to get a win before the international break.

"Cardiff were paying really well without getting all the points they wanted but in the last game they changed a bit and got an important win on a difficult pitch at Boro.

"But it's not about Cardiff now, it's about us.

"We have to focus on our things and this is what we are telling the team.

"It doesn't matter what team is in front of us, it's about us doing our things much better. They know now the things we have to improve and tomorrow we're going to try and put these things on the pitch to represent ourselves and the club."

Asked if a clean sheet was his priority, he replied: "Yeah, it is. Last season we got a lot of clean sheets and we were really strong at this but not at the moment.

"We are looking to get back to keeping clean sheets because it's the first thing to do.

"This is part of the fight. A clean sheet is a big part of that."

Shutting out the Bluebirds will be harder with injured captain Jonathan Hogg but Huddersfield did at least have fellow midfielder David Kasumu back from injury for Tuesday's 2-1 defeat to Wigan Athletic.

"He's not ready yet," said Pelach of holding midfielder Hogg. "It's not a big injury, he'll be back soon, but not tomorrow.

"I can imagine it will be maybe 15, 20 days so he may be ready to come back after the international break.

"David Kasumu played very well the other day but it's only one step for him, he has to play more games at the same level or even higher because we need to raise the level."

Pelach insists he does not want the job full-time.

"I came here to be an assistant coach," he stressed. "I am growing into the country.

"I am very grateful the club had given me this opportunity but all I want is for the new manager to come in and for me to help him as much as I can.

"I arrived here with Carlos a long time ago and I'm very grateful for him taking me to this amazing club. When he left I decided to stay because I love the country, the club, the people at the club so I decided not to go with him.

"I wanted new experiences with new managers and to work with Danny was a fantastic opportunity, to work with an English coach and learn new ways was good.

"Danny is a very good friend of mine and a great coach. It's a sad moment he's gone but it is what it is.

"I'm happy to be here to help the club. I'm a man of the club now and I've been asked to lead this game with Paul Clement and Paul Harsley. It's my responsibility as Danny's assistant."