Jonathan Hogg says Huddersfield Town showed signs of improvement against Bournemouth as they prepare for 'war'

The experienced midfielder saw signs in Tuesday's defeat to Bournemouth that the team is capable of it, and thinks their remaining fixtures this season are more winnable than those they have just endured.

The Terriers travel to Nottingham Forest for Saturday's 12.30pm kick off 20th in the Championship, five points ahead of Rotherham United who have two games in hand. They are six short of the traditional 50-point safety mark but this is an anything but traditional season.

“It's always nice to have control (of your own destiny) but we know that we still need to get one or two wins on the board just to put it bed so we'll try to do that as soon as possible,” said Hogg.

“I think the teams down below are always going to put pressure on us until it's mathematically impossible. I certainly think we need a win and a draw, two wins and you're over the line.”

Town are without a win in their last five matches but Hogg is more optimistic about the next five, particularly given how they played in the 2-1 defeat to play-off-chasing Bournemouth. They drew with promotion contenders Brentford either side of draws with relegation-threatened Sheffield Wednesday and Rotherham in that sequence.

“I think it's been disappointing maybe not so much on the last game, we did ourselves credit against Bournemouth, but the two before that (a 0-0 with Rotherham and a 7-0 defeat at Norwich City) weren't good enough, we know that,” he reflected. “We showed signs against Bournemouth of getting on the right track and trying to do things properly.

“The last four fixtures you couldn't want any harder fixtures. Two of the teams in the last four games (Norwich and Bournemouth) had just dropped out of the Premier League. Norwich, Bournemouth and Brentford are all top, top teams in this division and it's never going to be easy playing them in the space of four games.

“The next five we've got are all Championship games and probably safe, most of them. Some of them are pushing for the play-offs but we know going into these games they're all definitely winnable.

“It's something we need to play for and make sure we're ready to go to war in every one.”

After Saturday's game, Huddersfield complete their season at home to Barnsley (Wednesday), away to Blackburn Rovers (April 24), at home to Coventry City (May 1) and at Reading on the final day (May 8).

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