Neil Warnock names who will be Huddersfield Town's best player for the rest of the season

Both started as Town came from behind to beat Birmingham City 2-1 for their first victory of 2023.

Ward and Helik came out of the treatment room to start, David Kasumu played out of position at wing-back and Etienne Camara gave blood for the cause as Town showed all the commitment that has been the hallmark of Warnock teams for four decades.

Although centre-forward Ward did not get onto the scoresheet, his all-round game was excellent in his first appearance since New Year's Day. His manager knew what he would be getting having managed him at Rotherham United and Cardiff City.

"He's one of the reasons I came back, he's my best player, I love him," said Warnock. "He'll score a few goals before now and the end of the season.

"He can drop his standards at times but he won't while I'm here.

"I've made him a fortune, it's about time he did a job for me! He was never as good as today, he was superb. I thought he was the best player on the pitch by a mile. His first touch, he had two centre-halves around him most of the time but he laid it off and went, he was just a breath of fresh air.

"And he's so genuine.

"He rang him from New York and he said he'd be fit, don't worry what they say.

"He said he could probably do an hour. You've got to trust your players. Helik's the same.

"Wardy, we've got to wrap him in cotton wool, he won't train until Thursday. Him, Helik and Hoggy (Jonathan Hogg) will do rehabs but they won't train until Thursday.

"If you're not fit now...

"I don't look at textbooks telling me what they've got to do and how many miles they've got to run and stats, not in my era."

Helik's performance was even more important because when Warnock arrived at the club on Thursday he thought Tom Lees would be the only centre-back available for his first game back managing the club he was in charge of from 1993 to 1995.

"I managed to get Helik on the pitch and push (Matt) Lowton in and everybody rallied," said Warnock, whilst revealing Matty Pearson could be out for a fortnight.

Goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik had a calf injury but Nicholas Bilakopic played a part in Joseph Hungbo and Jaheim Headley's goals as well as making some good saves.

Three lengthy spells of treatment meant there were 15 minutes added to the game, but Warnock was delighted at how his players kept at it.

"It's been a long week," he reflected. "I came back Thursday morning, we had a session at tea-time and yesterday two or three hours so it's been a hectic week for me.

"It's lovely to get a reward. Everyone's gone home happy – the fans, the players.

"I said to the players, 'How do you feel?' and they were absolutely buzzing. I said, 'That's what it's about, winning games, going that little bit further.'

"I asked Camara about the blood on his nose, lovely. I loved to see that. That's what you've got to do.

"There's nobody I could single out. Every one of them did their jobs today – some of them out of position.

"I made a few decisions after watching a couple of sessions and obviously I'm pleased when I see the young lad (Hungbo) score a goal like that, the equaliser. I tapped him on the shoulder before he went out and said, 'Make me look a good manager, son' and he has done.

"Some of them have never worked so hard in their lives but that's standard practice now.

"You just get feelings about things and I got feelings about three or four players.

"We'd nothing to lose with Cardiff winning last night, I said just go and have a go.

"We've just got to get into the mix. Burnley next week, I might leave that and visit my family! Nobody wants to go to Burnley at the minute, do they?

"We've got difficult games ahead but the teams we play against will have a difficult game, that's what I said to the players."