Smiles matter to Huddersfield Town's Andre Breitenreiter after starting with a victory

Andre Breitenreiter and Huddersfield Town ticked a lot of boxes at Watford on Saturday.

A 2-1 win continued the feel-good factor started by caretaker Jon Worthington.

Fighting spirit? They came back from Emmanuel Dennis’ goal.

Fresh starts? Danny Ward scored twice from the bench.

High-pressing "vertical" football mixed with good passing? Tick.

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The post-match celebrations with supporters that are such a part of German football culture? Ja.

And most importantly when fighting relegation, three points? Jawohl.

Breitenreiter ticked them all off and showed the qualities to be the crowd-pleaser Kavin Nagle wanted when he sacked Darren Moore.

HAPPY: Huddersfield Town coach, Andre BreitenreiterHAPPY: Huddersfield Town coach, Andre Breitenreiter
HAPPY: Huddersfield Town coach, Andre Breitenreiter

"It's always special to celebrate with fans, to enjoy the smile on their faces," he grinned. "Now they can go back to Huddersfield and have a really good evening in the pubs.

"This is really important for us."

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Fans love winning more than anything but next is the good football which buys time and goodwill.

"Good football" in these parts means trying to pass the ball, but not for the sake of it. Yorkshire fans and American chairmen want to see the ball go forward. "Vertical" football, the coaches call it.

Only allowed onto the training pitch from Tuesday, Breitenreiter saw it come together at Vicarage Road.

"We deserved the lead but we didn't score and football sometimes is not fair," he reflected. "Watford scored in the second half and we needed some minutes to come again into the game.

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"The whole team was fighting to the end. The whole team played with a high intensity, a good mentality, this is what the fans like, this is what I like to see.

"We also tried to build up and play football, not only long balls. The equaliser was an excellent cross from Yuta (Nakayama), a central defender, football played vertically to the strikers to score.

"When we play with high intensity and clear structure in pressing – it was unbelievable how we pressed – and tried to play football we have the chance because we have high quality and potential."

New managers bring clean slates. In fairness to Moore and Worthington, Ward and Tom Edwards' lack of involvement was down to injury more than cold-shouldering.

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"It's always a chance for the other players who didn't play so much," argued Breitenreiter. "(Ward) waited for his chance and trained very well. When you have a good performance in the training week it's normally also (like this) on the weekend.

"I'm very happy for him because he was out for a long time out, Tom Edwards didn't play since October."

Football is about enjoyment, and it was not just those in the away end who felt it on Saturday.

"It was very special for me," said Breitenreiter. "I've enjoyed England just as a fan but it was the first time for me as a coach.

"It was a good start."

There is no denying that.

Saturday's visit from Leeds United will be a big step up from out-of-form Watford, but Huddersfield go into the derby with smiles on their faces, and that counts for a lot.

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