Trophy run can boost promotion hopes – McDermott

The Terriers moved into the Northern Area quarter-finals on Tuesday night with a 3-2 victory over Peterborough United.

Town's overwhelming priority this season remains winning promotion to the Championship, an ambition that has suffered a setback in the past 12 days with three straight defeats.

But assistant manager McDermott is adamant success in the knockout competition for clubs in Leagues One and Two will not hamper those plans.

He said: "The priority is to get up, whichever way we do it. We are capable of doing that.

"A few weeks ago we were top of the league and everyone was saying we were going to win it. Then we lost three (successive games) and we are not going up.

"But this is a funny game. I know how it works. If we didn't have the players to get us up then I would be worried. But I am not. I am very confident we can do it.

"We also want to go to Wembley. We all saw what it was like last season for Southampton and Carlisle when they got to the final.

"They had a fantastic occasion for their fans. It would be great to do the same for our fans and win promotion as well."

McDermott, a three-time European Cup winner with Liverpool, added: "I was fortunate enough to play at the highest level in my career so I know what winning games can do for you.

"We have a very, very good squad here. We showed that against Peterborough when we coped with a couple of injuries and a suspension.

"The ones who came in, such as Antony Kay, did fantastic jobs.

"We want to win every game. We want to win promotion and I am confident we can do it."

McDermott's belief that a good run in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy can benefit a side's league form may not be shared by anyone at Leeds United.

Last season, Leeds's collapse in form early in the New Year was put down to fixture congestion caused by reaching the Northern Area final where they lost on penalties to Carlisle.

A look at history, however, does back up McDermott's assertion that Cup success can breed success in the league with the past 20 years having seen five winners go on to clinch automatic promotion in the same season and another six reach the play-offs.

Speaking specifically about Tuesday's second-round win over Peterborough, the Huddersfield assistant said: "We probably had the hardest draw of anyone in the Northern section but for 45 minutes we were in control.

"It would not have been an injustice if we had gone in at half-time 5-0 up.

"In the second half we lost our way a little bit but we got through."

This weekend attention will return to the league as Town look to end a run of three straight defeats with the visit to Colchester United.

Those reverses against Swindon Town, Rochdale and Bristol Rovers have seen Town slip from first place in League One to 11th.

McDermott said: "Sometimes, you need a rub of the green. Unfortunately, in the three games before Peterborough we didn't get it.

"We should have scored in the first minute at Swindon, which would have made it a different game. Instead we conceded in the last minute.

"At Rochdale, it was possibly our best performance of the season as we created chance after chance but got beaten 3-0.

"We came off the field wondering, 'How did that happen?' Then, last Saturday, we should have won the game after creating five or six gilt-edged chances but then they got one in the 94th minute.

"That is football but I think we showed against Peterborough what character we have and just what this club means to the players because we were under pressure."