Under-pressure Huddersfield Town head coach Danny Schofield waiting for a positive 'moment'

After two hugely controversial non-penalty awards went against them versus Nottingham Forest, wounds had failed to heal by the time that head coach Carlos Corberan left the club in an unexpected development in early July - followed not long after by the departure of key players Lewis O'Brien and Harry Toffolo.

Things have continued to go against them since the start of the new season, culminating in the non-award of a valid goal for Yuta Nakayama in their last home game with Blackpool, which they lost 1-0.

The English Football League acknowledged the major error, caused by a failure of Hawk-Eye goal-line technology, stating that it left them 'incredibly frustrated.'

Those words could not console Town, who were the ones left to pick up the pieces, but no point. With just one win and four points from their opening seven matches, they find themselves in the relegation zone before the home game with Wigan.

Even accounting for the hard luck stories, football is such that head coach Danny Schofield finds himself under pressure ahead of two key games against the Latics and Cardiff City at the John Smith's Stadium.

Positive news on the selection front sees Michal Helik, Luke Mbete and David Kasumu provide Schofield with fresh options. A positive 'moment' in terms of something going right for Town on the pitch would also be gratefully received.

Schofield said: "We feel like we have not had the rub of the green. But I agree in earning your own luck and all we can continue to do is work hard and hopefully over the season, these things even itself out.

"A key moment in a game can be the catalyst to kick you on and in the games after, Hopefully we will get one of those soon.

"I genuinely try to be a positive person as much as I can and when you see these moments and fine margins, you can take positives.

"We need to channel it in the right direction to make sure we get results. That is the only statistic at the end of the day which is looked at and important and everyone is judged on at this football club."

On the notion of pressure, he commented: "Coming into this role, it is obviously a different kind of pressure and you have got to focus on winning football games. Reflection is key, whether it is a win, loss or a draw or poor or good performance. You always want to reflect.

"We always try and be open and honest with the players and then expect that back from them. When you have that open communication, it just solves any problems really quickly and you can move on and prepare for the next game and it controls the emotional pressure of what football brings.

"The lads with experience have all been through this before. They have had ups and downs in their careers, which is inevitable.

"Football careers are not just one trajectory, there's always ups and downs and they will have experienced this before and it's invaluable to have that experience in the dressing room.

"I want the players opinions and need to know what is going off inside their heads as well. It cannot be me just telling all the time and the players are positive in this aspect.

"They feel the same as the messages I am giving out. It's just the moments that need to go for us. They believe the game plans are there and tactically we are in games and physically, we are performing. We need to continue being positive."

Like Schofield, keeper Lee Nicholls is also quick to acknowledge that it has been a difficult period for the club since losing in the play-off showpiece to Nottingham Forest on May 29.

Alongside the issues connected to football, the tragic recent passing of press officer Eleanor Haigh has also deeply affected everyone at the club.

He added: "A lot has happened in a short space of time. With the way we have lost the play-off final, we have had to move on from that pretty quickly and then coming back in pre season, we had late additions.

"Then we lost Eleanor. Everything just mixed into one and everyone is starting to come together. Hopefully from now on, we can push forward.

"We all know we have good quality in that dressing room.

"Danny did a bit of work with us last year with Carlos and you could always see Danny had the potential to go forward and potentially be manager. I think he will be the first to admit he didn't expect it to happen in the summer, but it happened.

"We can start to see the philosophy that Danny has and it is about us mirroring what he is thinking and it's slowly getting there. The performances are improving, but it's about taking points now.”

Last six games: Huddersfield LWLDLL; Wigan LDWLDW.

Referee: J Simpson (Lancashire).

Last time: Huddersfield 0 Wigan 2; June 20, 2020; Championship.