Millwall v Huddersfield Town: Young guns backed to conquer fear factor

The Terriers travel to the most intimidating arena in English football to take on Millwall with the League One play-off semi-final tie delicately poised following a goalless draw at the Galpharm Stadium.

A bumper crowd at The Den will crank up the atmosphere in the hope that Huddersfield will wilt and allow the Lions to reach the final for a second consecutive season.

Clarke, however, has other ideas and points to the low average age of the Town side – in Saturday's first leg, it stood at 22 years and 10 months – as a major reason why the Yorkshire club will be able to tough it out in south London.

Can Huddersfield beat Millwall? Richard Sutcliffe gives his verdict in this week's SportsTalk >>

The 28-year-old elder statesman of the Terriers said: "Going to The Den can be intimidating to some people. The home fans love to give you stick but, personally, I don't mind that. I actually quite like it.

"If they give you stick then so be it because it is part-and-parcel of football. Having said that, there are probably some characters in the game that might go into their shell.

"But I am sure that in the second leg we will not be like that. We are a young side and that can help. Youth can make people fearless because they don't know what to expect. Young lads have a certain self-confidence that can be beneficial in situations like going to Millwall."

Huddersfield are competing in the play-offs for the sixth time and boast two promotion successes, in 1995 and 2004.

If Lee Clark's men are to keep alive hopes of emulating those triumphs in the May 29 final, they will have to snuff out the threat of a Millwall side who have been made favourites to progress.

The Londoners will be itching to finish the job in front of a partisan home crowd but Clarke is determined to stand firm and put to rest some play-off demons of his own.

He said: "I watched the celebrations last week when Blackpool and Cardiff reached Wembley in the Championship final and I thought 'I want some of that'. Two years ago, I was at Southend when we lost in the semi-finals to Doncaster and it was a horrible feeling.

"I still talk about it now, so that shows how much it hurt. I don't want to feel like that again.

"The key thing to remember is that the play-offs are different to the rest of the season. Two years ago, Doncaster looked to be heading for automatic promotion (from League One) but dropped out by losing to a team near the bottom (Cheltenham) on the final day.

"But they bounced back in the play-offs and went up. Last season, Scunthorpe came from nowhere and went up. It shows that nothing can be predicted in the play-offs and we have to remember that."

With Millwall boasting the best home record in League One after winning 17 games and losing just once during the regular season, it could be tough for Town with manager Clark admitting the prospect of the tie going to a dreaded penalty shoot-out is in his thoughts, though he has not asked for any volunteers.

Town have injury concerns over right-back Tom Clarke (knee) and central midfield player Danny Drinkwater (thigh and cramp) after the pair had to be substituted in the closing stages of the first leg.