Alex is hungry for more wins
ALEX Pritchard says Huddersfield Town are determined to maintain the momentum generated by the club’s morale-boosting victory over AFC Bournemouth.
The £10m arrival from Norwich City was a major influence in a muchimproved Premier League performance from David Wagner’s side.
Not only did he score a goal and earn a penalty in the 4-1 success, but Pritchard’s busy display at No10 breathed new hope into the survival campaign which continues at bottom club West Brom after the FA Cup assignment against Manchester United.
“It was a massive win for us (against Bournemouth) on the back of the run we’ve had,” said Pritchard, referencing the five straight top-flight losses suffered going into the match against Eddie Howe’s in-form side.
“Obviously we got the good win in the Cup (4-1 at Birmingham), but this result was massive, we needed it and we put in a great performance.”
Pritchard opened the scoring and, after Bournemouth equalised, watched Steve Mounie grab a double before earning the spot-kick from which Rajiv van La Parra completed the scoring.
“We worked really hard the whole game, the whole team, and we needed that from the off,” Pritchard told BT Sport.
“Obviously we went 1-0 up – the goal they scored, I don’t know what the mistake was – but we kept digging in, got the goals and deserved the 4-1 win.”
So what about the ridiculously tight battle in the bottom half of the table for fourth-bottom Town?
“We keep getting written off and then the next week, people say you are doing okay,” he remarked.
“This run of games we’ve got at the moment is massive.
“Going into the last four games is going to be tough, but we’ve got to keep this momentum because we have to put points on the table.
“There are lots of teams in this relegation battle and we have big games coming up – but this was a massive win for us and we put in a great performance, so we’ve just got to do that week in and week out.” ■■Steve Mounie was delighted for his Huddersfield Town teammates rather than himself after bagging a double in the impressive win over AFC Bournemouth.
After teeing up Alex Pritchard for the opener, £13m record signing Mounie netted twice before turning down the penalty chance of a hat trick – Rajiv van La Parra completing the 4-1 rout from the spot.
It was Mounie’s third double of the Premier League season after notching similar against Crystal Palace and Brighton and, despite collecting sponsors’ man-of-thematch awards, he was reluctant to take the glory.
“Everything was good for me, but I did it for the team,” Mounie told BT Sport.
“We knew we were in a bad position (going into the game) and I gave everything to get the win.
“Even if I didn’t score a goal, it was about the team (getting the win).”
On not taking the penalty – bearing in mind Aaron Mooy was off the field injured – Mounie added: “The most important thing was the win, that’s all I am saying.
“Whether I took the penalty or not my performance was already done and it was good.
“Rajiv wanted to take the penalty, so I did it for him.”