O’Brien: We’re in the driver’s seat right now
THE battle for the Championship play-off places is one that will go right down to the wire with the majority of teams in the top half still very much in the hunt.
The pressure is increasing on Huddersfield Town to hold onto their top-six place as the teams below continue to build momentum.
The narrow win at Hull City was massive for Carlos Corberan’s side as it brought an end to the threegame winless run that had begun to threaten promotion hopes.
Up next is the significantly tougher test of Luton Town, who visit the John Smith’s Stadium tonight, with the Hatters sitting just a point behind the Terriers.
Town’s impressive campaign comes on the back of successive battles against the drop. And midfielder Lewis O’Brien – who has been key in helping the Terriers stay up in recent years, says the pressure is different when you are competing at the top as opposed to the bottom.
“When you’re fighting relegation, if you stay out the relegation zone, it’s not like you’ve actually achieved anything,” he said.
“We’re now in a position where if we don’t at least get to the play-offs, it’ll be a disappointment for everyone and that’s where the nerves and anxiety comes.
“We’re in the driver’s seat now. There’s a lot more pressure and it’s a different kind of anxiety because the pressure’s on us.”
Luton are the first of three consecutive promotion contenders Town will face over the next eight days – with QPR visiting on Friday and then the Terriers going up to Middlesbrough a week tonight.
And O’Brien explained the kind of test he expects from Nathan Jones’ side.
“It’s going to be a very, very competitive game, we’ve had a lot of time to analyse them as a team,” he said.
“They have played some very good football and they’re very competitive.
“They like getting the ball up the field quick and they’ve got players who like a one-vs-one duel and a scrap so it’s just going to be one of those games where we’ve got to dig deep.
“It’s probably going to be another [game like] Hull where we’re the better side, but we’re going to have to dig deep and play for 95 minutes right until the end and we might get the result in the 94th, you never know.”
Head coach Carlos Corberan has placed a real emphasis on the manto-man way Luton operate, alluding to the amount of work that has been done with his side to combat that strategy.
When faced with a question about the tactics Town’s opponents are likely to deploy, O’Brien’s response was very similar to that of his manager.
“The training has been very one-vsone based and a lot on their strengths and their weaknesses,” he explained. “When you watch the [analysis] videos, they’re very man-to-man orientated, a lot of the midfield players follow everyone and it’s going to be one of those games where there’s no free men.
“If you win your one-vs-one duels on the day, you’ll come out on top no matter what team that is.”
We’re now in a position where is we don’t at least get to the play-offs it’ll be a disappointment Lewis O’Brien