Duhaney: We are now fitter and stronger
DEMEACO Duhaney says Town are ready to meet the challenge posed by Wigan Athletic and deliver a vital three points for the fans.
The 21-year-old Mancunian reckons the Terriers have emerged from lockdown fitter than most of their rivals and, not only that, have been playing some highly-promising football in the friendlies against Sheffield United, Hull City and Middlesbrough.
Duhaney has played a full part in manager Danny Cowley’s build-up and says the mood in the camp is very much one of determination to finish the job of securing Championship survival in the final nine games of the campaign.
“With the training we’ve been doing and the team coming back together now, it feels like we are really focused with the manager and I definitely think we will stay in the Championship,” said Duhaney, who is pacy and strong and pushing Danny Simpson for the right-back slot.
“There is a really good spirit and, through the friendlies we’ve played, we’ve produced some good football.
“The atmosphere in training is really good, everyone is really happy to be back together after previously training on our own, and now that we are back to almost normal with the contact training, everyone is raring to go for the re-start of the season.”
On loan at Boston earlier in the season, Duhaney was recalled by Cowley and played against Leeds United at the John Smith’s in December, since when he’s had to recover from a series of injury niggles.
Now firing on all cylinders, he says the whole squad are driven by a common goal.
“We want to finish the season as well as we possibly can,” said the player who was once included on the bench by Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola for a European tie in Shakhtar Donetsk.
“We know what Wigan are about with their style and their big No.9 and we have been preparing for that with our aggression. We all know what we have to do and we all believe we can take three points to re-start the season on Saturday.”
From Fallowfield in Manchester, he joined the Manchester City
Academy as a five-year-old and progressed through the ranks before signing a two-year scholarship in the summer of 2015.
He was a regular in the City side that reached the 2017 FA Youth Cup final, whilst also playing consistently in the UEFA Youth League and in the Premier League 2 for City’s Under-23 side.
More recently, Duhaney joined up with Guardiola’s first-team squad during the pre-season tour of the United States in the summer of 2017, playing the final 18 minutes of a friendly against Spurs in Nashville.
His senior competitive debut soon followed as he started all three of City’s games in the Checkatrade Trophy, whilst he was also an unused substitute for a Carabao Cup game at Leicester City and that Champions League game at Shakhtar Donetsk.