Sunday 12 April 2015 18:52, UK
Chris Powell believes Huddersfield are finally starting to show what they are capable of - and has told his players to believe that they can compete against the best in the Sky Bet Championship.
The Terriers won 1-0 at the City Ground to claim their second win of the campaign over Nottingham Forest thanks to a smart finish from Sean Scannell just before the interval.
The win followed on from Huddersfield's success over promotion-chasing Ipswich and Powell believes they are starting to prove what they are capable of as they go toe-to-toe with some of the stronger sides in the division.
"We have shown our fans what we are capable of which is important, because we haven't always done it. We have always managed games well in the past, that has been there for all to see," he said.
"But in the last few games, I feel that we are managing games really, really well now. Our fans can go home happy after that. We want them to be proud of their team, we want them to see us put a shift in. That is what they want too.
"I have to instil the confidence and belief into these players that they can play at this level, because they can. The Championship gets harder every season and it will do again next season. We are trying to make our mark, that is all we want to do. It is a tough league.
"It was the type of performance that we need to produce more often away from home. You give yourself a platform to build on and then you look to grow into the game and that is what we did. We have to believe that we can do it.
"We were dogged, but I thought there was more football from us than them. We didn't dominate the game, perhaps, but we did have good situations in their final third. When we made good decisions - as we did with the goal - we had some quality."
Forest boss Dougie Freedman admitted his side had made a poor start to the game and felt that fatigue was an issue.
"I am not one for excuses. We were disappointed with our performance in the first 25 minutes when we did not have enough energy or enthusiasm," he said.
"I feel that the huge output of energy that was required to lift us away from the bottom end of the table, since I have been here, is now catching up with us. We are missing one or two players through injury and we are just running out of steam a little bit.
"In the second half we did have opportunities to take something from the game, but if you do not take your opportunities you will be beaten in this division, regardless of who you are playing against."
