Mark Fotheringham on why attack is the best form of defence on the road for Huddersfield Town

Alongside Yorkshire rivals Hull City, they have conceded 14 goals in 12 matches. In the opening 45 minutes of away games this term, Town's leakage of ten goals in five outings is out on its own as the worst figure.

But for head coach Mark Fotheringham, attack remains the best form of defence.

While he is seeking an improvement in defensive organisation, more especially on the road, he does not believe that getting to the interval in their next few away matches with a clean sheet, for instance, is the panacea. He would beg to differ.

Fotheringham, preparing for Saturday's televised lunch-time derby at Rotherham United, said: "It's not the way I think, to be honest.

"You can see I have a lot of offensive players on the pitch and want to go out there and score goals and give our fans a really proud feeling that their team just goes for it and don't hold back and let the handbrake off and go for it.

"We want to attack and score as many goals as we can. We've scored six goals in three games and know on any day we can.

"If it wasn't for the final pass or movement, we could have scored many more. We have got to keep improving on that and we are working on the security behind the ball in training. We have been relentless in that respect."

A free week between games has given the Scot invaluable time on the training ground in getting players up to speed with his intensive demands and building relationships.

The 38-year-old is unequivocal and passionate about the fact that all his work is done on the training ground, with his players assigned with applying what he has instructed them on a match-day, a window to the working week in his opinion.

While he is hands-on in training and is not shy in letting players know what he wants, he also expects them to drive themselves along the way. His ethos is clearly 'train as you play'.

If there are a few crosswords along the way between them, so be it. In his eyes, it shows that they care.

Fotheringham continued: “It shows they have got a real willingness to do well and they are playing with a real fire in their belly at the moment and you can see it in their eyes than they are wanting to get out there and play in front of our people to show them what we are about and are here to win.

"The one good thing from the (last) weekend was that although we were up in the game, there were actually some heated exchanges in regards to two or three players coming into the dressing room and I really admired them for that. That's the type of environment I want.

"You can fall out with each other, but it's all for the target and that's to be successful. I keep saying to them, we are like a family and can have our fall-outs, but you put it to bed the next day and move on.

"Because we know in this league, there's so many games and a big volume of games coming. They are really showing me a great commitment to training at the moment.”