Boss Mick McCarthy says struggling Huddersfield will view his promotion-chasing Blues as a scalp when Town face them at the John Smith’s Stadium this afternoon.
The Terriers are currently 18th in the Championship, nine points off the relegation zone, and have won just once in 11 games, a 3-0 home victory over Reading seven matches ago on February 26th.
"They’ll see us as a scalp because we’re in the hunt for promotion,” said McCarthy, whose team are seventh, equal on points with Derby in sixth and Wolves in eighth.
"We’ve not had an easy one yet, so I don’t imagine we’ll have one there.”
Having drawn 1-1 at home to AFC Bournemouth - "a great point in our pocket” - McCarthy takes his team to West Yorkshire looking for their eighth victory on their travels during 2014/15 to continue their promotion push: "That’s got to be the mentality, just go and try to win away from home.”
Town have had a day more in which to rest following their game against the Cherries on Good Friday with Huddersfield having drawn 1-1 at Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday, Ishmael Miller having scored an 89th minute equaliser.
The Blues’ game against the Dorset side had initially been scheduled for Saturday but McCarthy got it moved, Town having found two games in three days tough last Easter.
"That was good planning,” he said. "We asked Bournemouth if they would like to play on the Friday because they did last year and we played Watford away on the Saturday.
"Then we had Bournemouth, who move the ball about as much as anybody, on the Monday and got done with a deflected freekick [the game ending 2-2]. We were goosed on that day, to be fair.
"And it suited them, they’re playing Friday-Monday as opposed to Saturday-Monday, which is difficult.”
In terms of the fitness of McCarthy's squad, the game is likely to come too soon for Kevin Bru (calf), Jonny Parr (hamstring) and Darren Ambrose (back in training after a hamstring problem), while Tyrone Mings will serve the second game of his two-match ban.
Noel Hunt is still sidelined with his knee problem, but expects to be back before the end of the season, and Luke Hyam has suffered a setback as he recovers from his knee injury.
David McGoldrick was back in the 18 after the thigh problem which had kept him out of action since early February, while returning loanee Jonny Williams joined him on the bench having been sidelined since suffering the groin problem which curtailed his previous spell in November.
McCarthy felt Friday wasn’t the right match to bring either of them back with Bournemouth’s introduction of goalscoring loanee Kenwyne Jones requiring the use of one of his other subs, defender Matt Clarke, while Paul Anderson had also come into consideration.
"It wasn’t the game for them,” he added. "I had Ando warming up, it was a day to put Clarkey on and stop that long ball into our box and make sure we headed it out.”
He says he’s not going to rush either McGoldrick or Williams: "I haven’t got a microwave injury treatment. [McGoldrick] goes through his rehab, he’s trained really well and Jonny did [on Thursday].
"We’d all like to see him back and Jonny fit to play from the start but sadly they’re not.”
Clarke replaced Luke Varney for the final minutes on Friday but McCarthy says the on-loan Blackburn man was exhausted rather than injured.
"He came off because he was knackered and he was just starting to cramp up, that’s all,” he continued. "I thought he was different class, by he way, I thought he was really good.”
The Town boss will stick with Bartosz Bialkowski in goal, the Pole having been one of the Blues’ outstanding performers against Bournemouth.
Skipper Luke Chambers will continue at right-back with Zeki Fryers again on the left of the defence following his promising debut against the Cherries. Christophe Berra and Tommy Smith will be at the centre of the backline.
With Huddersfield usually employing a three-man defence, McCarthy could look to switch to the 4-3-3 formation he utilised in the second half against a Bolton team using the same system.
Cole Skuse seems certain to keep his place in midfield with Richard Chaplow and Jay Tabb in the running to take up the other two roles.
Up front, Chris Wood could join 23-goal Championship top scorer Daryl Murphy and Freddie Sears with Varney perhaps rested having played little first-team football until joining the Blues.
McGoldrick and Williams may well make their returns from the bench at some point in the afternoon.
Huddersfield manager Chris Powell is expected to be without central midfielder Jonathan Hogg and winger Harry Bunn (both hamstring) and was due to assess the fitness of the rest of his squad yesterday.
"We'll see them on Sunday morning, hopefully everyone is okay and we will be fighting fit for the game,” he said after Saturday's match.
The Terriers boss says he knows both Mick McCarthy and Terry Connor well and spent time on a coaching course alongside the Town assistant manager.
"Terry and I met when we were both on a course at Warwick University,” Powell told the Huddersfield Examiner.
"As a black coach, he was someone I looked up to and took inspiration from, and it was great to learn from him.
"Like Mick, who I get on well with, he is a proud Yorkshireman and a good coach. Terry had a tough time as manager of Wolves, but he has bounced back well.
"He and Mick are doing a good job at Ipswich, but of course, I want to get the better of them.”
Historically, Town have won 21 games between the sides (including the only cup tie), the Terriers 11, with eight ending in draws. Huddersfield haven’t beaten the Blues since November 1999 when Marcus Stewart - who would join Town three months later - was amongst the scorers.
Earlier this season, in October, Huddersfield came from two goals down to draw 2-2 with the Blues at Portman Road.
Tommy Smith put Town ahead in the 21st minute, Christophe Berra made it 2-0 on 55 but Nahki Wells pulled one back via a contentious 70th minute penalty and then equalised eight minutes from time.
The sides last met at the John Smith’s Stadium in April last year when a stunning sixth-minute goal from Paul Anderson and Daryl Murphy’s 12th of the 2013/14 season just after the half hour saw Town to a thoroughly deserved 2-0 victory.
The Blues could have been several goals further in front at the break and saw out the second half comfortably.
Blues academy coach Alan Lee was with the West Yorkshiremen until the summer of 2013 before returning to Town.
Former Town frontman Jon Stead is a Huddersfield player but is currently on loan at Bradford, while Nahki Wells had a trial at Town as a 19-year-old in 2010.
Today’s referee is Tony Harrington from Cleveland, who has shown 70 yellow cards and one red in 21 games so far this season.
Harrington’s only previous Town match was the 3-0 win at Doncaster Rovers on Boxing Day 2013 when he booked one home player and no Blues.
Squad: Bialkowski, Gerken, Chambers (c), Fryers, Berra, Smith, Clarke, Skuse, Bishop, Tabb, Anderson, S Hunt, Chaplow, Williams, Murphy, Varney, Sears, Wood, McGoldrick.