Huddersfield head coach Carlos Corberan challenged his side to display more consistency over the full 90 minutes following their frantic 4-3 Championship win at lowly Reading.
Reading went ahead early on through Lucas Joao but Town soon turned things around with goals from Danel Sinani and Danny Ward.
The goals continued to flow in the first half as George Puscas levelled for the home side, Ward restored Town’s lead only for Michael Morrison to make it 3-3 on the stroke of half time.
Ward completed his hat trick with his 10th goal of the season early in the second half and with it saw Huddersfield claim the points.
The Terriers are now nine matches unbeaten but boss Corberan knows there is still room for improvement.
He said: “We have a lot of offensive mentality but we also need a little bit more meanness in defence.
“This is exactly the big challenge, the balance, for us. Not only for us but for every team in the world.
“In the first half, we attacked really well. But in the second half, we attacked worse but we defended better.
“Yes, it was a bit chaotic in the first half. That’s because we had four defenders against their two strikers and it was too open.
“The spaces between the full-backs were also too open, allowing the strikers to find the space that they needed.
“I was thinking [at half-time] that we needed to do something about that. We had to do something with our defence, otherwise we might have had the same problems in the second half.”
Five of the seven goals in the match were scored in a frenetic opening 25 minutes and it left Corberan with mixed feelings.
He added: “I think that the start of the game was really good – but at the same time really bad.
“We were dominating the ball and feeling comfortable. We were finding free players and taking control.
“We did some really good moments in that first half, even if we didn’t defend that well.
“We might not have attacked as well in the second half, but we defended better – and that was necessary to take the three points.”
Relegation-threatened Reading fell to their fifth successive defeat in the league and FA Cup, and they have now not won at home in nine games.
However, manager Veljko Paunovic was able to see some positives, saying: “Overall, it was a better performance from us than in the last few games in this horrible run.
“Generally, I think that we improved our condition. We were more aggressive from the beginning and much more determined at the start of the game.
“But, unfortunately, our problems in defence – as a whole team – were still there and still persisting.
“We have to look to minimise these individual mistakes. We have to eliminate this naivety that we have, we have to stop the bleeding.
“Again, though, the actual cohesion and the improvement we have seen in our team today was good.
“This was especially in attack, with Lucas Joao and George Puscas – supported by John Swift and the rest of the team.
“I think all that worked very well. And we will be looking to build on it.
“It has been a horrible month because we have had to compete against teams [without Covid issues] who are in a better shape than us.”
