Huddersfield Town manager David Wagner has expressed his happiness about the club advancing into the Carabao Cup third round.

The Terriers came from behind to defeat Yorkshire rivals Rotherham United 2-1 at the John Smith’s Stadium on Wednesday night.

Semi Ajayi headed the visitors ahead inside the first minute before a quick-fire second half double from Philip Billing and Joe Lolley in the completed the turnaround.

The win extended Town’s 100 per-cent start to the season heading into a league clash with Southampton on Saturday.

Wagner happy with reaction after falling behind

Speaking with Huddersfield Town TV after full-time, Wagner described the way his team pulled through to flip the game on its head and win after giving themselves a “mountain to climb after 60 seconds” as “excellent.”

Opportunities were built throughout the whole game but there was a hint of last season’s frustrations in the air when nothing was getting capitalised on. He said: “We exhilarated the game, created moments, created chances but unfortunately, we did not hit the target enough."

The German boss was also full of praise for young goalkeeper Joel Coleman who stepped in for first-choice Jonas Lössl as one of 10 changes. “In the last 15 minutes, we came under a bit of trouble where Coleman made three unbelievable saves to keep us in the next round,” he continued.

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There are now more crucial minutes in more legs

“There wasn't rotation today because it was cup game, but because everyone is fit and has shown me in training that they are ready,” he revealed. “I have said before, rotation only makes sense when you’re successful and we were tonight, so I’m happy.”

Wagner has one of the smallest squads in the Premier League and mentioned that he’s pleased “everyone now has at least 90 competitive minutes in their legs” because it’s “important.” He also added that he thinks he’ll have to use more of his squad “very early.”

The victory meant Huddersfield were in the questionably-timed draw in Beijing on Thursday morning and were drawn away to Premier League foes Crystal Palace.

That spells good fortune if the outcome is near to what occurred a few weeks ago in the same fixture, Wagner's side winning 3-0 on their top-flight return.

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Alex Turk
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