Neil Warnock believes Huddersfield are in a good place after boosting their survival hopes with a 3-2 win at Watford.
Victory takes the Yorkshire side out of the Sky Bet Championship drop zone for the first time since August.
With a home game on Easter Monday against Blackburn up next, Warnock feels his side are moving in the right direction.
He said: “It looks a lot better than it did four weeks ago. You can tell when you’re talking to the players that they’re listening and taking everything in.
“They trust me. I just can’t fault the group of lads, they’ve given me everything.
“I don’t think we’re soft now – we’ve gone to Millwall, Middlesbrough and Watford and stood up to them.
“They’ve got belief. It’s getting enough points in the next six games and we’ve got to get them as soon as possible.
“It was strange, I thought they shot themselves in the foot at times, they broke the play up for us.”
The hosts started the brighter of the two sides at a sunny Vicarage Road and took the lead on 32 minutes when Yaser Asprilla took the ball on the edge of the area and delivered a shot hard and low.
Huddersfield equalised just before the interval when a cross by Josh Koroma was only half-cleared by Ryan Porteous and Jack Rudoni was able to slot home the loose ball.
It got even better for the visitors 10 minutes after the restart when Matty Pearson headed home a Rudoni free-kick, which led to a loud, negative reaction from the home supporters.
Their misery was complete with Huddersfield’s introduction of Kian Harratt on 81 minutes as the substitute made an immediate impact with a header from close range after a Koroma cross.
However, Watford gave themselves late hope through substitute Britt Assombalonga, who struck low to make it a nervy ending for Huddersfield.
There was drama right at the end when a melee saw Watford goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann dismissed for two yellows in quick succession, but head coach Chris Wilder accepted the blame.
Wilder said: “Great days for our opponents, and congratulations on a solid performance and result.
“I’ll take responsibility for that performance, we enjoy it when we win and take the plaudits so I’ll take the responsibility.
“Do I see a team that gave up? No, they went to the end. Being 3-1 down and the mood around the place being negative, I own that performance myself.
“Danny Bachmann will learn from that, and he needs to check his emotions.
“We’d all love it to be a positive environment, but I’ve got no problems with the fans’ reaction whatsoever.”
