Buxton wants Latics to use '˜fear factor'

Latics faced the Terriers in the corresponding fixture just over a month ago, with goals from Reece Burke and Yanic Wildschut giving boss Warren Joyce his first - and only - win in charge.

It was the classic smash-and-grab away-day performance, and Buxton hopes it will have left a psychological scar on the West Yorkshiremen ahead of the return.

“It’s going to be tough, but we beat them a few weeks ago so hopefully they’ll fear us,” acknowledged Buxton.

“It’s a different prospect for us at home - away, we can sit back a bit and hit teams on the counter-attack.

“At home, we have to come out fighting, get on the ball and cut teams open.

“That performance was similar to what we’ve done all season, and (overall) we haven’t got what we deserved.

“We can’t look back, though. We have to look forwards.

“We hope some new faces will come in to join the squad and hopefully push us on.

“We have to try and find some form.”

Buxton was outstanding on Saturday as Latics gave as good as they got against his former side Derby, and were perhaps unlucky not to beat the promotion hopefuls at Pride Park.

After five defeats on the bounce - the last two coming against fellow strugglers Ipswich and Rotherham - Buxton recognised it was a welcome show of unity.

“The last two games really hurt us,” he admitted. “Newcastle, Derby, and Aston Villa, we performed to a decent standard.

“But we didn’t match Ipswich or Rotherham for the fight.

“As a group we had to dig deep and find the answers as to what was going wrong.

“We found them at Derby, we set up in a better shape, we were better organised, we found the answers, and we could easily have come away with two goals.

“Worst-case scenario was a clean sheet and a massive point.

“We’ve conceded six goals in the last two games against rivals who are down there with us.

“For us to get a clean sheet was massive.”

The Latics defence rarely looked troubled by a Derby side that have shot up the table in recent weeks under Steve McClaren.

And they could easily have come away with all three points, with Will Grigg, twice, and Michael Jacobs almost scoring during a dominant first half.

“Derby have been on fire recently, they’ve not lost in 10,” Buxton added.

“But we worked hard in the week on how to stop them, and we’ve created our own opportunities.

“We had some good chances, we looked lively.

“When Will Grigg gets a few more games under his belt, he’ll be more clinical.

“It was an outstanding performance from the team and a very disciplined one.

“We’d been playing well and not getting results and getting some results when we’d not played well, so we had a clear-the-air talk this week.

“And the response from everyone at the club has been outstanding.”