Michael Duff said Anthony Evans epitomised the fight his Huddersfield side showed during their late 1-0 win over Shrewsbury.
The Terriers enhanced their play-off credentials thanks to Josh Koroma’s 82nd-minute winner, which earned the club their first away win at the Shrews since 1987.
Evans is playing through the pain barrier with a long-term toe issue and is using insoles to alleviate the soreness.
“Anthony Evans is playing in pain,” said Duff.
“It’s not a fitness thing in terms of his legs, he’s played two games in a week and ran 11.5kms both games.
“It’s a question of whether who we’re playing instead of him is better than a 70 per cent Anthony Evans.
“We want him involved. We think he’s got quality in that final third. He’s going through a phase where he’s dinking corners in because he can’t fizz it in because he’s in pain.”
Koroma had the best chances in the game, with a first-half effort cleared off the line, and secured a vital three points with his second strike in as many outings late on.
“Fight, desire, grit, we showed all of that,” added Duff.
“We found that one moment of quality and thankfully it’s won us the game.
“The frustration of the first half was we kept taking pop-shots from 25 yards out, but if you upgrade the chance you have a better chance of scoring.
“I think it comes from a place of wanting to do well, but there’s anxiousness there about wanting to be the one to put it in the top corner.
“The pleasing thing is we had the moment of quality, we’ve not had enough of them.
“The one thing that hasn’t been questioned since Christmas is that togetherness, that spirit and all those types of things.
“It’s about getting them to believe they’re a good team. Josh came up trumps. If anything’s going to prove that they can do it then it’s that moment.”
The manner of the defeat was a real sucker punch for Gareth Ainsworth’s side, who remained four points adrift of safety.
He reflected: “The endeavour, the commitment deserves more, everybody knows that.
“How we haven’t had a penalty on Funso Ojo is beyond me. I hope people watch that back in slow-mo because that’s given in the Premier League all day. We’re not in the Premier League, we’re in League One.
“We’ve just played two huge teams at this level in Bolton and Huddersfield and taken them both to the wire so that’s really positive. We deserved more.
“We did plenty in their box but couldn’t find that final finish. They took their chance. You have to say well done to them and we go again.
“If we keep playing like that then undoubtedly we’re going to win games. They are 18 places between the two teams but you would not have thought that.
“We’ve just taken fourth in the league to a narrow victory and I’m proud of that.
“I understand we need wins. We’re going to work really hard for that.”
