Huddersfield Town owner Kevin Nagle has called on his side to “try harder” in their bid to secure automatic promotion from League One this season.

The Terriers sit fourth in the table following Tuesday’s 1-0 defeat to Birmingham City, a result that leaves Town on 48 points from 27 matches played.

Michael Duff’s side are 10 points behind second-placed Wycombe Wanderers with a game in hand. And Nagle has expressed his desire to see the Terriers get promoted automatically rather than having to go through the play-offs.

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Speaking prior to Tuesday’s clash, Nagle told BBC Radio Leeds: “Never happy with fourth (place). There’s an old line ‘we try harder’, we’re going to have to try harder to push ourselves a little bit. We need to get momentum, I think that’s really what it is.

“It’s one game of a lot more that we have to play, and it’s going to take a little bit of time, but we need to be focused really overall on the season. Even though we talk about one match, it’s one match, but really looking ahead to say there’s a lot more in front of us as well.”

On his automatic promotion aims for the club, the owner added: “The goal is simply that we want to finish in the top two, so that way then we don’t have to worry about a play-off game. I’ve heard a lot of other owners talk about play-off games and it ended up being a nightmare, I don’t want to be in that situation, but if it happens, it happens.”

The Terriers have sought to strengthen their promotion bid by making three signings this month, with Ruben Roosken, Joe Taylor and Dion Charles having been brought into the club.

Nagle isn’t expecting further arrivals before Monday’s deadline, but the owner hopes that the recruits can make a difference for his side in the second half of the campaign.

“You never say never, but I doubt it. That doesn’t mean that before the official deadline that we’re not going to probably try to do something, but I don’t see it,” Nagle said.

“Obviously for some of the folks (new signings), it’s a little bit early, we haven’t seen a lot of them play, but our expectations are really going to be high. We wouldn’t have signed those players if we didn’t think that we were going to get dividends to come out of it. I’m really excited by them, and I know Michael is, and Mark (Cartwright) and the whole staff, we’re excited to see what happens the second half of the season.

“I would say from the standpoint of signings yes (Nagle is happy with how January has gone), how we performed on the pitch, it’s been a little bit soft. I think that we’ve got a lot of potential in the weeks and months ahead.

“I think that if everything goes the right way, we’re going to have a home stretch that’s going to be really strong. We just have to be a little bit patient. When you get new players, the players have to get a feel for each other, so give us a couple of games, but I feel down the stretch, we’ll be really strong.”

Off the pitch, Nagle also underlined his hope that a deal for the club to take full ownership of the John Smith’s Stadium could be agreed next month, adding: “I think hopefully that’ll happen I think sometime in February.

“I thought we were going to try to get it done while we’re here, but sometimes solicitors, they have their ways about certain things, and so they’re working I think on some last-minute things, but barring any changes, I think we’re going to see that in February.”