Huddersfield Town head coach Michael Duff believes there has been a “huge shift” in his side’s mentality since their losing run earlier in the season.

The Terriers are currently 15 matches unbeaten in League One, a run that has propelled them into automatic promotion contention. Town sit fourth in the table on 47 points from 24 matches played, four points off the top two with a game in hand.

Following a strong start to the campaign, Town endured a run of seven defeats in eight matches in all competitions – including four straight League One defeats – that left them in a tricky spot at the start of October.

READ MORE: Huddersfield Town owner Kevin Nagle speaks out on sealing Joe Taylor transfer from Luton Town

READ MORE: Yorkshire restaurants offering major food and drink discounts in January

When asked for the reason behind their turnaround in form, Duff said: “Mentality – that’s all it is. The players are the same, the formation’s the same, I’m the same. I’d like to think I have, but I haven’t become a miles better manager in the last three months.

“The one thing they’ve done, they’ve adapted and evolved, in terms of their mentality, which then comes into the cultural side of it.

“Obviously you spend a bit more time together and there’s a bit more trust with each other, and us and the staff, and you’re building relationships, and that takes itself out onto the pitch.

“A lot of what I say, I repeat myself, because I believe in it. I think in my first interview I said ‘three o’clock is a window into your working week’, so we’re starting to see results of what’s going on during the week, because of the mentality and culture of the group.

“We’ve had some good players all the way along. There wasn’t a massive revolving door in the summer, we didn’t lose many, we didn’t bring that many in. A lot of the team were here last year, so it’s just trying to bring them back together to see what success looks like, so that’s probably the main thing.

“Then obviously you hope to influence and improve people along the way, because that is the job ultimately, but I think the overriding thing is the mentality of the group, there’s been a huge shift in that.”

With Saturday’s clash at Shrewsbury Town having been postponed due a frozen pitch, the Terriers will now look to extend their unbeaten run at Blackpool next up this weekend. However, Duff is eager for his side to remain focused on performances, both individually and collectively, as opposed to results.

Outlining his current messaging to his players leading into matches, the Terriers boss said: “We do a few slides before every game, and a lot of the slides are becoming very similar. It’s just a little bit of wording here and there, which means you’re on the right course.

“If you’re having to rip it up and start again every meeting going ‘well don’t do what we did last week, because we were miles off it’, but we’re not, it’s little tweaks here and there.

“I think the start of the season almost helps, that even when we had that really bad run, and then we got on a half-decent run, and then threw the Tamworth result in. It’s just that little reminder that just when you think you might have worked it out, you hadn’t, and you never will, because it’s ever-evolving.

“There’s a bit of buy-in from the players now, there’s a little bit of belief I think that the work that they’re doing every day, all those behavioural things that we talk about are paying them back on nights like Tuesday night (the 1-0 win at Wycombe). That sort of togetherness, that mentality, that team ethos of the team first all the time, it’s showing out in the results now.

“Their job isn’t results, their job’s performances. That’s all they need to look after, their performance as a group and individually. My job’s the results unfortunately.

“That’s why we talk about time, because it takes time to embed things, but things are starting to grow a few roots now, so when there is a little bit of adversity, there’s a bit more cohesion and togetherness.

“A lot of the messaging is the same, because it’s not going far wrong, but it’s having that confidence, without that becoming an arrogance and a complacency.”