Carabao Cup hero Leo Castledine insists they were always going to go ‘toe to toe’ with their Premier League opposition.
Castledine scored a screamer to help Huddersfield Town see off Sunderland and earn a glamour tie at home to Man City in the next round of the Carabao Cup.
He said: “I am buzzing! Games like that are why you play football. Full credit to them. Obviously they are a great team, a Premier League side but, at the same time, we came into this game knowing what we are capable of as well. There was never going to be a situation where we didn’t try and go toe to toe with them and we managed to so it was good.
“Moments are going to be tough. They had a lot of possession. We knew what we had to do. We were a goal up. Obviously it’s tough to concede right at the end which I don’t think we maybe deserved. I thought our defence was really strong. All things considered, I think we did a really good job.”
Describing his emotions when it came to the shoot out, he admitted: “It was never ever in doubt! When it comes to penalties, I know Lee is going to do the job and all the lads did theirs, everyone scored.
“It is always going to be a bit nervous standing on the side watching but I was always confident. The fans were unbelievable. It made such a big difference for us as players. When you are on the pitch at such a big stadium, looking up and seeing those fans cheering us on at all times in the game really helps us.”
On his goal and if he knew it was in straight away, he said: “That’s what everyone is asking me! Yes, I’d say so. Watching it come down in the air, all I was thinking about was getting good contact and get it on target and then as soon as it left my foot I was like ‘it’s going in’.
"I would say I probably (haven’t scored a better goal). Definitely not professionally. Maybe back in my academy days there might be one or two but that is up there.”
On his time at the club thus far, he revealed: “It’s been good. I hadn’t had a proper pre season fully so I am still getting into my stride of things but as every week has been coming, I have been taking it and it has been really enjoyable.
"All the lads are great, the gaffer is amazing, it is such a nice place and the fans and set up, I couldn’t have asked for more.”