HEAD coach Jonathan Woodgate admitted Cherries’ defeat to rivals Barnsley last month gave his players "a real kick up the backside” in the race for the play-offs.

Since a 3-2 home loss to the Tykes on March 13, Cherries have sealed wins over Swansea, Middlesbrough, Blackburn and Coventry – the longest winning run for the club in the division all season.

They go to Huddersfield Town tomorrow aiming to make it five on the spin in league action (5.30pm).

“I think the players know what we want now from them,” said Woodgate, ahead of the fixture against the Terriers.

“I think the defeat against Barnsley gave them a real kick up the backside of what we needed to do to get back into the play-off positions.

“We’ve done that but we need to build on it again.

“You can win four on the spin but it’s nothing if you don’t win the next game. The next game is Huddersfield, we need to win it.

“We know what we can gain on our rivals if we win this game, so it’s going to be really important.

“Attitude, application, mentality – if they are all at 100 per cent, we’ve got a chance of winning the game because we know what ability we’ve got in that dressing room.”

Victory in west Yorkshire would see the Dorset outfit move up to fifth, above Barnsley in the table.

“I think it’s important we build momentum going into the big games we’ve got left of the season. After this one, there is five left in the league – we need to win as many as we can,” added the Cherries boss.

“We are in a good place at the minute, we are scoring goals, there’s a lot of players playing really well.

“But we need to be more consistent in games now, with the games left. Can we produce that consistency week in week out? If we do that, we should be okay.”

Asked how confident he was of making the play-offs, Woodgate replied: “I wouldn’t be sat here if I wasn’t confident.

“I am always confident. I’m not over-confident but if the players produce week in, week out then I am confident. We have just got to do it first.”