Town victorious at home
- Town beat West Brom 1-0
- Sixth home win for the Terriers
- Danel Sinani on the scoresheet
Huddersfield Town returned to winning ways at the John Smith’s Stadium on Saturday afternoon, seeing out a 1-0 win over West Bromwich Albion.
An end-to-end game, Town’s impressive opening 20 minutes were enough to see them leave with all three Sky Bet Championship points.
It was a lively start to the game for the Terriers, with Matty Pearson having Town’s first shot of the day blocked in just the second minute.
The deadlock was broken soon after, with Danel Sinani opening the scoring in the sixth minute! With West Brom pressing high as expected, some excellent work in midfield from Scott High set up Danny Ward to the right of goal. Ward played the ball across the box to the Luxembourg international, who sent it into the back of the net at close range!
Harry Toffolo almost doubled the lead three minutes later, but saw his shot from 20 yards go inches wide.
As the game began to settle, the Terriers worked hard to put some good pressure on the visitors' final third - Ward in particular was causing some real problems for the Baggies against three big centre backs.
West Brom began to grow back into the game as the clock showed 26 minutes played, but Town showcased some excellent defending to keep the visitors at bay as they tried to equalise from territorial pressure and consecutive corners.
The first real sight on goal for the Baggies came in the 36th minute, with centre back Kyle Bartley winning a header following a good cross from left wing back Conor Townsend. Thankfully, it was straight at Lee Nicholls.
The visitors had the final chance of the half too, with Matt Phillips sending a header over the bar.
The second half saw Town’s first yellow card of the game, with Ollie Turton rightly booked in the 47th minute for a late tackle on Grady Diangana.
West Brom almost had their equaliser in the 57th minute thanks to a great strike from Taylor Gardner-Hickman. Fortunately, he saw his powerful volley go wide.
The 68th minute saw a big chance for Town to double their lead as Sinani played in Ward, but he swept his first-time effort inches wide of the far post with the goal at his mercy.
Another big chance came for the Terriers followed just moments later, but West Brom defended well to concede a corner. Second half substitute Fraizer Campbell went through and tried to play it across for Sinani, but it was cut out well by Bartley with Sinani poised to score.
Another big moment in the game soon followed as visiting captain Jake Livermore was sent off in the 78th minute for a high boot on Campbell. Fraizer beat the former England international to the bouncing ball before the high boot caught him in the face, with referee Tim Robinson taking his time before showing the straight red.
Town, with all three centre backs performing excellently and the homegrown midfield duo of Lewis O'Brien and Scott High showing excellent energy, saw out the remaining 17 minutes. The closest that West Brom came was a glancing header by centre back Matt Clarke, which bounced inches wide of the far post.
B Team midfielder Jon Russell made his Championship debut late on to help us see out the win!
Town’s Line-Up (3-4-3)
Lee Nicholls; Levi Colwill, Naby Sarr, Matty Pearson; Harry Toffolo, Lewis O’Brien, Scott High, Ollie Turton; Danny Ward (Fraizer Campbell, 68’), Danel Sinani (Jon Russell, 90+1’), Sorba Thomas (Josh Ruffels, 85’)
Unused Subs
Ryan Schofield; Mipo Odubeko, Josh Koroma, Rolando Aarons
Town Scorer
Danel Sinani (6’)
Town Booking
Ollie Turton (49’)
Town are back at home next Saturday, 27 November, for the visit of Middlesbrough - and Under-18 tickets are just £1! Buy yours online now - click HERE!
