The weekend’s EFL Championship action came to a close at John Smith’s Stadium on Sunday, as struggling Huddersfield Town welcomed a West Brom side looking to seal a playoff place. Andre Breitenreiter’s Terriers lost narrowly on the road last time out at Cardiff City, while the Baggies were held to a 2-2 draw at relegation-threatened QPR.
HUD: Nicholls; Pearson, Helik, Lees; Spencer, Kasumu, Hogg, Rudoni, Headley; Burgzorg, Thomas
WBA: Palmer; Furlong, Kipre, Bartley, Reach; Mowatt, Yokuslu; Johnston, Diangana, Wallace; Weimann
The opening ten minutes at the John Smith’s Stadium saw both sides start brightly, with the best opening coming for the home team. Sorba Thomas’ free-kick in from the right early on saw Terriers centre-back Michal Helik almost add to his impressive goal-scoring feats this term at the far post, but the ball just evaded the defender.
Huddersfield had started the better in this game, and they almost had the opener their start deserved, but Sorba Thomas’ ambitious effort from quite a way out flew wide of the far post; leaving Baggies goalkeeper Alex Palmer untroubled.
With 30 minutes gone, however, the Terriers did have the opener their first-half performance thus far richly deserved. With Okay Yokuslu looking to get away with the ball, Tom Lees made an excellent tackle in order for the ball to fall to Delano Burgzorg. The Dutchman then cut inside and slotted the ball under Alex Palmer.
Embed from Getty ImagesWest Brom knew they had been far from good enough in the first 45, and they almost atoned for that three minutes into the second half when Darnell Furlong met Mikey Johnston’s cross in from a corner. However, the right-back’s header was saved comfortably by Lee Nicholls.
The Baggies did atone for their poor first half performance a few minutes later, however, as they found their equaliser. Andreas Weimann somehow managed to evade the Terriers’ offside trap with a brilliant run down the right hand side. The Austrian then cut inside and fired the ball in towards Mikey Johnston, who steered the ball home past Nicholls.
Joy for the Baggies almost turned back into despair as Okay Yokuslu was caught on the ball by Delano Burgzorg who was through on goal, but Baggies stopper Alex Palmer made up for his earlier error by pulling off a wonderful save to keep out the Dutchman.
Carlos Corberan’s visitors completed their turnaround just before the hour mark as a transformed Baggies side took the lead; this goal also coming from a corner. The ball was swung in from the right hand side by Jed Wallace and a goalmouth scramble ensued with the home side panicking to clear it. However, the Terriers failed to, and the ball then fell to Kyle Bartley, who stabbed it home to give West Brom the advantage.
Just when the Baggies thought their second half turnaround couldn’t get better, they added a third halfway through the second 45 with a quite sublime strike. Mikey Johnston got down the left hand side and dribbled into the box where Matty Pearson was waiting to clear it. However, the ball then fell to Okay Yokuslu, who struck the ball first time into the top corner from just outside the box to effectively kill the game.
Embed from Getty ImagesA fourth goal soon followed, as Huddersfield’s second half collapse was complete. Mikey Johnston, who had found his feet in this second half, drove at Matty Pearson before cutting inside the Terriers centre-back and slotting the ball through the legs of Lee Nicholls to cap off a quite remarkable turnaround from Carlos Corberan’s playoff-chasing team.
The Terriers almost had a goal back with under ten minutes to go, as Jack Rudoni brought down a brilliant pass from Sorba Thomas and fired towards goal, where Alex Palmer made another great save; only for the Baggies stopper to keep out substitute Danny Ward on the rebound as well.
Both sides return to action on Saturday, as Huddersfield travel to a doomed Rotherham United side and West Brom host Bristol City – both games kick off at 3pm.
