A massive win at the John Smith's Stadium!
- Huddersfield Town 1-0 Millwall
- Rhys Healey scores winner in added time
- A massive win for the Terriers
Town recorded a huge first home victory under Head Coach André Breitenreiter against Millwall, pulling themselves out of the Sky Bet Championship relegation zone in the process.
A wind-affected game, it turned out to be a real battle against another team that is working to secure its status in the division, but Town’s players will feel they deserved the three points that were secured late on in second half added time through substitute Rhys Healey.
In the end, the only thing that mattered was the scoreline, with Town’s defenders also deserving credit for the clean sheet.
Breitenreiter switched to a 4-4-2 for the game, with Delano Burgzorg returning to play up front alongside Bojan Radulovic.
There was a swirling wind inside the stadium throughout the game that caused both sides real problems at times. Town’s players had that at their backs in the opening 45, meaning that some long passes travelled way further than intended, whereas Millwall’s goalkeeper sometimes struggled to effectively clear his lines at the other end.
There were chances for both sides in the opening half, however. Burgzorg tested Millwall’s stopper inside the opening two minutes, and Lee Nicholls soon had to be alert to collect a rising half volley from midfielder Billy Mitchell at the other end.
The Lions’ first notable chance came in the 13th minute when winger Ryan Longman found space to deliver a cross beyond Ben Jackson; his delivered found George Honeyman at the back post, but it arrived at an awkward height and it effectively hit his teammate before dropping well wide.
Town kept plugging away, with Josh Koroma a particularly lively outlet on our left, but the next opportunity on the half hour came down our right. A corner was won and taken by Thomas; he found Radulovic’s head at the near post, but the Spanish-born striker directed it over.
Koroma then came to the fore, receiving the ball on the left after good combination play between our two forwards, only for on-loan Spurs defender Japhet Tanganga to come across and block well.
Town were in the ascendancy at this post, going close again through another corner that bounced through the area before dropping to Radulovic, who couldn’t make a good contact with the ball. From the resulting corner, Thomas forced the goalkeeper to get to his near post and fist a delivery clear that would have gone in directly.
Millwall then showed they also carried a set piece threat through two corners. First striker Michael Obafemi tried his luck with an athletic effort that had to be deflected wide by Alex Matos, and then giant defender Jake Cooper headed over the resulting set piece.
Thomas and Koroma tried their luck from range as Town took the fight to Millwall again, and then followed the biggest chance of the half. Burgzorg picked up the ball just outside the Millwall area and forced goalkeeper Sarkic to parry his low shot away; it looked like it would run to Koroma to tap in, but somehow Ryan Leonard got across to block JK’s shot brilliantly.
Town kicked into the strong wind in the second half, and it continued to make the going difficult at times.
Brodie Spencer soon pulled off a great bit of back post defending to prevent Longman from turning a cross home and set Town off on a break in the process, with Burgzorg sending Radulovic into the area. He pulled the ball back for Koroma, but the winger couldn’t turn it home.
Kasumu fired into the Millwall fans as play continued, at which stage the game started to get a bit fractious. Sorba Thomas and Billy Mitchell were both booked for reacting after a challenge, whilst Honeyman and Spencer soon got involved too.
Breitenreiter rang the changes to try and find the elusive goal, with Headley, Healey, fit-again Danny Ward and Wiles all entering the fray, and Healey soon went just inches away from connecting with an excellent cross from Thomas at full stretch.
Then, in five added minutes, the goal finally came. Headley deserved credit for winning the corner with a determined forward run down the right, from which Thomas picked out Pearson at the back post; the goalkeeper pushed Matty’s goal-bound header into the air, where Healey rose highest to nod home his second John Smith’s Stadium goal!
Town’s team (4-4-2)
Lee Nicholls; Brodie Spencer (Tom Edwards, 80’), Matty Pearson, Michał Helik (c), Ben Jackson (Jaheim Headley, 46’); Sorba Thomas, David Kasumu, Alex Matos (Ben Wiles, 80’), Josh Koroma (Danny Ward, 70’); Bojan Radulovic (Rhys Healey, 62’), Delano Burgzorg
Unused substitutes
Chris Maxwell; Ollie Turton, Pat Jones, Tom Iorpenda,
Town bookings
Ben Jackson (34’), Sorba Thomas (61’), Tom Edwards (90+2’)
Gate
18,579
Away fans
492
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