Young Terriers win opening game of pre-season

- Brighouse 1-3 Town B
- Young Terriers victorious on the road
- Goals from Joel Mumbongo, Ben Jackson, and Danny Grant

Huddersfield Town’s B Team kicked off pre-season with a win, as they beat Brighouse Town 1-3 at the Yorkshire Payments Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The Young Terriers Terriers were on top for the opening 10 minutes with large spells of possession, but were unable to break down the well-structured hosts.

The deadlock was broken after 17 minutes when Donay O’Brien-Brady ran through on goal and played the ball across to Joel Mumbongo who tapped the ball into an empty net to give Town the lead.

Just three minutes later Mumbongo was fouled on the edge of the penalty area. Captain Ben Jackson stepped up to take the free-kick, curling the ball into the bottom left-hand corner to make it 2-0.

It was not all smooth sailing in the first half for Jon Worthington’s side however, as Brighouse played a few balls in behind the defence which Michael Roxburgh was forced to sweep up.

Brahima Diarra and Cian Philpott both had quickfire chances which could have put the Terriers 3-0 up but Michael Acquah, who started for Brighouse due to their regular keeper being unavailable, made two terrific saves.

The 36th minute saw Jack Normanton got a goal back for the hosts after catching Roxburgh off his line from a corner.

Diarra nearly restored the two-goal advantage on two occasions. Some clever close control forced a save from Acquah, before Diarra firing the rebound back, but saw a goal-line clearance from Harry Wilkinson deny him.

On the stroke of half time O-Brien-Brady had a shot from just outside the box which went over the bar after a good period of play from the Young Terriers.

As the second half got underway Worthy made nine changes to his side, with just Jackson and Connor Malley remaining on the pitch.

Brighouse came out of the blocks fastest in the second half, with two chances early in the second half thankfully amounting to nothing.

Town’s youngsters started to settle into the second half with 15 minutes played, with a few minor chances falling to Danny Grant and Myles Bright. Unfortunately for Town, it was nothing that the Brighouse defence could not deal with.

Town then began to take hold of the game, with Conor Falls and Grant combining for a chance which forced a save out of Brighouse’s substitute goalkeeper.

Not long after Falls was back at it again with yet another chance in behind the defence, but saw his shot just wide of the goal.

By this point the Young Terriers were relentless as Grant had another chance which forced an impressive save out of the keeper.

With just over 10 minutes left to play Sonny Whittingham put in a brilliant sliding tackle to deny Brighouse as they broke forward.

Grant finally got his goal in the 78th minute! Cutting in from the left-wing and dancing past the Brighouse defence, the Irishman then unleashed a driven shot across the goal.

The 87th minute saw Josh Mazfari on hand with a lovely save, before Town held out for the final minutes to win 1-3 on the road.

B Team Line-up (4-4-2)

Michael Roxburgh (Josh Mazfari, 46’); Ben Jackson (c) (Midgley, 68’), Shane Maroodza (David Adewoju, 46’), Loick Ayina (Charles Ondo, 46’), Neo Eccleston (Michael Stone, 46’); Cian Philpott (Danny Grant, 46’), Ben Midgley (Ernaldo Karsniqi, 46’), Connor Malley, Donay O’Brien-Brady (Sonny Whittingham, 46’); Joel Mumbongo (Myles Bright, 46’), Brahima Diarra (Conor Falls, 46’).

Town Scorers

Joel Mumbongo (17'), Ben Jackson (20’), Danny Grant (78’)