Huddersfield Town were beaten 5-0 by AFC Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium in the Sky Bet Championship.
An early double for Dominic Solanke set the tone with the visitors before David Brooks, Junior Stanislas and Sam Surridge all got on the scoresheet to condemn Town to a heavy defeat on the South Coast.
There was a much-changed look to Carlos Corberán’s side for the game at the Vitality Stadium, with six changes from the midweek victory over Sheffield Wednesday.
Among those returnees was Alex Pritchard playing for the first time in over a month having been sidelined with an ankle injury whilst Harry Toffolo captained the Terriers for the first time, for the visit to the Vitality Stadium.
Despite coming into the game off the back of two wins on home soil over the last seven days, Town endured a difficult start on the road in Bournemouth.
The Cherries got the opener on eight minutes after Dominic Solanke picked out the bottom corner with a well-executed finish from outside the area.
Town were nearly produced an instant response only for a good save from Asmir Begović to deny Juninho Bacuna’s goal-bound effort.
Having been unlucky not to be level straight away, the Terriers’ misfortune continued as the home side doubled their lead 13 minutes in.
After winning the ball high up the pitch, the Cherries found the net again through Dominic Solanke who picked out the opposite corner this time to take his tally to two for the afternoon.
Despite that, Carlos Corberán’s side were continuing to cause problems at the other end with Begović this time getting down to Danny Ward’s low shot before Lewis O’Brien fired just wide from distance.
The Cherries were showing a clinical nature at the other end however and were 3-0 up after 21 minutes.
David Brooks got in on the act, curling his shot into the net from a central area just outside the box to compile Town’s early misery on the South Coast.
Looking for a way back into the contest, Town put together a good move before the half-hour mark. Ward produced a good piece of improvisation inside the box before finding the head of the fit-again Alex Pritchard who nodded into the side netting.
Almost instantly after the break, the Terriers attempted to produce a response and went close though Jaden Brown who cut in from the left and curled at goal but Begović got down low to parry away the effort.
Shortly before the hour mark there was a professional debut for 17-year-old midfielder Brahima Diarra who made his First-Team bow replacing Jaden Brown for Town.
It was a rare highlight for the Terriers as the hosts got on target for the first time in the second half with their fourth of the afternoon.
Junior Stanislas carved his way through the Town defence before keeping his composure to find the net.
The Cherries’ double of hour-mark substitutes then combined with some of their first touches to make it five, less than 10 minutes later.
Dan Gosling squared for Sam Surridge whose first-time strike put the hosts 5-0 up with the final goal on an afternoon to forget for the Terriers at the Vitality Stadium.
Next up for Town is Coventry City at the St Andrew’s Trillion Trophy Stadium in the Sky Bet Championship on Wednesday 16 December 2020; 8pm kick-off.
AFC BOURNEMOUTH (4-3-3)
Asmir Begović; Lloyd Kelly, Jack Simpson, Steve Cook (c), Adam Smith (Jordan Zemura, 87’); Philip Billing (Sam Surridge, 62’), Lewis Cook, Jefferson Lerma; Junior Stanislas (Ajani Burchall, 87’), Dominic Solanke (Rodrigo Riquelme, 71’), David Brooks (Dan Gosling, 62’)
Unused subs
Mark Travers; Nnamdi Ofoborh, Gavin Kilkenny, Jaidon Anthony
HUDDERSFIELD TOWN (4-3-3)
Ben Hamer (Ryan Schofield, 46’); Harry Toffolo (c) (Romoney Crichlow, 72’), Naby Sarr, Rarmani Edmonds-Green, Aaron Rowe; Juninho Bacuna, Lewis O’Brien (Álex Vallejo, 72’), Alex Pritchard; Jaden Brown, Danny Ward (Isaac Mbenza, 56’), Adama Diakhaby
Unused subs
Pipa, Carel Eiting, Fraizer Campbell, Matty Daly
REFEREE
Oliver Langford
