Huddersfield Town made it back-to-back wins at the John Smith’s Stadium following a 2-0 victory over Sheffield Wednesday.
First half goals from Josh Koroma and Isaac Mbenza were enough for all three Sky Bet Championship points in the Yorkshire derby.
Head Coach Carlos Corberán made just the one change to the starting XI from the weekend’s win over Queens Park Rangers four days earlier.
Rarmani Edmonds-Green came in to partner Naby Sarr in the heart of Town’s defence in place of injured skipper Christopher Schindler.
A fast start on Saturday set the tone on the way to three points and the Terriers followed suit again in the early minutes of the midweek encounter.
Pipa’s ball along the ground found its way to Josh Koroma at the back post following a smart dummy from Fraizer Campbell. The forward worked some space and picked out the bottom corner to register his sixth goal of the season on 11 minutes.
Moments later, a foul on Town’s no.19 led to a free-kick just outside the box that Isaac Mbenza stepped up to curl into the top corner to double Town’s lead.
The Terriers were well up for it and nearly had a third just after the half-hour mark after another wonderful sweeping move, but Koroma’s shot from just inside of the box drifted just over the bar.
At the other end, Wednesday’s first opportunity came courtesy of Tom Lees who connected with a corner and headed for goal, forcing Ben Hamer to get a hand to it and palm it away from the target.
Instantly after the break, Town had the opportunity to make it a three-goal lead after substitute Juninho Bacuna was brought down inside the box, but having got up to take it, the midfielder fired the spot-kick wide with Town’s advantage staying at two.
Off the back of the miss, the visitors pushed for a goal themselves to get back into the contest with a good block from Pipa diverting Kadeeem Harris’ effort from a tight angle inside the box on to the side-netting.
In the final 20 minutes, both sides began to cancel each other out as the Terriers looked to see out the game.
Despite that, it was Town who went closest in the final minutes, as an excellent whipped cross from Mbenza just evaded the run of Jaden Brown at the back post.
In the closing stages, former Terriers Elias Kachunga, Jordan Rhodes and Izzy Brown were all introduced from the Owls bench whilst Álex Vallejo replaced Mbenza for his Town debut on 83 minutes.
Vallejo put in a valiant cameo in the final minutes to help Town close out the game and seal a second win on home soil in the space of four days.
Next up for Town is a trip to the Vitality Stadium to face Sky Bet Championship leaders AFC Bournemouth on Saturday 12 December; 3pm kick-off.
HUDDERSFIELD TOWN (4-3-3)
Ben Hamer; Harry Toffolo, Naby Sarr, Rarmani Edmonds-Green, Pipa; Jonathan Hogg (c) (Juninho Bacuna, 35’), Lewis O’Brien, Carel Eiting; Josh Koroma (Jaden Brown, 61’), Fraizer Campbell (Danny Ward, 83’), Isaac Mbenza (Álex Vallejo, 83’)
Unused subs
Ryan Schofield; Alex Pritchard, Adama Diakhaby, Aaron Rowe, Kieran Phillips
SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY (4-5-1)
Joe Wildsmith; Moses Odubajo, Julian Börner (Liam Palmer, 21’), Tom Lees, Dominic Iorfa; Adam Reach, Barry Bannan (Izzy Brown, 85’), Massimo Luongo (Joey Pelupessey, 46’), Callum Paterson (Elias Kachunga, 80’), Kadeem Harris; Josh Windass (Jordan Rhodes, 80’)
Unused subs
Cameron Dawson; Joost van Aken, Matt Penney, Fisayo Dele-Bashiru
REFEREE
Keith Stroud
