A second half turnaround saw Huddersfield Town beaten 2-1 by Preston North End at the John Smith’s Stadium.
Fraizer Campbell had given the Terriers an early lead but two quickfire strikes from Alan Browne shortly after the interval put the visitors ahead.
Town also finished the game a man down after Naby Sarr was dismissed for bringing down Emil Riis Jakobsen who was through on goal late on.
Town’s Head Coach made two changes to the side that overcame Derby County on the same pitch on Tuesday evening.
Captain Christopher Schindler returned to the starting XI alongside Lewis O’Brien who was making his first start of the season for the Terriers.
Going into the encounter off the back of two wins earlier in the week, it was Town who put in the more confident and free-flowing start in the drizzly West Yorkshire rain.
With the majority of the opening five minutes being played in the visitors’ half, the Terriers were looking dangerous in attacking areas with alert goalkeeping from Preston ‘keeper Declan Rudd required to cut out through balls directed into the path of first Juninho Bacuna, and then Fraizer Campbell.
The man in the Lilywhites goal got the better of the battle with Town’s no.22 on the first occasion, but second time around it was Campbell who won the race to get the Terriers off to a lightning quick start.
The forward met Lewis O’Brien’s inch-perfect pass through the Preston backline before sliding the ball under the ‘keeper to give Town an eighth minute lead on his 200th career start in English league football.
He nearly made it a double moments later, nodding Harry Toffolo’s cross from the left goal-bound but just wide of the far post.
After a quick start, the visitors began to grow into the encounter themselves, with Scott Sinclair slicing a good opportunity wide from inside the box with their first real chance of the contest.
Moments later, Naby Sarr’s superb sliding block stopped Emil Riis Jakobsen getting the Lilywhites level, with Patrick Bauer heading wide from the resulting corner.
At the other end, it was Pipa who nearly doubled the Town lead. The Terriers full-back cut in from the right and curled an effort goalwards on his weaker left foot, producing a good diving save from Rudd to keep it out.
After the break, it was Carlos Corberán’s side who went close with the first chance of the half. After Juninho Bacuna had done well to win a free-kick outside the box, Isaac Mbenza’s effort beat the wall but fell just on the wrong side of the post.
A frantic five minutes followed in which the visitors completed a quick turnaround to take the lead.
Preston Captain Alan Browne cut in from the left and found the bottom corner to level the scores on 51 minutes before he doubled up moments later, capitalising on a mis-communication at the back to give the Lilywhites the lead.
As the game ticked over the hour mark, two last-ditch efforts stopped the visitors from extending on their lead.
First, it was Sarr who got back to take the ball off the toes of Brad Potts before Richard Stearman’s goal-saving tackle prevented Riis Jakobsen from finding the net.
The task of getting back into the game was made harder, when Town were reduced to 10 after Sarr was sent off for pulling down Riis Jakobsen who was through on goal.
Despite being a man down, the Terriers continued to rally and could have had an equaliser but were twice denied by Rudd, who stretched well to tip both Josh Koroma’s and Pipa’s efforts round the post.
In the five minutes of added time that followed, Town’s Spanish full-back again found himself in an attacking area and hit the post with what turned out to be the Terriers final attempt on goal as the visitors saw out the game to claim all three points.
Next up for Town is a midweek trip to St. Andrew’s to face Birmingham City in the Sky Bet Championship on Wednesday 28 October 2020; 7.45pm kick-off.
HUDDERSFIELD TOWN (3-5-2)
Ben Hamer; Naby Sarr, Christopher Schindler (c) (Adama Diakhaby, 58’), Richard Stearman; Harry Toffolo, Jonathan Hogg, Lewis O’Brien (Carel Eiting, 58’), Juninho Bacuna, Pipa; Isaac Mbenza (Josh Koroma, 71’), Fraizer Campbell
Unused subs
Joel Pereira; Alex Pritchard, Demeaco Duhaney, Romoney Crichlow
PRESTON NORTH END (3-4-1-2)
Declan Rudd; Andrew Hughes, Patrick Bauer, Jordan Storey; Joe Rafferty, Ryan Ledson (Josh Harrop, 90+1’), Brad Potts, Alan Browne (c); Daniel Johnson (Sean Maguire, 84’); Scott Sinclair (Tom Barkhuisen, 72’), Emil Riis Jakobsen
Unused subs
Connor Ripley; Tom Bayliss, Jayden Stockley, Paul Huntington
REFEREE
Josh Smith
