Huddersfield Town were beaten 5-2 by Blackburn Rovers in the Sky Bet Championship.
Rovers’ Adam Armstrong and Ben Brereton had put the hosts two ahead before a Ryan Nyambe own goal saw Town halve the deficit going into the break.
After the interval, the home side stretched their advantage and secured the three points in doing so, courtesy of Sam Gallagher and two more from Armstrong, before Josh Koroma’s late consolation on a disappointing afternoon for the Terriers at Ewood Park.
Carel Eiting was one of four changes to the side from the one that started against Barnsley in midweek. The Dutchman, who made his return to the pitch in that game having completed his recovery from a knee injury, came in for his first start since January.
Pipa and Harry Toffolo also returned to the starting XI in the full-back positions having missed the game in midweek, with Danny Ward the fourth and final switch for the game at Ewood Park.
When the game got underway in the bright sunshine in Lancashire, it was the hosts who got onto the front foot first with winger Ben Brereton having the game’s first opportunity.
Having been slipped in behind the Town defence, Brereton saw his drilled shot across the goal superbly tipped behind by Ryan Schofield.
But from the resulting corner, Rovers took the lead. The ball fell to Adam Armstrong who was in the right place at the right time to nod in the opener under the crossbar.
One nearly became two shortly after as the hosts continued their quick start on home turf. Schofield again had to get down to deny Brereton before the latter sliced a huge opportunity wide of the goal.
The Blackburn winger did get his goal however, shortly before the midway point in the first half. Sam Gallagher broke on the counter with pace before squaring to Brereton who converted to double the advantage.
As the half ticked on, Town began to gain more control in the game and went close to hitting back through Danny Ward.
The forward got past the defender before firing his low strike into the side-netting from the right side of the penalty area.
Before the end of the half, the Terriers did breach the Blackburn defence to halve the deficit. Good work from Josh Koroma forced Ryan Nyambe to turn a low cross into the back of his own net under pressure from Lewis O’Brien.
But after the break, the hosts wasted little time in restoring their two-goal lead. This time, Brereton powered forward and squared for Armstrong who converted past the sliding Richard Keogh on the line to make it 3-1.
That lead was extended further when Gallagher raced onto a cutback moments later and beat Schofield with a fierce strike from the edge of the penalty area.
Rovers’ free-flowing start to the second half continued when they got a third goal in under 15 minutes to make it 5-1 just before the hour-mark. Armstrong was on the end of the move to slot home his third of the afternoon.
With just over 10 minutes left to play, Naby Sarr cleared from under his own crossbar to deny Blackburn substitute Tyrhys Dolan getting on the scoresheet.
At the other end, Josh Koroma did get his first goal since his return from injury earlier this week. The forward checked inside onto his right foot before bending the ball into the far corner to get the score back to 5-2.
It was a mere consolation for the Terriers however who were condemned to defeat by Tim Robinson’s final whistle soon after, at Ewood Park.
BLACKBURN ROVERS (4-3-3)
Thomas Kaminski; Amari’i Bell, Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Darragh Lenihan (c), Ryan Nyambe (Elliott Bennett, 73’); Corry Evans, Joe Rothwell (John Buckley, 73’), Lewis Travis; Sam Gallagher (Harvey Elliott, 73’), Adam Armstrong (Tyrhys Dolan, 73’), Ben Brereton
Unused subs
Aynsley Pears; Lewis Holtby, Barry Douglas, Jacob Davenport, Tom Trybull
HUDDERSFIELD TOWN (4-3-3)
Ryan Schofield; Harry Toffolo, Naby Sarr, Richard Keogh (Rarmani Edmonds-Green, 64’), Pipa (Aaron Rowe, 56’); Jonathan Hogg (c) (Scott High, 68’), Lewis O’Brien, Carel Eiting (Duane Holmes, 56’); Juninho Bacuna (Rolando Aarons, 56’), Danny Ward, Josh Koroma
Unused subs
Joel Pereira; Richard Stearman, Sorba Thomas, Yaya Sanogo
REFEREE
Tim Robinson
