Town victorious at home
- Huddersfield Town 3-1 Stoke City
- Terriers’ first win of the season
- Goals from Yuta Nakayama, Danny Ward, and Jordan Rhodes
Danny Schofield secured his first win as Huddersfield Town Head Coach on Saturday afternoon, beating Stoke City 3-1 at the John Smith’s Stadium.
A change in formation paid dividends for Town, with a dominant performance seeing Yuta Nakayama, Danny Ward, and Jordan Rhodes all find the back of the net.
The game got off to a bright start, with the opening 10 minutes seeing some superb pressing from the Terriers.
The 12th minute saw Tino Anjorin try his luck with an audacious overhead kick at goal, but it was blocked at point blank range by Aden Flint’s face.
Nine minutes later, Stoke City were handed a penalty after the referee judged Josh Ruffels to have made a foul in the box. Despite the Town fans clear disagreement, they needn’t have worried, as Lee Nicholls made no mistake in saving it! Flying down to his left, our no.21 denied Lewis Baker from the spot, before Jacob Brown hit the post with the follow up.
As the clock showed 28 minutes played, Sorba Thomas whipped in an incredible corner, but nobody was able to get the final touch it needed to go in the far post! Disappointing for Town, as Stoke were completely beaten by the delivery.
The game settled for a period, with Town still looking incredibly aggressive off the ball and getting forward whenever possible.
The Terriers finally got their goal in the 40th minute! Having won a corner, Thomas drilled his corner to the far post, and Nakayama was there, on debut, to fly onto the end of it! Bending himself to make a perfect connection, the Japan international absolutely thundered it past Joe Bursik for his first Town goal.
The second half got off to an end-to-end start, with Stoke upping their attacking intensity, but Town were defending well against them.
The 56th minute saw the visitors equalise through Baker.
As with the first half, the game settled for a period, with Town still getting forward whenever possible.
As the clock showed 73 minutes played, second half substitute Duane Holmes came SO close to being put clean through one-on-one following a poor touch from Ben Wilmot, but the ball was just able to get back to Bursik before Holmes could take control.
Four minutes later, Holmes turned provider to help regain Town’s lead! Starting with a great run into the box from our no.19, he then cut back perfectly for Ward to run onto with his left and finish smartly past Bursik!
Nicholls was booked, harshly, in the 85th minute for time wasting, so Town responded by bagging themselves another goal seconds later!
Holmes was unselfish for a second time, going clean through after a great Jack Rudoni touch, passing it around Stoke’s ‘keeper for fellow second half substitute Rhodes to tap home – just three minutes after his introduction!
Town saw out the end of the game to seal their first Sky Bet Championship win of the 2022/23 season!
The Terriers are back in action on Tuesday 16 August, when they travel to face Norwich City in a 7.45pm kick-off. CLICK HERE to join us!
Town’s Line-Up (3-4-3)
Lee Nicholls; Yuta Nakayama, Tom Lees, Ollie Turton; Josh Ruffels, Jack Rudoni, Jonathan Hogg, Kaine Kesler-Hayden (Will Boyle, 90+1’); Sorba Thomas (Etienne Camara, 83’), Danny Ward (Jordan Rhodes, 83’), Tino Anjorin (Duane Holmes, 64’)
Unused Subs
Jacob Chapman; Jon Russell, Josh Koroma
Town Scorers
Yuta Nakayama (40’), Danny Ward (77’), Jordan Rhodes (86’)
Town Booking
Lee Nicholls (85’)
