Town lose first home game in five as Cardiff dominate first half
- Huddersfield Town 0-4 Cardiff City
- Three goals before half-time for away side
- First defeat at home in five for Town
Three goals for Cardiff City before the break condemned Town to their first home defeat in five Sky Bet Championship games.
It was an unfortunate start for the Terriers, with Cardiff City going ahead inside two minutes after Callum Robinson saw an audacious backheel inside the box deflected into the corner of the goal, leaving Lee Nicholls helplessly rooted to the spot.
Town responded well to the early setback, creating two big chances inside a minute after dominating possession after the restart.
The first fell to Kian Harratt following a free-kick taken by Jack Rudoni, with Michał Helik almost providing the headed assist. In space, Harratt’s first touch took him wide of the goalkeeper at an acute angle, and he couldn’t finish past him at the near post.
Moments later, the ball was worked wide with pace to Sorba Thomas who drilled in a low cross into the box. Making a run across the penalty area, Delano Burgzorg went for the first time strike but mistimed his effort and the ball ran past him.
Creating a third chance a short time later, the Terriers had a corner on the far side as a result of a blocked Thomas cross, and he took the corner himself. With the ball recovered in the box, Harratt and Pearson exchanged passes before finding Burgzorg, who shifted inside to beat a man before firing wide.
Despite being well on top, it was Cardiff who then doubled their lead from a corner. Taken by captain Joe Ralls, central defender Dimitris Goutas met the ball in the centre of the box and headed past Nicholls.
The majority of the first period then passed without much incident. Dominating the ball, Town were unable to find much space in the final third as Cardiff dropped deeper to defend, comfortable with their lead. One area of joy was down the right, with Rudoni and Thomas combining to good effect, but none of their crosses - or those subsequently blocked for corners - lead to any chances of note.
Still able to hit the Terriers on the break, Josh Bowler saw a couple of left footed efforts well saved by Nicholls after cutting inside, with Meite and Grant also doing their best to run in behind and cause problems for Town’s backline.
With the game looking to be dawdling to half-time, Cardiff snatched their third of the game, and a second from a Ralls corner. With the ball not fully cleared, Meite was able to smash home from close range to extend lead.
With four minutes of added time indicated, Town created a final chance of the half, with Headley feeding Nakayama wide on the left to cross. His ball was inch-perfect for Rudoni to meet with his head, but the midfielder wasn’t able to hit the target, missing wide to the left in the final meaningful action before the break. Before blowing the whistle, the referee found time to produce a yellow card for Helik, who had been disputing a foul called against him.
Ringing the changes during the interval, Town introduced Tom Lees, Tom Edwards, Josh Koroma and Kyle Hudlin, with Matty Pearson, Jaheim Headley, Ben Wiles and Delano Burgzorg making way. Cardiff began the second half unchanged.
Koroma made himself busy straight away, winning the ball back out wide and dribbling into the box, with his strike hitting the legs of a defender. Edwards then showed his own urgency, battling for the ball back and getting it to Kian Harratt via Sorba Thomas, who shot wide.
Venturing forward for the first time in the half, Cardiff were awarded a free-kick around 25 yards away, which defender Perry Ng then stood over. Shooting over the wall, his well-struck effort curled into side netting past Nicholls, who was at full stretch, making it four.
Town didn’t let their heads drop completely, still attacking and looking for ways back into the game even when well behind. Josh Koroma provided one excelled cross of note following a cleared corner that found Jack Rudoni in the middle of the box, but his headed effort was straight at the goalkeeper who gathered with ease.
Still looking to string passes together inside the final 15 minutes, one move resulted in captain Jonathan Hogg firing a ball into Kyle Hudlin, who turned well on the edge of the box and fired with his right boot, catching the ball well. Going just wide of the left hand upright, it was the type of opening that Town created too few of on the night.
Entering the final 10 minutes, with the result all but a certainty, the intensity dropped from both sides. Reduced to shots from range and set pieces, the closest Town came before full-time was a header from Helik at the far post following a Sorba Thomas corner that was cleared off the line by the away side, with a brilliantly struck drive from Jack Rudoni a few minutes later denied by the underside of the crossbar when the goalkeeper was finally beaten.
A night to forget for Town, our next fixture in the Sky Bet Championship is a trip to Elland Road to face Leeds United on Saturday 28 October in the West Yorkshire Derby.
Town’s Team (3-5-2)
Nicholls; Pearson (45’ Lees), Helik, Nakayama; Thomas, Wiles (45’ Koroma), Hogg, Rudoni, Headley (45’ Edwards); Harratt, Burgzorg (45’ Hudlin)
Unused Subs
Chris Maxwell; Rarmani Edmonds-Green, Brahima Diarra, Ben Jackson, Josh Austerfield
Bookings
Michał Helik 45+4’
Gate
16,780 (289)
