Town come from behind to secure three points!
- Watford 1-2 Huddersfield Town
- A first win under Head Coach André Breitenreiter
- Substitute Danny Ward grabs both goals
Town’s first game under new Head Coach André Breitenreiter ended in victory, with a brace from substitute Danny Ward securing a come-from-behind 2-1 win at Watford!
The Terriers should have been ahead after a good first half performance but didn’t score and were made to pay when Emmanuel Dennis put the Golden Boys ahead before the hour mark.
However, Breitenreiter introduced Danny Ward to the game and the experienced striker continued his excellent scoring form at Vicarage Road by netting a brace in front of the travelling fans to secure an important win.
Town’s first game under the new Head Coach saw a change of shape to a 3-4-1-2, with Jack Rudoni playing behind a front two of the returning Delano Burgzorg and Josh Koroma. With Sorba Thomas travelling home for personal reasons, David Kasumu returned to play on the right of the four.
The Terriers enjoyed the better of the opening half, taking only three minutes to test our former goalkeeper Ben Hamer for the first time. Burgzorg did well to lever big centre back Wesley Hoedt off the ball before playing the ball into Koroma’s feet, and his powerful shot from wide on the right forced the Watford goalie into action.
The high press that we’ve deployed under caretaker boss Jon Worthington recently was still on display – it’s a feature of Breitenreiter’s teams too – and it almost paid dividends in the 12th minute when an errant pass was forced in the Watford half. Burgzorg seized upon it before driving to the edge of the box and although his shot was partially blocked by a defender, Hamer was a relieved man to watch the ball wildly spin inches wide of his left-hand post.
Town continued to make the running, much to the frustration of the home supporters, and Rudoni was soon sent crashing to the ground right on the edge of the Watford box courtesy of Edo Kayembe. Up stepped Koroma, but opposition midfielder Ismael Kone managed to deflect the shot over the bar with his body.
Watford boss Valerien Ismael was clearly unhappy with how the game was progressing, as he made a double change after just 27 minutes. Another former Town man entered the fray as part of that in Tom Ince.
However, Town continued to create. Brodie Spencer’s lovely pass inside Pollock set Burgzorg away down the left and the Dutchman drove down the outside of the recovering defender before firing in another low shot, which Hamer turned around his near post.
Watford’s first foray forward of note came after the half hour when Pollock headed a Ken Sema corner comfortably wide under pressure from Spencer.
At the other end, Rudoni’s tame effort – created by a great infield pass from Burgzorg – was tame and easily dealt with.
The final 10 minutes of the half were more even, and Watford’s best chance was created in the 41st minute when Asprilla found Ince’s run into the box. Nicholls got two strong hands to his shot, but still had to hold his breath as the ball cannoned off the recovering Matty Pearson before dropping just wide of goal.
Town made the first chance of the second half when Burgzorg held up a ball forward from Lees and turned it into the path of Rudoni, but the man with bleached blonde hair placed his curling effort wide of the post from around 20 yards out.
Unfortunately, Watford then scored with their first genuine effort on goal. The ball was worked into the box, where striker Emmanuel Dennis had time to side-step the last-ditch attempt at a tackle by Tom Lees before rifling the ball into the roof of the net from extremely close range.
That goal unsettled Town for around 10 minutes, and Watford’s substitute striker Mileta Rajovic soon miscued a couple of presentable chances off target as the home side looked for a second.
Former Town man Ince also missed the target with two first-time efforts following deliveries from our right side.
Breitenreiter made changes, introducing Ward, Wiles and Edwards to the fray, and credit to the players, who regrouped to equalise in the 73rd minute.
The move came down our left, with some patient passing eventually working Yuta Nakayama into space. He looked up and delivered a well-placed cross onto the head of Ward, who had ghosted between the Watford centre backs. Wardy made no mistake, powering the header past Hamer’s right side and into the corner.
Town didn’t settle for the draw. First Wiles and Burgzorg combined on the break and went inches away from putting the midfielder clear, with Delano’s cross into the middle just having too much on it for the Rotherham man.
Wiles then whipped an audacious effort just over the bar from a wide position after a cross-field ball from Pearson.
Then, in the 83rd minute, Ward scored the winner. Massive credit to Tom Edwards, who hadn’t featured for the First Team since October; he worked the slightest of space on our right to fire a good low ball towards the six-yard box, where Ward cleverly got across his man before poking the ball across Hamer and into the far corner.
The referee added eight minutes on at the end of the game, but Town saw the game out in calm fashion before Breitenreiter and the squad celebrated the win with the travelling faithful.
Town’s team (3-4-1-2)
Lee Nicholls; Matty Pearson, Tom Lees, Yuta Nakayama; David Kasumu, Alex Matos (Tom Edwards, 68’), Jonathan Hogg (c) (Ben Wiles, 62’), Brodie Spencer; Jack Rudoni; Delano Burgzorg (Brahima Diarra, 86’), Josh Koroma (Danny Ward, 62’)
Unused substitutes
Chris Maxwell, Giosue Bellagambi; Bojan Radulovic, Pat Jones, Ben Jackson
Town bookings
David Kasumu (73’), Brodie Spencer (81’)
Get your ticket for André Breitenreiter's first home game against Leeds United last Saturday - click HERE to buy yours online now!
