By Nathan Findlay –
Sky Bet Championship – Saturday 22nd January 2022
Reading F.C 3 – 4 Huddersfield Town
Lucas João (5′)
Puscas (22′)
Morrison (45′)
Sinani (9′)
Ward (15′, 25′, 53′)
A seven-goal thriller and Danny Ward hat-trick leave Huddersfield with three points in the bag!
Match Highlights
Reading started their game off fast and left no room for Huddersfield with a goal coming in after only five minutes from Lucas João.
The Terriers responded rapidly, however, with the equalizer coming in only four minutes later from Danel Sinani. These fast goals set the tone for the rest of the half.
Just a few minutes later we saw the third goal of the game come from Danny Ward in the 15th minute to give Huddersfield the lead which they were looking for.
This time it was Reading’s time to fight back and they got their equaliser in the 22nd minute, bringing the game to 2-2.
Miraculously, the pace of the game only intensified from there, and Huddersfield found themselves back in front just minutes later with another goal from Danny Ward, this time cleaning up after the Reading keeper spilt what was otherwise a routine catch.
Just before the break, Reading equalised once more with a deflected header from a corner, and the team went into the tunnel with things all square.
Despite the shaky defence, It’s safe to say this has been one of Huddersfield’s strongest attacking halves of the season so far and it was clear that they weren’t about to roll over.
Huddersfield quickly found themselves on the front foot once more after the second half kicked off.
In games where there is a lot going on in the first half, things can normally change dramatically for the second half after all the players have taken a break. However, the Terriers kept up the press and in 55th minute they were rewarded with a third and final goal from Danny Ward, securing his hat-trick and the three points for Huddersfield.
Remarkably, this was Huddersfield’s first hat-trick since 2014, which was coincidently also scored by Danny Ward.
Thoughts
Overall, I think that this was a brilliant result for the Terriers and one that should stick with them coming into these next games.
Huddersfield did not give up at any stage in the game and stuck it out all the way until the final whistle.
As of this brilliant result, Huddersfield have won their last five games out of seven, and haven’t lost since November 27.
The three points put the Terriers 6th in the table and with a total of 44 points, just one shy from West Brom, those both teams above and below have games in hand.
Next Game
Huddersfield will be taking on Stoke City for a Friday night kick-off at the John Smiths Stadium (19:45 KO), another strong side who seem to be closely following the pack which are moving to get into the promotion area.