Huddersfield Town vs Millwall. Sky Bet Championship.
The John Smith's StadiumAttendance17,717.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Huddersfield and Millwall at the John Smith's Stadium as Yuta Nakayama scored early to seal an important win for the Terriers.
Saturday 29 October 2022 18:40, UK
Huddersfield moved off the foot of the Sky Bet Championship table with a dominant display in a 1-0 win over Millwall.
The travelling Lions, who had won four on the trot heading into the fixture, suffered an early setback and failed to recover.
Yuta Nakayama opened the scoring in freakish fashion inside nine minutes with a miscued cross handing his side an unassailable lead.
The struggling Terriers rallied to tighten their grip and nearly notched a second when Sorba Thomas struck the post.
But their inability to double the advantage was left unpunished as Mark Fotheringham oversaw his second victory as Huddersfield's new boss.
The hosts, who had won one of Fotheringham's first six games in charge, began positively and were soon rewarded.
Full-back Nakayama notched his second goal in English football when his wayward cross looped over a wrong-footed George Long.
Despite sitting bottom of the table prior to the fixture, Huddersfield quickly assumed control of the tie against their high-flying opponents.
Teenager Etienne Camara came close to securing a first senior goal but his fierce strike from the edge of the box only stung Long's palms.
The Terriers were then left bemused as to how they failed to double their lead in the 23rd minute.
With Lions goalkeeper Long in disarray, Jack Rudoni was left with the freedom of West Yorkshire, but his header was blocked inadvertently by team-mate Danny Ward.
Huddersfield's dominance continued through to the interval, mainly thanks to the introduction of Duane Holmes.
The United States international first tried his luck from range before teeing up Thomas, whose header rebounded off the foot of the post.
A dismal Millwall display was summed up in the 44th minute when Andreas Voglsammer registered his side's first effort with a speculative strike from distance.
Despite the half-time break, the hosts' threat was not swayed as they emerged for the second period in the ascendancy.
An influential Holmes advanced forward and teed up Ward in a promising position, but the latter's strike curled wide.
The former was then felled by Billy Mitchell in the area and had valid claims for a penalty, but his appeals were waved away by referee Stephen Martin.
Huddersfield continued to look the likelier source of the game's second goal and Rudoni came close when his venomous strike whistled narrowly over.
But it was Millwall who nearly struck a shock leveller when Tyler Burey redirected a George Honeyman cross goal-bound, only for Lee Nicholls to save on the goal-line.
The visitors then sprung into life in the final stages as they threatened to capitalise on the Terriers' wastefulness in front of goal.
However, the hosts held on for a much-needed victory as they leapfrogged West Brom and moved off the bottom of the Championship.
Huddersfield's Mark Fotheringham: "I'm really satisfied with the group and their endeavour and work ethic today - it's given us a good platform to build on. They're really starting to grow as a group and we just need to bring a calmness to everything and not get too disappointed if we lose.
"All we want to do this season is stay in the league because we know the club's in a transitional period. The players have never lost confidence at any time and they're really focused on their training and it's coming to fruition. I want fit and aggressive players and from front to back we looked solid. We're making ourselves a hard team to play against now; we're looking very strong."
Millwall's Gary Rowett: "They're fighting for their lives and we knew it'd be a tough game if we didn't do the right things. We've had four wins on the bounce and, as a manager, you always have that concern in the back of your mind about these types of games.
"You have to hand Huddersfield credit; I thought they worked incredibly hard and they looked like a team absolutely desperate to get that win. Second half, we were better, but again we didn't put good balls into good areas, and we went too direct in the last 10 minutes."
