Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Bristol City and Huddersfield at Ashton Gate as Duane Holmes, Danel Sinani and Danny Ward scored to return the Terriers to winning ways
Saturday 18 December 2021 19:01, UK
Huddersfield came from behind to secure their first Championship away victory since September with a 3-2 win over Bristol City at Ashton Gate.
Play was held up for several minutes by crowd trouble in the second half as missiles were thrown by home fans when the visitors prepared to take a left-wing corner and referee Dean Whitestone signalled both teams to their respective dug-outs while order was restored.
It compounded a bad day for City, who had taken the lead inside two minutes when Alex Scott robbed Levi Colwill on the right corner of the box and the ball broke for Antoine Semenyo to cross for an Andreas Weimann tap-in.
Huddersfield should have levelled almost immediately, but Dan Bentley dived to his left to brilliantly save a Danny Ward penalty after a foul by Zak Vyner on Lewis O'Brien.
The visitors deservedly got on level terms four minutes before the break when Harry Toffolo broke clear down the left and crossed for Duane Holmes to take a touch and confidently slot the ball past Bentley.
Huddersfield struck again with the second half barely a minute old, Daniel Sinani finding the net with a low shot after latching onto a Ward pass.
By the 55th minute it was 3-1, Ward heading in a deflected cross from Sorba Thomas, which left Bentley stranded. It was not until the last of seven minutes of stoppage time that Weimann reduced the arrears, shooting in from a Semenyo cross.
The first half was played at a high tempo with both sets of players hurrying each other into errors.
Bentley saved a low shot from Ward seconds before Vyner conceded the penalty and busy Huddersfield always looked a threat going forward.
City had good chances, Semenyo shooting wide on 20 minutes and having a better effort saved by Lee Nicholls four minutes later.
But it was no surprise when the Terriers equalised as they had lived up to their nickname by snapping into tackles throughout the first half.
City responded, with Semenyo setting up Ayman Benarous, who badly sliced his shot over the crossbar.
Nigel Pearson's team then had to respond to the shock of falling behind straight after the interval. They almost did so when Semenyo fired against a post on 54 minutes.
Ward's goal left City with a mountain to climb. They refused to give up and Han Noah-Massengo's deflected shot was well smothered by Nicholls.
After the hold-up caused by their supporters, City poured forward and substitute Nahki Wells should have pulled a goal back when heading over from Cameron Pring's cross.
Chris Martin's low shot was saved by Nicholls and Weimann's last-gasp strike was too little too late.
Bristol City's Nigel Pearson: "We were very poor through the middle and if you concede goals like we did you are not going to win games.At times we showed courage on the ball and caused them problems, but the defending through the middle let us down.
"The stoppage in the second half was the same for both teams and not a reason why we didn't get back into the game. Our home form had been improving and we will only know how big a setback this is at the end of the season. We certainly have to defend better if we are to make progress."
Huddersfield's Carlos Corberan: "It was a performance of great character. We could have been badly affected by conceding an early goal and missing a penalty. Instead, we responded positively to get a really important result, not least because it was away from home.
"It was good for Danny Ward to score after having his penalty saved and the character of the whole team was challenged by the way we started the game. We hadn't won away for a while and the dynamic of the team is suddenly different as a result of this victory."
