West Bromwich Albion vs Huddersfield Town. Sky Bet Championship.
The HawthornsAttendance23,577.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash at The Hawthorns
Sunday 22 September 2019 15:02, UK
West Brom came from behind for the sixth game in a row to keep up their unbeaten start with a 4-2 win over basement Huddersfield.
The Baggies trailed twice to Lewis O'Brien's first Terriers goal 15 minutes in, and a smart Karlan Grant finish after Matty Phillips had side-footed in a rapid equaliser.
But the second half was a contrasting affair as the hosts turned on the style to score three goals, with the introduction of Grady Dianagana at the break playing a major part. Darnell Furlong powered in a header from a corner before Phillips completed the turnaround with another placed finish.
And Semi Ajayi then sealed victory three minutes from time, meaning Huddersfield are still looking for their first win since February 26, while the Baggies have now picked up 15 points from losing positions from eight games this season.
Huddersfield embraced a new era under Danny Cowley, looked confident, and given their opponents' recent slow starts it was no great shock when O'Brien gave them the lead, after exchanging passes with Fraizer Campbell and slotting into the far corner for his first Terriers goal.
West Brom had been here many times before - and knew how to bounce back. Furlong, who would prove a menace down the right flank all game, nutmegged Terence Kongolo on his way into the box before pulling the ball back for Phillips to beat Kamil Grabara from 12 yards.
That gave the hosts a new spring in their step but they were caught out attempting to play out from the back by Elias Kachunga, who played the ball in behind Furlong from the right to find Grant, and he netted his fifth goal of the season with 10 minutes to go before the break.
Slaven Bilic's half-time introduction of Dianagana, who he had dropped for Filip Krovinovic, turned out to be an inspired change as the Baggies dominated from the restart, although it took them 25 minutes to finally get level, when Furlong powered in a header from the West Ham loanee's cross.
The comeback was complete five minutes later and again he had a part to play. After jinxing his way into the Huddersfield box he beat a couple of challenges before pulling the ball back for Phillips, who was unmarked and fired under Grabara.
There was still time for more late on and Ajayi headed home Matheus Pereira's late corner to give the scoreline the gloss West Brom deserved on the balance of play.
Slaven Bilic: "I'm pleased with the points, the reaction, but not the first half. It's not because we were losing, although it normally comes from that, I wasn't happy with the passing which was too slow.
"It gave them too much time to regroup. They were better to the second balls, but the second half was much better. I was in their [Danny Cowley's] position at one of my old clubs. I told the players, when you are down there, you train the whole week and it looks good, and you think it'll be that week - but if you hit the wall, you drop down."
Danny Cowley: "We stuck to the gameplan, for 60 minutes we're 2-1 up and in a good place, but we probably played for the end and got negative when it went 2-2. We gave the ball away too often and allowed them to get some sustained pressure.
"We made some baby steps this week, but only baby steps. We had some players really fighting hard, but not all. That gives us something to work with going forward. Winning is a skill, and on a losing run you can forget it. We've been working hard in training to train that skill, but you have to manage the moments in games and we didn't do that well enough in the second half."
Furlong was tasked with getting forward by Bilic and he made more chances than anyone else on the pitch, racking up an assist and a goal in an afternoon where he was often the hosts' most useful attacking outlet.
Cowley attempted to put Kongolo tight to him second half but even that had limited effect, and while he will have more taxing afternoons defensively, and was partly at fault for Grant's goal, he offered more going forward than many right-backs will manage this season.
