HUDDERSFIELD TOWN 1, WEST BROM 0
Rajiv van La Parra become only Huddersfield Town’s fourth goalscorer in the Premier League when he scored just before the break following a controversial refereeing decision.
There was more drama for Town when Chris Schindler was sent off for a second booking early in the second half leaving the depleted Terriers to battle with the Baggies for their points.
Victory, although hard fought, took the Terriers up to 15 points from 11 games – back up to 10th, but left the Baggies precariously close to the relegation drop zone.
Two years after Chris Powell was sacked, Huddersfield Town were struggling in the Championship but they found themselves above today’s opponents, West Brom, in the Premier League after a decent start in a game which the Terriers needed to win to believe in their mission to stay up this season.
Current boss David Wagner took over the reins on November 5, 2015 and despite three straight defeats at the start of his tenure including a 3-0 humbling at the John Smith’s Stadium by arch rivals Leeds United in his first game in charge he secured a 19th place finish in the 2015/16 season.
The German then led them to the playoffs and subsequently promotion against the odds to the Premier League in the following season, a stunning achievement considering that the Terriers had one of the smallest budgets in the Championship.
Wagner opted to make three changes from the side that was beaten 3-0 at Anfield and he rotated both full backs and reshuffled his midfield.
Florent Hadergjonaj was given his first Premier League start in place of club captain Tommy Smith at right back while Chris Lowe was replaced by Scott Malone and Elias Kachunga replaced Danny Williams.
The Baggies were their usual organised selves, having named five defenders protected by three holding midfielders in their side, but despite Town having more of the ball in the early stages of this game neither side could create a clear chance until Tom Ince forced Ben Foster into a low save at the back post with a speculative 20 yard shot.
Rajiv van La Parra had earlier tried to win a penalty with a theatrical looking fall after being tackled by Kieran Gibbs in the area.
Ince missed two more chances in the first period, a wild shot from Mooy’s corner going well wide and over the bar while another speculator was easy for Ben Foster to collect.
Rodriguez finally tested Town’s keeper Jonas Lossl in the 37th minute but his effort was tame – perhaps it was little surprise that the Baggies fans had resorted to chanting “Attack! Attack! Attack!” towards their players to remind them that they could do something other than stifle the Terriers who had beaten Manchester United on their last game at the John Smith’s Stadium.
Rajiv Van La Parra’s moment of quality wins it for battling 10-man Huddersfield Town
Aaron Mooy inevitably started the move that broke the deadlock, with a pass to Van La Parra who made room for another Town move that ended with a cut back from Scott Malone allowing the Dutchman space to lob Ben Foster with a sweet right footed looping shot from 25 yards out – what a way to open his Premier League account with the Baggies keeper rooted to the spot!
There was controversy over a free kick which was wrongly award to Town after Rodriguez was fouled by Jonathan Hogg leading to the goal but the Terriers had otherwise dominated the contest until that point and the home support began to reverberate in the second half as the tackles flew in until Chris Schindler was given his marching orders in the 57th minute for a second yellow card after diving in on Ahmed Hegazi.
Town’s support stepped up to fill the gap as Tony Pulis had to attack against the depleted Terriers, making a triple substitution with Salomon Rondon, James McClean and Matty Phillips coming on for Hal Robson-Kanu, Gregor Krychowiak, and Gareth McAuley.
Town, having to survive for 33 minutes with 10 men, sacrificed Elias Kachunga and goalscorer Van La Parra for the solidity of Martin Cranie and Danny Williams as the roles were reversed.
Rondon sent a 74th minute header wide as the Baggies piled on the pressure.
And the Venezuelan slipped and collided with Jonas Lossl with ten minutes to go when he tried to chase down a long ball into the area with the Baggies struggling to craft anything that would challenge the young Danish goalkeeper.
Every loose pass and decision against the visitors was cheered towards the end, including six minutes of nail biting added time, in which Town fans witnessed another famous victory after Lossl produced a pair of superb saves to keep out injury time chances for McClean and Phillips.