TOWN ................... 1 Town stunned in
Like Joe Lolley on the right, gave no real support to Chris Lowe down the left-hand side with Town too often punished Izzy Brown (for Philip Billing, 54) - David Wagner’s side looked much more balanced with the Chelsea loanee on the pitch - 6 Sean Scannell (for Joe Lolley, 54) - A solid return to the side but the damage was already done before his introduction - 5 DAVID WAGNER’S Huddersfield Town side fell to a heavy SkyBet Championship defeat to an in-form Fulham side at the John Smith’s Stadium.
The Cottagers have now won their last four league games, scoring 13 goals in the process, as they continue to surge towards the play-off places.
But despite Fulham’s impressive display, it is hard to ignore Huddersfield Town’s own ineptitude in a performance with was uncharacteristically littered with individual errors from a number of their main men.
Yet it could have been so different as Chris Lowe sent the home fans into raptures with an early penalty before the Cottagers replied with a shell-shocking four goals in the space of 30 first-half minutes.
Despite a worrying run of form of just four wins in the last 10, Town remain firmly in the play-off picture and a win away at Wolverhampton Wanderers tomorrow will still guarantee their place in the top six.
Ahead of the Fulham game, Wagner made three changes to the side which drew at Derby County on Easter Monday, with the German head coach receiving the prematch blow of top-scorer Elias Kachunga being unavailable due to illness.
Philip Billing came in for the forward while Jonathan Hogg replaced Dean Whitehead – the duo starting in the centre of midfield with Aaron Mooy adopting the advanced ‘number 10’ role.
Tommy Smith, rested at Pride Park, also returned in place of Martin Cranie while there was the welcome sight of Chelsea FC loanee Izzy Brown’s name on the substitutes bench after recovering from a knee injury sustained away to Bristol City on March 17.
Buoyed by the fervent home support, Town started with intensity and purpose and were rewarded for their early endeavours in the fourth minute when referee Andy Davies awarded a penalty after Chris Lowe was brought down in the box by Fulham forward Floyd Ayité.
The superb movement which led to the spot-kick, a long searching ball from the back by Michael Hefele, nodded on by Rajiv van La Parra into the path of Lowe, was matched only by the German fullback’s clinical conversion past Fulham’s Marcus Bettinelli into the bottom right corner of the net.
The already deafening decibel levels cranked up another notch with the goal, but Fulham reacted by showing the resolve which had made them one of the in-form sides in the league as they made a late surge towards securing a playoff place.
Scott Malone’s low cross in the 15th minute found Ryan Sessegnon, who blazed over the bar when he should have done better.
And if that was a warning sign it