THE VERDICT: TOWN 1 SOUTHAMPTON 3 Town rue mistakes as home chance slips
TOWN RATED POSSIBILITY OF RELEGATION LOOMS LARGE AS TERRIERS CEMENTED TO FOOT OF LEAGUE TABLE
ELIAS KACHUNGA: (Bacuna, 65) Made a couple of decent half breaks. 4
COLLIN QUANER: (Mbenza, 81) Couple of decent touches and runs. 4
NOT USED: Ben Hamer, Adama Diakhaby, Laurent Depoitre, Jon Gorenc Stankovic HUDDERSFIELD Town suffered a mistake-ridden 3-1 home defeat to Southampton and are firmly anchored in the Premier League relegation zone.
Apart from a spell after Philip Billing rifled in their 58th-minute goal, Town were largely second-best to the visitors and went down to a seventh defeat in 10 home games and fifth on the trot
Without knee injury victims Jonathan Hogg and Aaron Mooy, the quality of the direction-less first-half display, in particular, will not be good enough for David Wagner’s side to avoid the relegation trap door.
They rallied, which said something for the enduring team spirit, but Nathan Redmond - who opened the scoring before a Danny Ings penalty and Michael Obafemi’s second-half clincher - continued to cause problems with his pace and trickery.
The alarm bells are well and truly ringing for Town ahead of the January transfer window and Wednesday’s. trip to Old Trafford to face Manchester United.
Head coach Wagner made the expected change up front with Steve Mounie - available after a three-match ban - replacing Laurent Depoitre.
On-loan wingman Isaac Mbenza also got a first Premier League start since the 3-0 defeat at Watford almost two months ago, replacing Jonathan Hogg in a midfield reshuffle.
Hogg was ruled out by a knee injury, joining Mooy, Danny Williams, Abdelhamid Sabiri and Tommy Smith on the sidelines.
Ramadan Sobhi and Rajiv van La Parra, who has a back niggle, were not in the squad.
After some early surges, Jonas Lossl was called into action to turn away a low cross by Matt Targett and, when a half clearance fell to Oriol Romeu, the Danish keeper was alert to smother his 25-yard drive.
Chris Lowe was booked by referee Stuart Attwell for diving after a coming together with Romeu shorty afterwards, while Jannik Vestergaard - a Danish teammate of Zanka and Lossl - was seeing plenty of the ball for Southampton.
In the 16th minute, Southampton struck a hammer blow.
The ball was lost in midfield and, as Dane Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg looked to pass forward, Terence Kongolo missed the through ball and Redmond fired high into the net past Lossl.
The Saints were on a high, and continued to raid dangerously from deep, with new boss Ralph Hasenhuttl applauding his approval from the technical area.
Town’s fans were keen to see a positive response, but their best efforts were coming to nothing while Southampton looked threatening on the counter - the home sections venting their frustration as the half-hour mark loomed, with the visitors showing excellent defensive organisation and resolve.
In the 33rd minute, scorer Redmond managed to wriggle away from Kongolo and fire a shot just over the bar. It wasn’t a threat, but it illustrated how Town needed to step up.
They did, with a couple of attacks earning corners, but clear openings were hard to come by and Southampton made Town pay.
With 41 minutes gone, Attwell punished a trip by Zanka on Ings with a penalty, and the lively forward stepped up to send Lossl the wrong way from the spot.
Having been booed off a half time by a crowd of 23,284 (1,348