DON’T MESS WITH US - DAN
Terriers triumph in Forest battle...
HUDDERSFIELD manager Danny Cowley praised his side’s “minerals” after snatching victory from a badtempered contest.
Goals from Christopher Schindler and Steve Mounie made it four games without a win for Forest, who pulled one back through Joe Worrall.
But it was matters off the field that took centre stage as players and staff from both sides engaged in a series of niggly bust-ups.
Trevoh Chalobah appeared to stand on Samba Sow, who retaliated by flattening Elias Kachunga. Several more Terriers players were clattered.
Cowley and Forest counterpart Sabri Lamouchi then had a blazing row as staff and players rumbled in the tunnel at halftime.
More ructions followed, with Tiago Silva shoving Jonathan Hogg through an advertising hoarding – injuring a ball girl in the process – before Ben Watson cleaned Hogg out from behind.
And after six minutes of injury time had ticked over, both benches erupted into an extended bout of handbags, with Watson and Cowley seemingly at loggerheads.
“There was me thinking it was Christmas and good will to all men,” quipped Cowley, whose side are now unbeaten in three.
“Look, these things happen in football. They were pretty physical. They wanted to kick us. Our physio has probably been on the pitch seven times in the first half. That’s fine.
“But in that moment, you have two choices. You either step back or you step forward. And nobody is coming here and bullying us. We stood up for ourselves today, and I’m proud
of the players for that. You have to have minerals, you have to have substance. This is Championship football. It’s dog-eatdog and only the fittest survive.
“Sometimes you can play. Sometimes you have to fight. And nobody is coming here for an easy ride. Nobody will steamroller us.”
On his own bust-up with Lamouchi, Cowley said the Frenchman had got the wrong end of the stick.
“I was a bit disappointed with their staff,” he added. “There was a little bit of disrespect. But these things can happen in the heat of the moment.”
Amidst the carnage, a game did briefly break out. For 30 minutes, it was dominated by the visitors, who made inroads through rampaging right-back Matty Cash and the deceptively skilful Sammy Ameobi.
But having failed to capitalise on their possession – and hampered their own cause with a string of daft fouls that allowed Huddersfield players to hit the deck – Forest were struck by a sucker punch. It came from an unlikely source, centre-back Schindler lancing a superb volley into the top corner after Mounie had met Karlan Grant’s precise corner. Shortly after the break, another Grant corner doubled the advantage. This time it was Mounie who scored, leaping above the static Worrall to head home at the back post.
Briefly, Huddersfield threatened to cut loose. Hogg was imperious in the centre. Juninho Bacuna in sparkling form. But wasteful finishing from Grant and Mounie cost the home side a third and after Worrall headed home a Joe Lolley corner, the visitors came roaring back.
Braver. More incisive. Sharper on the ball. By the end Huddersfield were hanging on for dear life and only a brace of wonderful stoppage-time saves from Kamil Grabara denied Lolley and Cash. From the resulting corner, Tobias Figueiredo glanced a free header wide from no more than six yards.
“We came here with good intentions to get some points,” said Lamouchi, whose side slip to ninth. “We started in a good way. We created some chances. We deserved to score first, but we need to be more efficient in the box.”
On the various altercations, however, he refused to be drawn. He went on: “This can happen. There was a lot of tension. I was surprised, but it was nothing special.”