It all comes up roses as Wagner rings changes

A ROSES match between two previous FA Cup winners offered an easier passage into round four for Huddersfield than their German manager David Wagner anticipated.

The Premier League club, victors way back in 1921-22, made eight changes for the trip across the Pennines but progressed against four-time winners Bolton courtesy of a scrappy, quickfire double at the start of the second half.

Substitute Rajiv van la Parra stabbed in at the near post from a corner to provide a 51st-minute lead at the Macron Stadium.

Then, 60 seconds later, Danny Williams’s deflected long-range effort rendered Derik’s headed response futile.

‘To be honest, I expected more difficulty because we had so many players who had never played as a unit together,’ said Wagner. ‘If you think about this, this was a very professional, very solid performance.’

Huddersfield had eight changes from their latest Premier League outing — the New Year’s Day defeat at Leicester — which included a debut for on-loan Monaco defender Terence Kongolo alongside Michael Hefele, returning from a three-month absence due to an Achilles operation.

But Bolton, whose fight against relegation from the Championship has taken an upturn over the past month, had their own troubles to overcome with serious injuries to Darren Pratley and Karl Henry plus the recall of Josh Cullen by West Ham, forcing Phil Parkinson to select a makeshift central midfield of Derik and Josh Vela. And, according to Parkinson, they were also hamstrung by the failure of referee Roger East to penalise Abdelhamid Sabiri’s lunge on David Wheater in the build-up to Williams’ strike that was redirected into the net off Wanderers centre-back Mark Beevers.

‘The lad’s gone right over the top of the ball and the state of Wheater’s leg - he’s very, very lucky to not have a serious injury.

‘I’m going to ask the referee how he’s missed it because it was right in front of him,’ Parkinson said.

‘It’s cost us a goal that’s probably cost us a replay.’