Huddersfield 3-0 Norwich: Terriers cruise into third

Huddersfield kept their automatic promotion hopes alive with three goals in seven minutes to see off Norwich 3-0 in the Sky Bet Championship on Wednesday night.

Elias Kachunga opened the scoring shortly after the hour mark before goals from Aaron Mooy and Nahki Wells followed as the Terriers leapfrogged Reading into third spot.

Meanwhile Norwich, who showed little threat in attack, were dealt a further blow to their play-off chances as they continued their poor away form with a third defeat from their last seven league outings, having claimed just one victory from their last 15 games.

The result means David Wagner's Huddersfield now sit nine points behind second-place Brighton as they look to hunt down a top-two finish, while Norwich remain nine points adrift of a play-off position.

Wagner made four changes to the side which suffered defeat at the hands of Burton at the weekend, as Jonathan Hogg made his first start since sustaining a neck injury during last month's defeat at Bristol City.

Norwich interim boss Alan Irvine opted to bring Timm Klose, Yanic Wildschut and Steven Naismith into the starting line-up after Saturday's defeat away to Aston Villa, in which Ivo Pinto was shown red and a consequent suspension.

The hosts got off to a lively start and came agonisingly close to going ahead after five minutes when Philip Billing unleashed a powerful left-footed strike from the edge of the area, only to be denied by Michael McGovern's post.

Huddersfield, who were looking to bounce back from two consecutive league defeats, enjoyed the lion's share of possession during the first-half and limited their opponents threat in the final third.

But Irvine's men defended well to keep the Terriers at bay and Michael McGovern was on hand to keep out Kachunga's strike in the 15th minute, getting down well to his left to palm away a header at his near post.

Chris Lowe gifted an opportunity to Norwich 10 minutes later when he tripped over the ball, allowing Wildschut to pick it up and run into the box but it was a chance wasted for the visitors as the winger over-hit his kick and failed to test Danny Ward.

Norwich came close to breaking the deadlock in the 39th minute when Cameron Jerome surged into the box to meet Alexander Tettey's low cross before finding the net, but he was ruled offside.

Two minutes later Wells went on an impressive run down the left, pulling away from Ryan Bennett and skipping into the area before being held off by Timm Klose which, had Wells gone down, may have generated appeals for a spot-kick.

McGovern was called upon to keep the score level soon into the second half when Wells met a lovely through ball and skipping into the box, finding himself one-on-one with McGovern, but the Norwich 'keeper ran out of his goal and made himself big to produce the block.

A minute later, Wells took a great first touch before releasing a powerful strike from 25 yards out to produce another save from the Norwich 'keeper.

Jerome found the net once more in the 63rd minute after Wildschut released him inside the area in but again it wasn't to be for the striker, who fouled Christopher Schindler in the build-up.

Huddersfield continued to press deeper and their persistence finally paid off in the 66th minute when Kachunga pounced on a mix-up between defender and goalkeeper when Ryan Bennett left the ball for McGovern who raced off his line late and allowed the striker to slot home into an open goal after meeting Tommy Smith's neat ball over the top.

A second followed four minutes later when Wells played a brilliant one-two with Mooy, who fired the ball into the back of the net to leave City with a mountain to climb.

Wells put the game to bed shortly after when he met a wonderful through ball from Rajiv Van La Parra to tuck the ball behind McGovern to round off a dominant display from the Yorkshire side.

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Huddersfield boss David Wagner:

"I am totally delighted about the performance and I think this was a very strong performance all over the pitch.

"I think we totally deserved the win. Usually we are able to accelerate the game at the end. I'm very proud of what we did today. We don't feel any pressure. We only enjoy what we are doing.

"We look where we come from. We know how hard every single game in the Championship is to win. I think we did a big step to secure our play-off place. We have shown now that we are competitive.

"We trust and believe in what we are doing and I think this is a huge advantage."

Norwich caretaker boss Alan Irvine:

"We went from being in a promising position to caving in and that is something the new manager needs to address. I have been frank with the players and they have said the same among themselves. We cannot cave in like this.

"It's a weakness of character that we've had this season and that must change. Alex (Neil) tried to solve that by changing the personnel because he thought it might be individuals, but it's throughout the team at the present time.

"Whoever comes in will make their own decisions. It appears to be clear what needs to be done but it's someone else's decision."