Huddersfield Town were on the end of a late Bristol City comeback last night as the Robins won 2-1 at the John Smith’s Stadium thanks to goals from Jay Dasilva and Jamie Paterson.
Josh Koroma had fired Carlos Corberan’s side into a 43rd minute lead, with the forward on the end of a sweeping piece of play that involved Fraizer Campbell and Isaac Mbenza.
However, the Terriers struggled to create anything clear-cut from there, as Dean Holden’s bench changed the game for Bristol City.
Antoine Semenyo teed up Dasilva for the equaliser (77), before the goalscorer turned provider six minutes later, teeing up Paterson after Semenyo had hit the post.
There was no Huddersfield fightback from there, with the points heading back to the South West and Corberan left to mull over more dropped points from a winning position.
We take a look at a few Huddersfield talking points here…
They are most vulnerable after conceding
Huddersfield’s previous home game against Preston North End told a similar story to last night: a first-half goal to take the lead, but two quick concessions in the second-half to hand Town a defeat.
Koroma’s goal had Huddersfield pretty comfortable and there was little threat from Bristol City until Holden brought on Famara Diedhiou, Semenyo and Paterson.
From that moment, the game changed and Semenyo teed up Dasilva within 10 minutes of coming on.
The Bristol City forward then waltzed across the Town area and forced Ben Hamer into a decent save; you sensed a winner was coming.
On 83 minutes, it did. Semenyo struck from distance to hit Hamer’s post, with the second phase seeing Dasilva square for Paterson, who lifted the ball into the roof of the net.
Except for a couple of good first-half chances, Bristol City hardly laid a glove on Huddersfield until the 77th minute, but then the floodgates opened in terms of sights of Hamer’s goal.
It’s a vulnerable trait that’s creeping into Huddersfield’s game.
Corberan still learning
The way Corberan has transitioned into first-team management has been superb. Huddersfield’s squad are buying into his ideas and there’s a clear identity when it comes to the side’s style of play.
There have been impressive results along the way. Wins at Swansea City and Millwall are not to be sniffed at, whilst Nottingham Forest and Derby County have come unstuck at the John Smith’s Stadium.
However, we’ve got to remember that Corberan is still learning his trade himself and he’s learning on the job.
Last night, another coaching rookie, Holden, got the better of him. The Bristol City head-coach changed the make-up of his attack, with Diedhiou and Semenyo joining Chris Martin, plus Paterson into the midfield.
Corberan didn’t react to those changes and Bristol City were able to isolate Huddersfield’s centre-backs, with Semenyo escaping Richard Stearman for the equaliser.
At 1-0 on 77 minutes, Huddersfield simply shouldn’t be coming away with nothing from the game.
Closing games out and using his bench to the same effect as Holden is something that needs to start coming naturally for Corberan.
Koroma a shining light
The void that Karlan Grant has left in this Huddersfield side is going to take some filling. He bagged 19 goals for Town and is now spearheading West Brom’s attack in the Premier League.
No direct replacement means that Koroma has his chance at Town. Sometimes he plays through the middle, at other times he plays from the left. Just like Grant.
Last night, Koroma opened the scoring after Mbenza picked him out at the far post on 43 minutes. It was his third goal of the season and second in as many matches following his effort against Millwall.
The 21-year-old is in fine form and, even in the second-half, carried the real threat for Huddersfield in terms of goalscoring chances. He curled over shortly after half-time and put Harry Toffolo into a good position shortly before Dasilva struck.
The youngster might not be fully primed to step into the Grant role, but Corberan looks willing to give him that chance and promising signs have repaid him.
On a disappointing night for Huddersfield, Koroma is shining and looking like a Championship-ready forward.