Huddersfield Town vs Middlesbrough. Sky Bet Championship.
The John Smith's Stadium.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Huddersfield and Middlesbrough at the John Smith's Stadium as Josh Koroma's late goal sealed victory for the Terriers on Saturday afternoon
Saturday 28 November 2020 18:11, UK
Huddersfield sealed their first win in five games with an entertaining 3-2 victory over Middlesbrough at the John Smith's Stadium.
The Terriers went behind to Marvin Johnson's early strike but two goals before the interval turned the game on its head.
Carel Eiting equalised and then Fraizer Campbell made it 2-1.
Britt Assombalonga thought his late penalty had earned a point for Boro, but Josh Koroma's fine strike sealed the points for Town.
The visitors started on the front foot and almost took advantage of some dawdling on the ball by Juninho Bacuna. He had his pocket picked in his own box and the ball fell to Assombalonga who fired into the side netting.
The Boro skipper then inexplicably blazed over from a few yards out - surely a contender for the miss of the season so far.
Johnson flashed a ball into the box and Assombalonga only had to apply the finishing touch from two yards out but somehow skied it over the bar.
Boro's dominance finally paid off on 14 minutes when they opened the scoring through Johnson.
A poor goal kick from Town was hunted down by the visitors. Marcus Tavernier picked it up centrally and then slipped in Johnson, who rifled home at the near-post.
Boro were causing the hosts all sorts of problems, with Assombalonga and Johnson the main protagonists.
Despite their dominance, it was still only a one-goal lead and against the run of play Town somehow found themselves 2-1 up at the break.
First, Eiting swept the ball home from the edge of the area after he was teed up by Koroma.
Then, Lewis O'Brien pressed George Saville on halfway and pinched the ball off the Boro man.
He then fed Campbell who composed himself when through on goal and squeezed a shot past Marcus Bettinelli.
The second half was slow to get going, with Middlesbrough much less of an attacking threat than when they started off.
A nice attacking move from Town almost resulted in a third goal for the hosts on the hour mark but Koroma was thwarted by Bettinelli as he dashed towards goal.
Boro had offered little going forward after the restart but thought they had sealed a point late on when Naby Sarr conceded a penalty after bringing down Jonny Howson in the box.
Assombalonga stepped up and confidently fired it home to make it 2-2.
But their joy was short-lived as Koroma sealed the points for the hosts on 85 minutes with a sumptuous, curled effort into the bottom-right corner.
Huddersfield's Carlos Corberan: "Today we showed lots of character to dig in and win the three points. We didn't start well and we were facing a team with the least amount of goals conceded in the Championship so we knew it would be tough.
"But we went in front and we were comfortable in the second half. We then had a test of our character after the penalty but we came through against what was a physical side."
Middlesbrough's Neil Warnock: "The game should have been over after half an hour really. It was a big disappointment for us to go in 2-1 down at the break - it was a travesty. But silly mistakes led to their goals. We had so many opportunities to put the game to bed. And then when we did get it back to 2-2 they go down the other end and score again.
"We should have had a stonewall penalty with a minute to go and when you watch back it was a penalty. But we made errors and when you make mistakes you get punished, like we have today."
