Huddersfield Town FC News, Match Reports, Forums and more

Huddersfield Town and Derby County shared the spoils in an eight-goal thriller at the John Smith's Stadium.

Play-off hopefuls Derby took the lead when Tom Ince lashed in a long-range effort only for Town to score three goals in eight minutes to go in 3-1 at the break.

But the Rams fought back to draw level in the second half and Ince salvaged a point after Nahki Wells put the Terriers 4-3 in front.

Town could find themselves hard done by as they had three second-half goals chalked off.

The draw was more damaging for Derby as a win would have all but secured a play-off spot and they now need one more win to guarantee a place.

Town manager Chris Powell stuck with the same XI that drew with Brighton on Tuesday evening but Harry Bunn was back from injury and was given a place on the bench.

Young midfielder Philip Billing was also given a place on the substitute bench in the only changes to the matchday squad.

Derby boss Steve McClaren was forced into an early change when Craig Bryson was hurt and was replaced by Simon Dawkins.

Ince had earlier tested Alex Smithies with a free-kick but he made no mistake on 16 minutes with a 25-yard rasping drive that found the top corner.

Ince went close with another long range effort before defender Zak Whitbread was forced off and replaced by Cyrus Christie.

Conceding an early goal seem to spark Town into life and midfielder Oscar Gobern equalised on 38 minutes. Christie was caught in possession by Conor Coady, who then played a delightful chipped ball into the area for Gobern to chest down and fire into the back of the net.

The Derby defence called for handball which was ignored by referee Dean Whitestone.

Four minutes later Town took the lead when an unmarked Mark Hudson planted a header into the back of the net from Reece James's corner.

James then grabbed his first goal for the Terriers since his loan move from Manchester United in March when the left-back scored directly from a corner in first-half stoppage time.

Whatever McClaren said at the break worked as after just six minutes of the restart Simon Dawkins pulled one back for the visitors.

Prior to that Town had a goal disallowed from a corner after the referee judged Joel Lynch to have fouled Lee Grant.

The linesman then ruled out another Town goal as Wells was ruled to be offside after Grant had saved Miller's initial shot.

All three officials had an inconsistent game, particularly referee Whitestone.

On the hour mark Derby drew level when Jesse Lingard low shot from the edge of the area squeezed into the bottom corner.

Grant denied Miller again but he could't stop Wells putting Town 4-3 in front. Ryan Shotton gave the ball away which led to Sean Scannell racing towards goal and Wells was there to capitalise after Miller's shot was blocked.

But Town couldn't hold on as Derby cranked up the pressure and the defence backed off to allow Ince to score his second of the afternoon with 10 minutes remaining.

Both sides continued to search for the winner as the clock ticked towards the 90 minutes and Hudson went close to grabbing his second goal of the match from a Town corner in added-on time.

Teams:

Huddersfield Town: Smithies, Smith, Hudson, Lynch, Scannell, Gobern, Coady (Hogg 81), Butterfield, James, Wells (Bunn 88), Miller.
Subs not used: Murphy, Edgar, Wallace, Lolley, Billing.

Derby: Grant, Shotton, Keogh, Whitbread (Christie 27), Warnock, Hendrick, Hughes (Russell 79), Bryson (Dawkins 9), Ince, Bent, Lingard.
Subs not used: Roos, Forsyth, Ward, Sammon.

Attendance: 15,889.
Referee: Dean Whitestone.