Huddersfield Town collapse at West Brom feels like a kick in the face they must not repeat

That Huddersfield Town went two goals up in the 74th minute and came away just thanking their stars they didn’t end up losing says it all, really.

Yes, the penalty West Bromwich Albion were given to pull it back to 1-2 after Danny Ward’s brace was never a spot kick in a million years, with Sorba Thomas making no contact on Alex Mowatt with his high boot inside the box as Town defended a corner.

But Town were still winning at that point, even after Karlan Grant (of course it was) stepped up to find the bottom corner. They still had the opportunity to ensure that injustice didn’t matter to the end result.

Instead, they panicked in the face of mounting pressure from West Brom, who scented that a second goal was in the air. And who better to pluck it out of the air, less than a minute later, than super-sub Andy Carroll, who got up superbly to nod into the back of the net.

A point away at a newly-relegated Premier League side may not be a bad result out of isolation, but the circumstances behind it here make it feel like a kick in the face. Which is more than Mowatt felt, but there we go.

This was the second time in five days that Town have gone away from home, taken the lead, and then not seen it out. Their FA Cup exit has already been practically forgotten about, and they may well go on to make sure these two dropped points are irrelevant in their promotion push – though any dropped points are a significant blow to their faint automatic promotion hopes.

But they won’t get away with doing this too many more times. You can argue that Nottingham Forest are a team on the up, that West Brom have loads of talent in their side despite their recent form – but Town have too many more games to come against good opposition to just