Cardiff City 3-1 Huddersfield Town
- Published
Kenwyne Jones paved the way for Cardiff City to beat Huddersfield in their first home game of the season.
The striker forced home a rebound after his initial shot was saved for his first goal, then doubled his tally with an unstoppable close-range effort.
Peter Whittingham opened Cardiff's account with a wonderful long-range strike before Jones doubled their lead.
Murray Wallace gave the Terriers hope from a corner just before half-time but Jones pounced again to seal victory.
Huddersfield arrived at Cardiff City Stadium after the turmoil of last weekend, which had seen them crushed 4-0 at home by Bournemouth and then lose manager Mark Robins after just one game of the season.
Caretaker boss Mark Lillis led the Terriers to a morale-boosting midweek Capital One Cup win at Chesterfield, but faced a stern test at one of the Championship favourites.
Cardiff had started their season with a draw at Blackburn and a cup win against Coventry, but were eager to make their mark in their first home game of the campaign.
Huddersfield did not look short of spirit as they matched the Bluebirds chance for chance in the early exchanges.
But Cardiff took control with two goals either side of the half-hour mark.
Mats Moller Daehli had been an increasing threat after moving from wide left to the point of a midfield diamond.
A desperate challenge dispossessed the Norwegian as he jinked goalward, but his midfield partner Whittingham picked up the loose ball and unleashed a brilliant 25-yard left-foot shot into the far corner of the net.
Jones doubled Cardiff's lead soon after; his initial shot from John Brayford's excellent cross was saved by Alex Smithies but the striker stabbed in the rebound.
However, the visitors struck back in first-half injury time to give themselves hope.
Cardiff failed to clear a corner and defender Wallace made the most of the confusion to shoot home through a crowd.
Huddersfield continued to press after the break and Radoslaw Majewski drew a good save from David Marshall, diving smartly to his left to push the ball away.
Cardiff rode the pressure and a counter saw Adam Le Fondre and Whittingham work the ball to Daehli, who laid the ball off for Jones to smash the ball over Smithies.
The Huddersfield keeper denied Jones his hat-trick with two decent saves from headers, before the Trinidad and Tobago striker left the field to a standing ovation when he was replaced by Javi Guerra.
Cardiff City manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer:
"Kenwyne Jones has been working hard this summer. He's still not fit enough to play 90 minutes but he does cause the opposition problems.
"He can get fitter and we're still working on him but he's a big lad and it's hard work. It's natural because he came to us in January having played no football whatsoever.
"Now he's worked this summer, he's had a full pre-season and it's a different starting point for him."
Huddersfield caretaker manager Mark Lillis:
"The third goal was tough to take because we came in at half-time and felt we could get a result. But the pleasing thing for me at 3-1 was that we kept trying to play and get back into the game.
"Unfortunately we haven't got any points on the board and what happened last week was new to me in football.
"But we've got to get on with it. The good thing is that there is a spirit in the camp and no-one has downed tools."
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