Watford 1-4 Huddersfield Town
- Published
Substitute Danny Ward scored a hat-trick to help Huddersfield Town finish the season on a high and end Watford's 10-game unbeaten run at Vicarage Road.
Joe Lolley, making his full debut, opened the scoring for the visitors by shooting home just after half-time.
Ward's low drive doubled the Terriers' advantage, and the midfielder finished instinctively to make it 3-0.
His hat-trick came from a curling free-kick before Troy Deeney netted a late consolation from the penalty spot.
Watford came into the game having lost just once at home in 2014, a 1-0 defeat by Reading, external on 11 January, but they were blown away by the Terriers in the second half.
Striker Lolley broke the deadlock almost straight after the interval when he intercepted a pass, twisted and turned his way past Watford's defence before firing home.
And he set up the second for Ward, who powered into the box and struck a low drive which squirmed under the body of home goalkeeper Jonathan Bond.
Lolley, who joined Huddersfield from non-league Kidderminster Harriers in January, also had a hand in the visitors' third when he knocked the ball into the path of Ward, who finished well.
Ward, who had come on in the 30th minute, completed the first hat-trick of his professional career with three minutes remaining when he curled a free-kick between the post and Bond for his 10th goal of the season.
The scoring was not finished, though, and Watford netted a consolation in injury time when Deeney converted from the spot after Peter Clarke was penalised for a foul following a corner.
Victory meant Huddersfield finished 17th in the table, with Watford four places and seven points higher.
Watford boss Beppe Sannino: "I'm here just to put my face in front of everybody because I'm the head coach, the leader of the group.
"I'm sorry because we did finish this season in front of our supporters in the worst, worst manner possible.
"I don't like to speak about my players because it would be easy to speak when there is a good moment and also when there is a bad moment."
Huddersfield boss Mark Robins: "We were excellent from start to finish, I thought we controlled it as well as we could.
"Alex (Smithies) made a couple of good saves before we eventually took the lead. The first half was a little bit of a cagey affair but I thought in the second half we were good value for a win.
"I didn't see four goals coming from it but Danny Ward's got a hat-trick, I'm absolutely delighted for him, Joe Lolley's got his first goal for us and I thought his debut was outstanding and it was a good game for him to come into and perform."
- Published2 May 2014
- Published1 May 2014