Huddersfield 1-0 Derby: Juninho Bacuna goal gives Terriers win
- Published
Juninho Bacuna (left) scored six goals for Huddersfield last season
Huddersfield Town continued their good recent Championship form with a narrow victory over struggling Derby County.
The Terriers took the lead through Juninho Bacuna, who finished well after a neat exchange of passes with Harry Toffolo in the area.
Derby nearly grabbed a late equaliser but Matt Clarke's header from Martyn Waghorn's cross hit the post.
The Rams, who were without forward Wayne Rooney because he is self-isolating after being visited by a friend who later tested positive for Covid-19, have now lost five of their six league games this season.
Phillip Cocu's men have scored just two goals in those matches and travel to local rivals, and fellow strugglers, Nottingham Forest on Friday.
There are no such concerns for Carlos Corberan's Huddersfield who have now taken 10 points from their past four matches after losing their first two.
It was the Rams who had the better of the opening period but Ben Hamer made a good save to deny Andre Wisdom and Kamil Jozwiak fired a shot just wide.
Town got the breakthrough shortly after the break when Bacuna played a one-two with Toffolo and finished well for his first goal since February.
Hamer made another good save to deny Duane Holmes before Clarke could only head against the post late on.
The Terriers are up to eighth, while Derby will slip into the bottom three if Barnsley draw or win at Stoke on Wednesday.
Huddersfield boss Carlos Corberan:
"We are very happy with the result because tonight was a very complicated game.
"The most important thing for me is the spirit in this squad, it's really showing now.
"We know that every game is going to be tough. We were expecting that type of game.
"It was very tough. We made mistakes in the first half and it was tough to impose ourselves, but we created the big chance for the goal."
Derby boss Philip Cocu:
"The worst thing we did with this game was our set-plays. It was poor, but I don't think we deserved to lose the game.
"We had lots of corners and free-kicks, but we didn't convert any of those chances to score a goal.
"We need to be more effective in front of goal. We have to pull the trigger and score a goal.
"I think we played pretty well in the first half. I thought we should have been 1-0 up, that's what we needed. After we conceded the goal, though, we were mentally in a hurry."