Huddersfield Town 2-1 Blackburn Rovers: Naby Sarr scores late Terriers winner
- Published
Huddersfield went in front eight minutes into the second half
Huddersfield defender Naby Sarr netted twice - including a last-minute winner - as his side overcame Blackburn to record a fifth consecutive home victory.
Sarr nodded home Isaac Mbenza's corner early in the second half, but Rovers seemed to have secured a point when substitute Sam Gallagher levelled four minutes from time.
However, Town's Senegalese defender then grabbed his second with a cool left-foot finish, latching onto Pipa's through ball and firing into the roof of the net.
Huddersfield's win enabled them to climb to 12th place in the table, leapfrogging Rovers, who slip to 14th.
In a slow start, Harvey Elliott was unable to convert a couple of half-chances for the visitors, whose rhythm was disrupted when on-loan Norwich midfielder Tom Trybull went off injured after just 10 minutes.
Yet Adam Armstrong should have put Blackburn in front, pouncing from close range after Bradley Johnson's shot had been blocked - only for goalkeeper Ryan Schofield to fling out his left arm and pull off a remarkable stop.
Ryan Nyambe set up Armstrong again soon afterwards, but the striker rifled into the side netting while, at the other end, Thomas Kaminski denied Juninho Bacuna at his near post.
It was as close as Huddersfield came to scoring in the first half, but they rectified that eight minutes after the restart when Sarr rose to head Mbenza's corner into the net.
Mbenza and Harry Toffolo went close to extending the Terriers' advantage, but Blackburn made a raft of substitutions, which paid off when Armstrong broke and fired a shot that Schofield could only parry for Gallagher to slot in the rebound.
Yet Town renewed their push for a winner and gained their reward in the 90th minute as Pipa's delicate chip into the box picked out Sarr, who controlled and finished to seal the points.
Huddersfield head coach Carlos Corberan told BBC Radio Leeds:
"For me, the level of effort from the team was again very, very high and we got three points that the team deserved.
"We created enough options to score a second goal before they scored. We couldn't stop the goal they scored today, but at the end the team showed a very high level of character and personality to score the second one.
"These two things he (Sarr) did were very important for the team. Of course when a centre-back scores two goals it's not the most common thing in football, but I cannot miss any player on the pitch because we needed them all to get three points today."
Blackburn boss Tony Mowbray told BBC Radio Lancashire:
"The dressing room's a pretty angry place at the moment. I'd suggest people didn't do their jobs, really, just tracking the runner.
"It was a good goal from them but a pathetic goal for us, to be honest. We have to take it on the chin - it's done now."