Huddersfield Town 4-1 Swansea City: Terriers thrash Swans to end winless run

Huddersfield won 2-1 at the Liberty Stadium in October and completed their first league double over Swansea since the 2006/07 League One campaign.

Huddersfield Town earned a first win of 2021 to boost their Championship survival hopes as they thrashed promotion hopefuls Swansea City 4-1.

The Terriers ended a run of eight games without a win as three goals in seven second-half minutes stunned the Swans.

Lewis O'Brien put Huddersfield 2-1 up before a Duane Holmes double, including a stunning second, made the game safe.

Conor Hourihane's free-kick just before the break levelled for Swansea after Fraizer Campbell's opener.

Huddersfield, who rise to 18th in the Championship, completed a first league double over the Swans in 14 years thanks to a win they fully merited for an energetic and entertaining display.

Swansea's defence has been impressive all season with only 19 goals conceded in 29 games, but six of those goals have come against Huddersfield who coasted to victory after their goal blitz, especially as the Swans were reduced to 10 men when sub Jordan Morris was taken off on a stretcher.

It completed a bad day for the Swans who had been buoyed by the news that second-placed Brentford had lost for the third successive match in the early fixture at Coventry, with Steve Cooper having the luxury of naming an unchanged team and bench from Wednesday's win over Nottingham Forest.

The visitors had won three on the spin heading into this game, in contrast to Huddersfield, whose alarming form has seen them slide towards the Championship relegation zone.

Carlos Corberan reacted to Tuesday's defeat at Middlesbrough by making two changes, with Alex Vallejo and Aaron Rowe coming in to replace Alex Pritchard - who was on the bench - and the injured Isaac Mbenza.

Mbenza joined a lengthy list in the Huddersfield treatment room with Carel Eiting, Rolando Aarons, Josh Koroma, Danny Grant, Danny Ward and Christopher Schindler, while Harry Toffolo missed out through suspension, only increasing the size of the hosts' challenge.

However, Huddersfield began the contest with excellent intensity as they pressed Swansea all over the field, with the approach paying dividends on 22 minutes when Campbell found the corner of the net after Pipa's cross found him unmarked in the area.

Juninho Bacuna then rattled the post from 25 yards with Swansea goalkeeper Freddie Woodman beaten, while Andre Ayew shot straight at Ryan Schofield in a rare moment of respite for the Swans.

Bacuna tested Woodman with a free-kick while the busy Swans goalkeeper also had to be at his alert best when he rushed out to deny Duane Holmes.

Swansea defender Jake Bidwell came close to levelling when his header was cleared off the line, but the hosts would have felt more than worthy of a half-time advantage before they were hit by a sucker when Schofield was beaten at his near post by a clever Hourihane free-kick.

Hourihane caught Schofield unaware and the goalkeeper will surely feel he could have done better, but that should not take away from the quick thinking of the on-loan Aston Villa midfielder, who has been nothing short of a revelation for the Swans since his arrival.

However, Swansea were not level for long with the hosts taking the lead on 48 minutes when O'Brien fired home from the edge of the penalty area after Campbell's neat touch teed him up, with the shot deflecting in via a slight deflection off substitute Ben Cabango.

The Terriers then went 3-1 in front with Swansea's normally impenetrable defence torn to shreds by Rowe's precise pass that released Holmes to finish from inside the penalty area.

Holmes, who had only scored once all season, on 28 November against struggling Wycombe, looked relieved to have ended his goal drought and within three minutes he was on the scoresheet again thanks to an absolutely stunning strike from outside the area as he cut inside on his right foot.

Morris' injury added to Swansea's woes and the hosts easily held on.

Swansea remain fourth with games in hand, but missed the chance to move into the automatic promotion spots.

Huddersfield boss Carlos Corberan said:

"I think it was really important for us to win today and also the way that we did it.

"Swansea are a team who play well and have a good coach and play positively.

"We played with a lot of determination and courage and lots of quality, especially in the second half.

"When you have a negative experience, such as conceding just before half-time, the key thing is the confidence to bounce back.

"I cannot find one player today who didn't complete the game in the way we wanted."

Swansea boss Steve Cooper said:

"We've only got ourselves to blame for today, if you don't do the basics, at both ends of the pitch, then it can cost you.

"The goals from Huddersfield were obviously good finishes, but the areas that they got into were ones we worked on a lot to try and prevent them getting into.

"The game was quickly out of sight in 10 or so minutes after the break.

"We were second best today and in this league, players can hurt you and that's what happened.

"It might be fatigue but I'm not going to use that as an excuse."