Huddersfield Town 1-0 Millwall: Terriers climb off bottom with victory

Huddersfield's Yuta Nakayama struck the only goal from out wide

Huddersfield climbed off the foot of the Championship after an impressive win over Millwall on Saturday.

Town's first win in four came off the back of a much-improved display by Mark Fotheringham's side.

The only goal came from a speculative long-range strike from Yuta Nakayama inside the opening 10 minutes

It ended a run of four straight wins for Gary Rowett's Lions who slip out of the play-off places.

Fotheringham made one change with Ben Jackson recalled in place of Duane Holmes, while Rowett also made a single switch with Charlie Cresswell replacing Shaun Hutchinson.

Japan international Nakayama broke the deadlock on nine minutes when he curled in a high ball from the left-hand side that beat everyone, including keeper George Long, and curled inside the post.

Jack Rudoni lashed over the crossbar from just outside the box five minutes later while Long had to deal with shots from Etienne Camara and Nakayama's far-post shot was blocked as the hosts piled on the pressure in one of their best spells of the season so far.

Long dived to keep out a drive from Holmes, who came off the bench to replace the injured Ollie Turton on the half-hour and influenced proceedings down the left. The Terriers came even closer on 38 minutes when they broke forward and Sorba Thomas got on the end of a deep cross from Holmes on the left only to see his header come back via a combination of Long and his post.

Andreas Voglsammer's speculative effort just before the interval was the first real action for Town keeper Lee Nicholls to deal with, while in stoppage-time Long made a meal of a Nakayama cross and the ball had to be hacked clear.

After a stop-start first 20 minutes of the second half Holmes drove forward before slipping in Danny Ward who sent his first-time shot narrowly off target.

Holmes saw frenzied appeals for a penalty dismissed before Rudoni flashed a long-range effort over the bar and Ward saw another effort deflected wide after a good run from Rudoni.

Nicholls had to be alert to deny Tyler Burey at the end of a mazy run in the dying moments while the Terriers endured eight minutes of added time before the full-time whistle sounded.

Huddersfield celebrate their win over Millwall

Huddersfield head coach Mark Fotheringham told the club's social media team:

"I'm really proud of the lads. They've worked so hard all week and today and they've given our fans a performance to be proud of. We have to build from clean sheets, and that's three in my period here now.

"I thought the back four was really solid, and our young lads - the likes of Etienne Camara and Ben Jackson - really stood up to be counted."

"We've never lost our confidence at any point. You don't score three at Luton, beat Hull, or get a point at Middlesbrough unless you're a good team. I've kept reinforcing that with the players."

Millwall manager Gary Rowett told BBC Radio London:

"It was one of those games where we didn't really have the spark that we needed. They started quite brightly, on the front foot, like you'd imagine a team fighting for their lives at home are going to do.

"They certainly had a bit of fortune with the goal - I think that's a cross that went in the far corner. A bit of fortune like that is enough to allow you to then sit in and allow you to counterattack, which they did well.

"It was a difficult game for us and at those points we have to show a little more quality. I don't think we had enough attacking moments in the second half where we made it count."