West Bromwich Albion 1-0 Huddersfield Town: John Swift on target from penalty spot

John Swift put West Brom in front from the penalty spot after half-an-hour at The Hawthorns

Huddersfield Town remain deep in Championship relegation trouble after John Swift's penalty earned Carlos Corberan's West Bromwich Albion victory against his former side.

The Baggies went in front on the half-hour mark when Conor Townsend was bundled over in the box by Matty Pearson.

Swift slotted home from the spot and the hosts had further chances to stretch their lead in a dominant first half.

Neil Warnock's men created a few openings in the second half but West Brom goalkeeper Josh Griffiths was largely untroubled throughout.

The game was West Brom manager Corberan's first league match against Huddersfield since leaving the club at the end of last season after taking them to the play-off final.

His side have now won nine of their past 10 games at The Hawthorns and move up to eighth, three points outside the play-off places, while Huddersfield, who remain 23rd and six points from safety, have failed to score in six of their past seven games.

It was the Terriers who created the first opening of the game on 16 minutes when Ben Jackson sent in a corner that was met by Tom Lees but the centre-back sent his header narrowly over the bar.

The Baggies got their noses in front from the penalty spot after 30 minutes when Townsend was felled by Pearson, giving Swift the opportunity to tuck the ball into the bottom corner.

Baggies striker Daryl Dike was straight into the action in the second half and made room for a shot after collecting Jed Wallace's cross, but Michal Helik got back to make a vital last-ditch block.

The former Barnsley striker then tested Tomas Vaclik shortly after the hour mark when he connected well with Darnell Furlong's cross but the Terriers goalkeeper held the effort.

The visitors were struggling to create openings but a nice turn by Jack Rudoni led to a chance for Josh Koroma but his volley was held comfortably by Griffiths.

Helik sent an overhead kick wide following a late Jackson free-kick as goal-shy Huddersfield went a fourth game without a win.

Baggies boss Carlos Corberan told BBC WM 95.6:

"It was a competitive game. In the first half the team was playing very good football and understanding the specific aspects of this game.

"We had many set-pieces and created many opportunities and the key was stopping any counterattacks. Until the last minute the game was not done and we had to have the right mentality to get the result that we wanted.

"We are thinking game-by-game but it's true the momentum is good at home and it is building confidence and belief."

Huddersfield manager Neil Warnock told BBC Radio Leeds:

"I thought they [the Huddersfield players] did well today. We worked on a system and I think we negated all their threats really and we had some great chances. You need one or two of them to get you points on board but I can't fault the effort. There were no shirkers today.

"It was a stupid penalty and that's cost us the game, they didn't have to work for that and I couldn't see them scoring. It's difficult, we've got to score goals and it's hard to see where they're coming from at the minute.

"In this league if you can put teams under pressure and get a goal against them it's amazing what it can do psychologically, but we've never been in that situation. That's four games without a goal now so we've got to get some goals."