Huddersfield Town 1-3 Preston North End: Preston get first Championship win in five games
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Will Keane doubled Preston's lead over Huddersfield just before half-time
Preston ended their four-match winless streak with a comfortable Championship win against pallid Huddersfield.
Goals from Alan Browne and Will Keane resulted in the Terriers being booed off by their home fans at half-time, and prompted a triple substitution by manager Darren Moore.
Those alterations briefly changed the flow of the game as Danny Ward headed in his first of the season to give fourth-bottom Huddersfield hope of getting something from the game.
Any chance of that was blown away by another slick Preston goal, Ben Whiteman stroking the ball home from 20 yards to bring the hosts' four-match unbeaten run to an end.
Preston are having a rollercoaster season, making the early pace at the top with six wins and a draw from their first seven games, but then dipping badly with a seven-match streak without a victory.
They levelled off another slump with a stubborn goalless draw at Norwich at the weekend, and in Huddersfield they found obliging opponents as they hunted their first three-point haul since they won at neighbours Blackburn on 10 November.
They began at pace, skipper Browne hacking a scruffy volley wide and then loudly appealing for a penalty when he seemed to be fouled in the box.
It mattered little as Preston re-routed the attack and Browne was on the end of Duane Holmes' cross to give his side the lead inside three minutes.
Huddersfield's response lacked conviction, Josh Koroma curling one effort over the bar and then being thwarted by Whiteman's well-timed challenge as he was poised to pull the trigger.
Preston were slicker and sharper, and the home side survived another big penalty appeal as Ched Evans went down under a challenge from Tom Lees.
The Lancashire side doubled their lead as the excellent Liam Millar ran from his own half down the left flank, attracting three defenders, and then slipped a pass to Keane, who slid his shot through the legs of goalkeeper Chris Maxwell.
Moore was clearly unhappy, hauling off Lees, Koroma and Josh Austerfield during the interval, with Ben Wiles, Yuta Nakayama and Jaheim Headley replacing them.
That sparked some life into the home side as Preston were penned back for the first time, and when Matty Pearson arrowed a cross to the far post Ward expertly placed his header out of goalkeeper Freddie Woodman's reach.
It was a false dawn as Preston, who moved down a gear in the second half, still had enough left to secure the points as Millar again made inroads and fed Holmes, who laid it sideways for Whiteman to pass the ball into the bottom corner.
That kept Preston pressing for a play-off place, while Huddersfield will drop into the bottom three if QPR keep their recent revival going at home to Plymouth on Wednesday.
Huddersfield manager Darren Moore told BBC Radio Leeds:
"I'm not happy - not happy with the way we started the game, not happy with the energy and obviously going a goal down in the first two minutes, you can't be happy with that.
"We made a change at half-time because we had to get some impetus back into the game. Wardy scored his goal and we're back in the game, and we had a 10-15-minute spell where it looked like we were getting back in the game and forcing Preston back.
"The disappointing thing was that on the third goal, with the shot, and trajectory of the ball, that it ended up in the back of the net, which I didn't expect to see.
"That seemed to knock the wind out of our sails, they went into a low block and we found it difficult to break them down.
"I could have made changes 20 minutes into the game."
Preston North End boss Ryan Lowe told BBC Radio Lancashire:
"The performance was different class, from start to finish. Every single individual, and collectively as a team, were fantastic. The goals were well-worked.
"That was the plan, to get right after them early doors. We knew we'd have large parts of possession, and the lads executed the team plan to a tee.
"I've always had faith that the boys could do that as they've shown it before. Some people might have doubts, and that's fine, but for what we are and what we're trying to do, it's pleasing."