Town starting XI; Smithies, Dixon, Clarke, Gerrard, Hunt, Ward, Norwood, Southern, Clayton, Novak, Beckford.
Huddersfield started the liveliest of the two games and soon enough Beckford was causing the visitors problems as Hunt played him in behind the back four only for his cross to be deflected wide for a corner. Southern could well of given the terriers the lead with just five minutes on the clock as his headed effort was cleared off the line by a Watford defender. The game was already looking scrappy as Troy Deeney shrugged the strong Anthony Gerrard off the ball before the Liverpudlian was forced to recover and put in an impressive block.
Italian Marcos Cassetti was playing on the right wing for Watford and was causing Town a lot of problems. In the 20th minute he got his first shot away on Smithies goal after cutting inside Paul Dixon and unleashing a fierce shot which whistled wide of the goal. Peter Clarke allowed Fernando Forestieri to get the better of him two minutes later as he broke the offside trap before but could only swing his effort wide of the mark.
Watford were growing with confidence as the game went on but they were given a serious knock back when Oliver Norwood gave the terriers the lead. Jermaine Beckford played a pivotal role in the opener as he drew the foul from Almen Adbi which gave Norwood the opportunity to shoot from the resulting free kick. Norwood smashed in the free kick which couldn't be stopped by former Arsenal goalkeeper Almunia even though he managed to get a full hand to the ball but could only push the ball into the corner of the goal.
Watford still were playing slightly better than Town but nearly went two behind as Jack Hunt chipped over the Watford defence for Novak to collect but Almunia kept his side in the game with an impressive low save.
Half Time: Huddersfield 1-0 Watford
The visitors came out after the interval in full flow and were often pushing Huddersfield onto the back foot. The ever dangerous Forestieri gave the terriers a scare as he created some space for himself only to slice his effort way wide of Smithies goal. It took up until the 60th minute for Huddersfield to create their first chance of the second half once again through Oliver Norwood. His effort on goal was deflected clear by Watford before new boy Beckford fired straight at Almunia.
Watford got a deserved equaliser in the 69th minute as Forestieri shot from the edge of the area only for it to get a big deflection off skipper Peter Clarke which gave Smithies no chance in goal. Grayson brought on Alan Lee & Scott Arfield whilst taking off Jermaine Beckford who received a warm applause as he left the field of play. The game slipped into the final ten minutes and what a final ten minutes it was.
Firstly, Watford took the lead when some poor defending from the terriers allowed Fitz Hall to tap in at the back post. The game looked past Huddersfield Town now but literally 30 seconds later Alan Lee levelled things up with a superb headed goal after Novak's excellent cross. The game had swung in the terriers favour and it was now them that were looking likely to get all three points but just a minute later Forestieri dived to the ground in the penalty box to win the Hornets a penalty.
The decision looked very harsh as Forestieri was obviously playing for the penalty but there was contact and after talks with the linesman, the referee pointed to the spot to the disgust of the home fans. Deeney stepped up to smash the penalty in and give Watford the lead. The visitors saw the game out very well as the terriers suffered their first home defeat in the Championship this season.
Full Time: Huddersfield 2-3 Watford
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