Chinese New Year is still a few days away but, as far as the Terriers are concerned, the Year of the Dog is up and running. Huddersfield held a fireworks party with their Chinese sponsors on Saturday night, then celebrated their best performance of 2018, ending a sequence of five league defeats with a convincing victory that temporarily at least lifts them out of the bottom three.
Bournemouth, in contrast, saw a seven-game unbeaten sequence come to an end in West Yorkshire. The Cherries have seen off Chelsea and Arsenal in recent weeks but they possibly underestimated their opponents here. Huddersfield ditched the defensive tactics that have brought so little reward since Christmas and went for the win, their confidence seemingly lifted by the four goals they scored against Birmingham in the FA Cup in midweek. The visitors began tidily enough but by the second half were offering scant resistance.
“We attacked very well, we were aggressive and focused,” the Huddersfield manager, David Wagner, said. “We have always had belief we could stay in the Premier League. Now is the time to fight for our survival. Most of the difficult opponents are now behind us, so we need to build momentum against some of the teams around us.”
Huddersfield got off to a great start, cleverly exploiting the space on the flanks that Bournemouth’s back three could not quite cover. Scott Malone’s superbly weighted ball down the left gave Steve Mounié the run on Simon Francis, and the striker made it all the way to the goalline before finding Alex Pritchard in the middle, a stabbed left foot finish bringing the January arrival his first goal for the club. The home side’s lead lasted only seven minutes, with a defensive lapse of their own giving Ryan Fraser all the space he needed to cross from the right and pick out Junior Stanislas, free in front of goal and able to take his time placing a low shot into Jonas Lössl’s bottom corner.
But Huddersfield were not to be denied: their effective pressing game kept Bournemouth at bay and produced a succession of promising opportunities, although it was from a set piece that they regained the lead. While Bournemouth probably knew what to expect when Aaron Mooy prepared to swing a free-kick into the penalty area, they were still powerless to do anything about it. Mooy’s delivery was perfect and Mounié reached the ball first, placing a firm downward header beyond Asmir Begovic’s dive. Steve Cook did manage to strike the outside of an upright with a shot from a Charlie Daniels corner but the rest of the first half was all Huddersfield’s.
A third goal was still needed to make sure of the points and Huddersfield gained a reward for their attacking just past the hour when Mooy, inevitably, sent in a low cross from the left that Mounié met with a side-foot that Steve Cook helped deflect past Begovic. Mooy had seen a shot roll narrowly wide and provided a cross that Tom Ince headed over from close range, so there was no surprise when the goal eventually arrived.
The only downside from Huddersfield’s point of view was that Mooy lasted only a few more minutes before departing on a stretcher with a knee injury after coming off worse in a collision with Lewis Cook. The Terriers will hope their main playmaker’s absence is a short one and Wagner indicated the injury would require stitches rather than surgery. “It is only a cut, we will just have to see how long it takes to heal,” Wagner said.
In the six added minutes occasioned by the Australian’s treatment the home side managed a further goal without him. The impressive Pritchard was pushed in the area by Dan Gosling when he appeared to be going to ground anyway. Rajiv van La Parra stepped up and tucked away a confident penalty to leave and his side with plenty to think about on the long journey home.
“We were below par. We lost too many duels and just faded away,” the Bournemouth manager, said. “Apart from the goal I’m struggling to find any positives. I can only apologise to supporters who got up early to make the trip. We are still in a relegation battle. I’ve said that all along and results like this don’t help.”
