Tom Ince strikes injury-time winner as Huddersfield beat Watford at the death to ease relegation fears

Huddersfield Town 1 Watford 0: Ince's late goal means the hosts move seven points clear of the bottom three

Saturday 14 April 2018 17:19 BST
Comments
Huddersfield celebrate their last gasp win
Huddersfield celebrate their last gasp win (Getty)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Tom Ince struck a last-gasp winner to snatch Huddersfield a 1-0 home victory against Watford and give their survival hopes a major boost.

Second-half substitute Ince side-footed home in the 90th minute to clinch the Terriers their first win in six Premier League games and move them seven points clear of the bottom three.

Huddersfield's sixth home win of the season lifted them up to 14th place in the table, two points behind Watford, whose winless league run under Javier Gracia stretched to five matches. The Hornets also remain winless on the road this season.

The game lacked scoring chances, but not intensity as the Terriers chased and harried Watford out of their stride in a bid to seize the initiative.

The John Smith's faithful played their usual raucous role, but although their side dominated the opening exchanges, a resolute Watford restricted them to few openings.

Hornets centre-half Craig Cathcart's last-gasp lunge in the penalty area denied Alex Pritchard and fellow defender Daryl Janmaat did well to crowd out Steve Mounie.

Watford's Adrian Mariappa was next to throw his body on the line as Huddersfield forward Colin Quaner raced on to Aaron Mooy's fine pass and Matias Jorgensen's goal-bound header was also blocked.

The game lacked goal scoring chances
The game lacked goal scoring chances (Getty)

But the visitors, bidding for their first win in five, had attacking intentions of their own.

Troy Deeney's curled effort was deflected for a corner by Florent Hadergjonaj and Abdoulaye Doucoure's low shot forced the first save of the match from Jonas Lossl before the Watford midfielder fired into the side-netting.

Huddersfield tried to gather steam again early in the second half and, after the introduction of Ince, they went close to forcing the breakthrough.

Ince's effort from Pritchard's cross rebounded to Mounie in the area, but the Benin international's shot was also charged down.

Alex Pritchard had a fine game
Alex Pritchard had a fine game (Getty)

Still Watford carried their own threat as midfielder Will Hughes flashed a ball across the face of goal after good work by Etienne Capoue.

Referee Craig Pawson then opted to Pritchard for diving rather than award a penalty against Sebastian Prodl and further appeals were ignored when substitute Laurent Depoitre appeared to be impeded in the area.

Terriers skipper Jonathan Hogg fired a low shot from the edge of the area just wide in the 81st minute and, as the nerves jangled, the game appeared to be heading for a stalemate.

But in the final minute Mathias Jorgensen latched on to a long ball played into the penalty area and, when he squared the ball back, Ince kept his composure to side-foot home a low finish.

It was his third goal of the season, but more importantly gave his side a huge lift ahead of next week's visit of Everton.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in