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Championship

Dec 16, 2016 at 7.45pm UK

Norwich Norwich City
1-2
Huddersfield Huddersfield Town

Howson (6')

FT(HT: 1-2)

Kachunga (5', 40')

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Football

Elias Kachunga brace sends Huddersfield Town third

By Barney Corkhill, Editor | 16 December 2016

Elias Kachunga scores both Huddersfield Town goals in a 2-1 victory over Norwich City to fire the Terriers up to third in the Championship table.

Huddersfield Town have moved up to third in the Championship table courtesy of a 2-1 victory over Norwich City at Carrow Road this evening.

Elias Kachunga scored both goals for the Terriers as they made it three wins on the bounce, recording their first away win over Norwich since 1969 to move within six points of the automatic promotion places.

Norwich went into the match knowing that victory would lift them above Huddersfield into fourth in the table, and they had a chance to break the deadlock inside two minutes when the in-form Nelson Oliveira - scorer of three goals in his last three games - sliced his shot wide from inside the box.

It didn't take long for the goals to arrive, though, and Huddersfield were ahead five minutes in when Kachunga nodded Tom Smith's cross home at the back post, although replays showed that the striker was half a yard offside when the ball was played.

Norwich hit back immediately, though, levelling things up just 66 seconds later when Jonny Howson was left unmarked inside the box to steer a header from Robbie Brady's cross into the bottom corner.

Another half-chance went begging for the Canaries when Sebastien Bassong could only nod over the crossbar, but Huddersfield soon began to take control and came close to a second themselves shortly afterwards when Rajiv van la Parra curled an effort just wide when looking for the top corner.

Nahki Wells was the next to threaten midway through the half when he let fly from 25 yards, but John Ruddy was equal to the swerving effort.

Wells was presented with an even better chance towards the end of the half when he latched on to a loose back-pass from Graham Dorrans and took the ball past the keeper, but Bassong was alert to the danger and got back to prevent the Huddersfield striker from sliding the ball into an empty net.

The visitors, who have now won three matches in six days following a run of just one victory in eight games before that, did get their second goal five minutes before half time as Kachunga doubled his personal tally for the evening with a toe-poke that went through the legs of Bassong and caught an unsighted Ruddy out.

The Huddersfield top scorer almost made it a hat-trick early in the second half when he combined with Smith down the right flank once again, only to fire just wide of the target.

Norwich were booed by their own supporters on their way off for half time, but they soon responded and piled the pressure on Huddersfield in the second half with a string of chances.

Oliveira and Bassong both missed decent openings within one minute of each other, and the former was again close to continuing his good form in front of goal shortly before the hour mark when he latched on to a long ball forward and lifted his finish over the keeper, only to see it bounce agonisingly wide.

Huddersfield hit back with an effort from Smith that flew over, but it was Norwich who looked most like scoring the game's fourth goal, and Josh Murphy fired one narrowly wide with just over 20 minutes remaining after combining with substitute Cameron Jerome.

Murphy was also denied by Daniel Ward as Huddersfield continued to hold firm, and it was the unlikely figure of Bassong who came closest to earning a point for the Canaries in the closing stages.

The defender first failed to get anything on a low ball across the face of goal before nodding a downward header inches past the post in stoppage time for what proved to be Norwich's best and last chance to rescue a draw.

The final whistle was greeted by more boos from the home supporters as the pressure on manager Alex Neil continues to grow, with Norwich remaining ninth in the table and two points off the playoff places following a run of just two wins in their last 11 matches across all competitions.

Huddersfield, meanwhile, leapfrog Reading in the table and have now recorded back-to-back away victories for the first time since February 2015.