Blackburn Rovers 0 Huddersfield Town 2: David Wagner heaps praise on Nahki Wells

The first half was even with both teams trying but ultimately failing to create anything of note, until Shane Duffy endured a second consecutive Ewood nightmare by presenting Huddersfield’s leading scorer with a 35th minute chance he could not miss.

Pressure from Wells in the 54th minute contributed to Matt Kilgallon putting through his own net and although Rovers briefly rallied, with Danny Graham missing twice, David Wagner’s men were well worth the points.

Victory means Huddersfield ended a three-game winless run with a first triumph on this ground since 1986.

Blackburn have lost their last three at home and still need points to mathematically guarantee their Sky Bet Championship status.

Paul Lambert made one change from the draw at Wolves by replacing Jason Lowe with Simeon Jackson.

Wagner was without James Husband whose loan spell has ended and the injured Jamie Paterson so Harry Bunn and Jason Davidson came in as part of three changes.

Huddersfield’s high intensity approach was there for all to see early on but despite their dominance, Rovers created the first chance in the 16th minute when Jordi Gomez and Elliott Bennett combined to fashion an opening from a neat corner routine that saw Jackson’s shot blocked before the ball was scrambled clear.

The striker then volleyed just over as the game threatened to spring into life.

Both teams showed plenty of endeavour without looking like breaking the deadlock until the 35th minute when the visitors were gifted an opener.

Bunn’s pass was cut out and looped up to Duffy who inexplicably tried to head the ball back but only succeeded in finding Wells who was lurking and calmly volleyed home his 17th goal of the season.

Lambert brought on Chris Brown for the second half to give his side a more direct route and they started the half with more purpose but were further behind in the 54th minute.

The impressive Bunn swung a corner into the heart of the six yard box and Kilgallon, under pressure from Wells, could only divert into his own net.

It was a hammer blow for Rovers, though they should have been back in the game minutes later when Ben Marshall floated in a cross for Graham but the striker planted his free header wide from 12 yards.

To their credit though, Blackburn’s response was encouraging, as both Graham and Gomez saw close range goalbound efforts blocked by Tommy Smith and Mark Hudson respectively.

Blackburn’s Darragh Lenihan hit a powerful low strike late on that Jed Steer tipped wide but Huddersfield remained impressive and they comfortably saw the game out.

Huddersfield Town boss David Wagner was quick to praise the all-round contribution of Wells.

He said: “I’m very proud, happy and satisfied with what we showed today and the result. I think we deserved it.

“As important that he scores again today, is that, like in the past, he’s our first defender. Nahki helps the team massively with his work in the defence and the team try to help Nahki get chances and score. He did well today but not only because of his goal, but because of his defence performance.”

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