Blackburn 1 Huddersfield 0: Former forward Rhodes piles on pain for Huddersfield

Jordan Rhodes came back to haunt his former club as the free-scoring striker grabbed the only goal to sink Blackburn’s fellow npower Championship strugglers Huddersfield.

Rovers paid a club-record £8m to take Rhodes from the John Smith’s Stadium in August, where he netted 87 goals in 148 games.

And, having scored when the sides played out a 2-2 draw on the east side of the Pennines in November, Scotland international Rhodes claimed a 25th for his current employers – finishing smartly with his back to goal in the 36th minute after caretaker manager Gary Bowyer saw Blackburn take control of a contest played at a frantic tempo.

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Huddersfield made a far better fist of things after half-time, substitute Jermaine Beckford bringing an excellent stop from Grzegorz Sandomierski, but Blackburn held out on what proved to be a fruitful night for teams at the wrong end of the table. This defeat along with a win and a draw for Wolves and Peterborough respectively means Mark Robins’s Terriers drop to third-bottom on goal difference and two points behind their opponents, who edge up one place to 19th after a second consecutive victory.

A moment of genuine quality arrived midway through the half as Blackburn worked the ball left via a pair of 50-50 challenges for Josh King to unleash a swerving 25-yarder that goalkeeper Alex Smithies pushed behind.

Lee Williamson forced Town captain Peter Clarke to head a dinked cross behind following some clever footwork and the former Sheffield United midfielder saw his volley blocked from the resulting corner.

Clarke’s fellow centre-back Anthony Gerrard was fortunate to escape censure when he prevented Leon Best from racing clear with half an hour played, the latest indication of the hosts gaining the upper hand.

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Such pressure told as Rhodes once again demonstrated his supreme poachers’ instincts, hooking home a close range volley after Scott Dann headed David Jones’s corner back towards goal.

Robins sought to remedy a toothless Terriers attack by sending on Beckford for midfielder Oliver Norwood at half-time and the ex-Leeds striker saw Rovers goalkeeper Sandomierski save his 49th-minute header, albeit in routine fashion.

James Vaughan sprung the offside trap in the 69th minute before his touch let him down.

Sandomierski was fully extended by an acrobatic Beckford volley on the turn and Rovers were increasingly pinned inside their own penalty area.

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Blackburn Rovers: Sandomierski, Kane, Dann, Givet, Markus Olsson, Lowe (Goodwillie 72), Williamson, Jones, King (Dunn 83), Rhodes, Best (Pedersen 72). Unused substitutes: Usai, Nuno Gomes, Rekik, Morris.

Huddersfield Town: Smithies, Woods, Gerrard, Peter Clarke, Dixon, Southern (Gobern 62), Norwood (Beckford 46), Clayton (Lee 82), Danns, Vaughan, Scannell. Unused substitutes: Bennett, Wallace, Arfield, Lynch.

Referee: D Drysdale (Lincolnshire).