Brentford 0 Huddersfield Town 1: Perfect timing from Clarke sees Town secure valuable victory at Brentford

The Terriers’ centre-back scrambled the ball home after the Bees failed to clear from a corner.

It was a case of lightning striking twice for the former England Under-21 defender, who once scored a last-minute equaliser at Griffin Park when at Blackpool.

The visitors almost drew first blood when Jordan Rhodes forced a fantastic save from Bees goalkeeper Richard Lee.

Gary Alexander went close with the hosts’ first chance soon after, but screwed his shot wide after beating the Terriers’ defence for pace.

Nathan Byrne then went close for the Bees with a looping shot which took a wicked deflection, but Alex Smithies was equal to it in the Huddersfield goal, while Sunderland loanee Adam Reed curled a beauty just wide.

Myles Weston drew a good save from Smithies just minutes into the second-half with a testing shot from inside the area, before Joey Gudjonsson fired wide from the edge of the area in reply.

The returning Gary Roberts was not far off target with a free-kick soon after, while Weston went close again, firing high and wide before Gudjonsson was just wide with an ambitious overhead kick.

Huddersfield started to turn the screw with some good pressure, with substitute Danny Ward bursting forward towards goal before being stopped by a well-timed, last-ditch tackle by Craig Woodman.

Brentford debutant Jeffrey Schlupp, on loan from Leicester City, came close to grabbing a winner only to be denied by Smithies, leaving Town’s Clarke to take hero status shortly after.

Brentford: Lee, O’Connor, Osborne, Legge, Woodman, Byrne, Reed (Bean 78), Diagouraga, Weston (Schlupp 77), Alexander, Grabban (Bignall 65). Unused substitutes: Moore, Spillane, Wright, Tudur Jones.

Huddersfield Town: Smithies, Hunt, Peter Clarke, McCombe, Jordan (Naysmith 59), Arfield, Gudjonsson, Kilbane, Roberts, Afobe (Cadamarteri 73), Rhodes (Ward 46). Unused substitutes: Colgan, Tom Clarke, Lee, Novak.

Referee: D Whitestone (Northamptonshire).