Huddersfield Town 0 Coventry City 4: Neil Warnock facing toughest safety act yet as Terriers implode in second half against Sky Blues

Opportunity knocked, of sorts, ahead of the start of a key home double-header with Coventry City and Bristol City - with the encouragement coming from a win over another city in Birmingham in the veteran manager’s first game in charge a fortnight earlier.

A 4-0 beating at Burnley provided a reality check and there was another huge one seven days on with the same disastrous scoreline, mainly due to a second half when the Yorkshire outfit went to pieces.

It was a self-inflicted horror show, once again on a day when relegation rivals and two of Warnock’s former sides in Rotherham United and Cardiff City both won and Blackpool and Wigan both drew. The upshot is that Huddersfield prop up the rest and are seven points adrift of fourth-from-bottom Cardiff.

Warnock had let his players know in no uncertain terms that he would not tolerate any more of the individual errors that were on show in the loss at Turf Moor and for him to witness individuals in blue and white make a mistake a week on will have irked him immensely.

The player who Warnock believes to be the best striker in the division - and someone who he previously tried to sign - in Viktor Gyokeres does not pass up gifts. He was presented with two.

Another Championship class act in Gustavo Hamer was offered one as the play-off chasing Sky Blues sealed an easy double over Town, ending the game as a contest with two quick-fire goals before the hour mark after Gyokeres’s opener.

That arrived courtesy of a ghastly back pass from Michal Helik on 31 minutes, which left Gyokeres in the clear and he finished with aplomb, dinking the ball over the advancing Nicholas Bilokapic.

Hamer’s low shot after ghosting away from Scott High beat the Aussie keeper too easily to make it 2-0 on 55 minutes.

Four minutes later, High was played into trouble by a loose pass infield from Matt Lowton. Hamer was on it quickly and Gyokeres did the rest as some Town fans headed for the exits.

Tyler Walker added a stoppage-time fourth.

High had actually had a strong first half. Town, especially in the shape of Joe Hungbo - were the better side in the opening half-hour, just about, but then spoiled it terribly and the game started to unravel.

Helik’s howler was exposed by Gyokeres and the Terriers’ decent work was undone.

To be fair, they did not feel sorry for themselves, with High seeing a low drive turned away by Ben Wilson after good work by Brahima Diarra and Hungbo as the hosts sought an immediate response.

Diarra had entered the fray as an 18th-minute replacement for Jaheim Headley, with the hero of the recent win over Birmingham City looking a picture in anguish after leaving with what appeared to be a muscle injury.

Lowton - one of four changes in the home line-up with Matty Pearson, Jonathan Hogg and High also starting - had to switch to left wing-back and Diarra was positioned on the right.

Coventry knocked the ball nicely enough on the counter, but other than the goal, did not create too much. Yet they grabbed the all-important breakthrough and that was that.

Diarra saw a shot deflected wide and High’s precision strike flew just off target before the break for the Terriers, whose first chance saw Lowton head straight at Wilson after a slick move.

Town made a flat start to the second half and it was an appropriate word to describe the mood of the home fans and it soon got worse, much worse.

Fankaly Dabo found Hamer who evaded High before unleashing a low shot which beat Bilokapic too easily and left the hosts with the proverbial mountain to climb.

Warnock had Anthony Knockaert, Tyreece Simpson and Jordan Rhodes at his disposal on the bench and the Town chief was soon left to ponder another poor moment.

Lowton’s pass infield played High into trouble and Hamer was on it in a flash before slipping in Gyokeres, who raced clear and beat Bilokapic with a tidy low finish.

Substitute Jordan Rhodes and Danny Ward had chances to net a consolation for Town. The damage was sadly done earlier as Coventry followed up a win in Yorkshire at Rotherham United a fortnight earlier with another.

A goal line clearance from Lees ensured that Gyokeres did not take home the match-ball whale Wilson denied Rudoni at the other end. Coventry’s super Swede was not quite finished.

Coventry added gloss with a late fourth after Gyokeres latched onto Bidwell’s punt forward and mesmerised High to tee up Walker for a tap-in.

Huddersfield Town: Bilokapic; Helik, Lees, Pearson (Rhodes 63); Lowton, Hogg (Camara 80), High, Headley (Diarra 18); Rudoni; Hungbo, Ward (Simpson 80). Substitutes unused: Vaclik, Edmonds-Green, Knockaert.

Coventry City: Wilson; McNally, McFadzean, Doyle (Rose 87); Dabo (Norton-Cuffy 70), Hamer, Eccles, Wilson-Esbrand (Bidwell 62); Howley (Maguire 70); Gyokeres, Godden (Walker 70). Substitutes unused: Moore, Burroughs.

Referee: D Webb (Co.Durham).

Attendance: 19,958 (2,222 Coventry City fans).