Huddersfield Town 0 Nottingham Forest 3: Paterson’s trickery dents Town’s play-off bid

James Vaughan went off injured against Nottingham Forest last night.

Paterson deftly headed Billy Davies’s side into a 63rd-minute lead and then produced a moment of class to turn Huddersfield’s defence inside out before wrong-footing goalkeeper Alex Smithies with a neat finish in the 82nd minute.

Forest substitute Darius Henderson added a late third to give the scoreline a lop-sided look and inflict a first home league defeat since mid-December on Huddersfield.

The visitors were first to threaten when captain Andy Reid’s curling free-kick into the box bounced inches wide, before Jack Hobbs did well to block Huddersfield striker Nahki Wells’s angled shot.

The home side were dealt a blow when James Vaughan limped out of the action.

The club’s 12-goal leading scorer, who had only returned to action at the weekend following a knee injury, was replaced by Danny Ward in the 37th minute.

Huddersfield midfielder Oliver Norwood crashed a low shot just wide before the break and it was Mark Robins’s side who carved out the early second-half chances.

Defender Paul Dixon was twice off target with long-range efforts before Ward followed up his rising shot on the run with a header from Tommy Smith’s cross, which was narrowly off target.

But Forest served warning when Rafik Djebbour headed Reid’s excellent cross wide and took the lead in the 63rd minute when Danny Fox curled in a fine ball for Paterson to steal in front of his marker and head home.

Referee Miller was unmoved when Huddersfield substitute Sean Scannell went tumbling in the penalty area under Greg Halford’s 78th-minute challenge.

Paterson then produced the game’s outstanding moment when running on to Henderson’s path and weaving this way and that before sliding home his side’s second goal.

The visitors then rubber-stamped their fifth league triumph on the road this season when Henderson latched on to a rebound and side-footed home from eight yards in the 88th minute.

Huddersfield Town: Smithies, Smith, Gerrard, Lynch, Hammill, Clayton, Norwood (Scannell 70), Hogg, Dixon, Wells (Paterson 79), Vaughan (Ward 38). Unused substitutes: Woods, Clarke, Bennett, Southern.

Nottingham Forest: Darlow, Halford, Lascelles, Hobbs, Fox, Paterson, Moussi (Jara 46), Majewski, Reid, Djebbour (Henderson 68), Cox (Mackie 84). Unused substitutes: Harding, Collins, Derbyshire, De Vries.

Referee: N Miller (Durham).