Huddersfield Town 0 Leicester City 1: Stephy Mavididi strike condemns valiant Terriers to defeat

The encounter was hotly contested and the Terriers battled admirably against Enzo Maresca’s heavily favoured Foxes. However, a second-half strike from Stephy Mavididi separated the sides.

The early stages were frantic, as Leicester’s swift attacking transitions proved dangerous but Huddersfield showed plenty of desire to get forward themselves. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall acted as chief orchestrator for the Foxes but Lee Nicholls and the defence in front of him stood up well to early challenges.

Wanya Marcal-Madivadua fired over after some impressive build-up, while Kelechi Iheanacho saw a deflected effort loop just over the crossbar.

After being pinned back early on, Huddersfield began to find some rhythm and Brahima Diarra was unlucky to see the offside flag raised as he beared down on goal.

A golden opportunity did, however, fall to Dennis Praet as Huddersfield were settling into second gear. The Belgian raced in behind the Terriers backline but Nicholls was quick off his line, making himself imposing and keeping the shot out.

Opportunities did not decrease in frequency as the half progressed, with both sides relentless in their hunt for an opener. A thunderous strike from Josh Koroma drew an impressive save from Jakub Stolarczyk, shortly after Iheanacho had stung the palms of Nicholls.

Huddersfield then came agonisingly close to opening the scoring through Michal Helik, who blazed over after meeting a Sorba Thomas cross at the back post.

On the stroke of half-time, Iheanacho danced through defenders and pulled the trigger from the edge of the box but found the wrong side of the crossbar with his shot.

Any fears the second-half would not live up to the first-half were quickly alleviated, as both sides flew out of the traps. Josh Ruffels delivered a cross from the left early on that Ward met and headed narrowly over the crossbar.

Minutes later, Jack Rudoni was forced to make a superb challenge to thwart Praet as he prepared to test Nicholls and the goalkeeper appeared relieved to see a Dewsbury-Hall shot whistle past the post on the hour mark.

Leicester introduced Wilfred Ndidi and Jamie Vardy as they chased the opener, and the former gave Dewsbury-Hall an opportunity to try his luck from inside the area after charging forward at pace. His effort, however, was struck into a sea of blue and white bodies.

The Foxes eventually broke the deadlock through Mavididi, who beat Nicholls at his near post with a low-struck shot after finding space on the left-hand side of the box.

Huddersfield came close to responding immediately when Sorba Thomas lifted a teasing delivery into the box, but Matty Pearson’s header was straight down the throat of Stolarczyk.

Neil Warnock turned to youth in his pursuit of a leveller, bringing Pat Jones and Kian Harratt into the fray. Huddersfield upped the ante in the late stages but it was to no avail, as the Foxes held on for the three points.