Wednesday 30 / October / 2024
London: Elias Kachunga got a controversial early goal and Aaron Mooy scored twice as Huddersfield Town beat Watford 4-1 in the Premier League on Saturday to record their first away win since the opening day of the season.
Kachunga, who was carried off on a stretcher with a knee injury minutes after his goal, appeared to be offside when he prodded home from close range following a Huddersfield corner in the sixth minute but the flag stayed down despite Watford's protests.
Australian Mooy added a second goal midway through the first half before Watford captain Troy Deeney all but ended his team's hopes of a comeback when he was shown a straight red card for a challenge from behind on Collin Quaner.
"If you saw the game today, you wouldn't believe that we hadn't scored away for so long," Huddersfield manager David Wagner said. "As I said before, we felt this result and performance was just around the corner."
Huddersfield's second goal came after Watford's defence switched off. A simple ball over the top sent Quaner to the byline and the centre backs failed to deal with the forward's cross, which the unmarked Mooy bundled over the line.
The only blemishes for Huddersfield were injuries to Kachunga and defender Chris Loewe, who limped off before halftime.
"Kachunga's injury looks serious. It's something with his knee. Chris Loewe got a knock on his foot. We will have to wait and see," Wagner said.
Laurent Depoitre put the visitors 3-0 up with a well-taken goal soon after the interval before Huddersfield lost their skipper Jonathan Hogg to a second yellow card that briefly evened up the contest.
"I would say if Watford didn't get the red card I am unsure if we would get a second yellow for Hogg," Wagner added. "We have to accept it."
Abdoulaye Doucoure pulled one back for Watford with a sweetly struck half-volley through a crowd of bodies as the home team cranked up the pressure but the midfielder gave away a penalty in the dying minutes and Mooy converted for his second goal.
Victory lifted Huddersfield to 11th in the table on 21 points while Watford, who have a point more, stay ninth for now but could be overtaken by Everton, who are level on points and host basement side Swansea City on Monday.
