Wanderers suffered a wounding second successive home defeat on a difficult afternoon at the Toughsheet Community Stadium, writes Pete Oliver.
The Whites’ slow start to their League One season continued as Huddersfield also extended Wanderers’ wait for a home goal to move within a point of the early pace-setters at the top of the table.
Ian Evatt’s men looked desperately short of confidence after a bright start faded and the Terriers went in front just before half-time.
Josh Koroma then doubled his tally from the penalty spot early in a second half which then unravelled for the Whites as Town added two more to leave Wanderers searching for answers only a handful of games after being one win from promotion to the Championship.
A fortnight on from a first home league defeat of 2024, Wanderers made three changes to their starting line-up as Jay Matete was handed a full league debut and Aaron Collins and the fit-again Eoin Toal returned.
Matete made a bright start in tandem with George Thomason in central midfield as the pair worked a couple of nice combinations to get the Whites on the front foot.
There looked to be a desire to move the ball forwards more quickly and give the front men something to feed off.
And a typical run from Collins forced the first save of the game when he cut in and tested Lee Nicholls in the Town goal with a curling effort aimed towards the far post.
Huddersfield had won their first three games following relegation from the Championship before also losing ahead of the international break and as they looked to bounce back gradually grew into the contest towards the end of an open first half.
West Ham United forward Callum Marshall wasted their best opening but then two minutes before the break the Terriers bit to take the lead when Marshall delivered an excellent cross which Koroma glanced into the net with a stooping header from inside the six-yard box.
With Wanderers needing to reverse the momentum and still seeking their first home goal of the league campaign, Evatt turned to Victor Adeboyejo at the start of the second half as a replacement for Dion Charles.
Again the Whites started brightly with Szabi Schön doing well to create crossing chances for Collins and Kyle Dempsey, neither of whom could pick out a man in the Town penalty area.
And the next chance came at the other end when only an incredible point-blank save from Nathan Baxter kept out a header from Antony Evans to prevent the visitors from doubling their lead.
That proved to be just a short-lived reprieve, though, as Huddersfield did then go 2-0 up from the penalty spot with just under an hour gone when Chris Forino was penalised following a tangle of legs with Koroma, who picked himself up to slot home.
That prompted a further change with Scott Arfield sent on as the Whites faced a major test of character.
Town had their tails up, though, and their pressure paid off again when Ben Wiles drove in a third as Wanderers failed to clear the ball.
Wanderers looked understandably shaken and nine minutes from time conceded another when Baxter’s mis-directed an attempted pass straight to Evans who accepted the gift to compound the Whites’ misery at a tough time for the team.
Wanderers: Baxter; Forino (Sheehan 70), Almeida Santos, Toal; Dacres-Cogley, Matete, Thomason, Schön; Dempsey (Arfield 60), Charles, Collins (McAtee 76). Substitutes: Southwood, Johnston, Williams.
Booked: Thomason
Huddersfield Town: Nicholls; Lees, Helik, Lonwijk; Hogg (Hodge 69); Sorensen, Evans, Wiles (Iorpenda 80), Miller; Koroma (Radulovic,80), Marshall (Ladapo 69). Substitutes: Chapman, Pearson, Headley.
Booked: Hogg
Referee: Alex Chilowicz
Attendance: 22,532 (2,957 Huddersfield)