Huddersfield Town 3 Brighton 1: Leaders beaten by promotion rivals

Ten-man Championship leaders Brighton suffered a 3-1 defeat away to promotion-chasing Huddersfield Town on Thursday.

Brighton missed the chance to move four points clear of Newcastle at the top in a match that saw all four goals scored in the first half.

Huddersfield struck first after nine minutes when Tommy Smith cut in from the left and slotted in through a crowd of players.

The visitors briefly got back into the game after 20 minutes when Aaron Mooy’s poor header back to goalkeeper Danny Ward was intercepted by Tomer Hemed, who rounded the keeper before scoring.

But two goals in the last nine minutes of the opening period proved decisive.

First, Nahki Wells found the top corner after a neat passing move, his 100th goal in English football.

Elias Kachunga then scored with a header for Huddersfield in first-half stoppage time, just after Glenn Murray had a headed goal correctly disallowed for offside at the other end.

Brighton’s hopes of a comeback were ultimately ended when Lewis Dunk received a second yellow card midway through the second half for a lunge on Isaiah Brown.

Fifth-placed Huddersfield could have won by more, with Rajiv van La Parra and Mooy both hitting the woodwork in an impressive performance.