HUDDERSFIELD TOWN 2, WEST BROMWICH ALBION 1
What a night of high drama along the M62 corridor from Manchester.
Huddersfield Town’s win against promotion-chasing West Bromwich Albion ensured it wasn’t back-to-back relegations, but for a freak set of results.
While the Terriers celebrated after ensuring they finish outside the bottom three, it was a result that also clinched promotion for Leeds United who are back in the Premier League after an absence of 16 years.
And it was a loss which means the destiny of the second-placed Baggies is suddenly out of their hands.
Brentford will snatch the second spot if they win their two remaining matches leaving the Baggies to contest the play-offs.
Town, without a win in four games and with only one victory in eight, upset opponents who had lost only one of their last eight Championship matches.
They turned the form book on its head as recalled Chris Willock fired Terriers ahead early in the match. Baggies equalised just before half time through Dara O’Shea.
The game looked destined for a draw until substitute Emile Smith Rowe, the Arsenal loanee, conjured the all-important match-winning goal in the 86th minute.
Manager Danny Cowley described it as a relief to be staying up.
He said: “We shouldn’t celebrate not being relegated, but I am proud of my players.
“A week is a long time and last week (home defeat by Luton) we let ourselves down and it kept me up every night this week.
“We responded and went up a notch from midweek (goalless draw at Sheffield Wednesday)”.
Cowley described it as the toughest job he has done in management and never realised how tough it would be.
“I like to challenge myself, but this was the first time I have been in a relegation battle and it has been a good learning curve for Nick (brother and assistant manager) and myself.”
Baggies rarely threatened as they looked like a cricketer in the nervous nineties as they faltered at a crucial time in the penultimate match of the league campaign.
Manager Slavan Bilic admitted his side was second best.
He said: “We were poor in everything, not just one thing and nowhere near good enough.
“Credit to Huddersfield, they did well under a different pressure as they were fighting for their lives and looked to want it more.
“We crumbled under the pressure. We were in a good position with it in our hands but, when it mattered most, we didn’t turn up.”
Cowley made four changes to his Huddersfield starting line-up from the side which drew 0-0 at Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday.
There are returns for Andy King, Juninho Bacuna, Willock and Fraizer Campbell in place of Elias Kachunga, Steve Mounie, Smith Rowe and Karlan Grant.
Slaven Bilic made two changes from the side which started the goalless draw against Fulham on Tuesday.
Matt Phillips and Hal Robson-Kanu replace Kamil Grosicki and Charlie Austin, who are among the substitutes, in a new front pairing.
The Terriers could not have dreamed of a better start as they took a fourth-minute lead.
Baggies’ goalkeeper Sam Johnstone committed a howler as he allowed a free kick whipped in by Bacuna to hit him on the shin.
It rebounded to Willock who slotted home from six yards, only the second goal since his January loan move from Portuguese giants Benfica.
And it might have got even better when they had a shout for a penalty turned down four minutes later after Campbell went down in the box in an off-the-ball challenge.
The Baggies’ first clear-cut chance of the game came in the 40th minute when Conor Townsend’s header looped over goalkeeper Jonas Lossl, but Richard Stearman came to the rescue with a spectacular goalline clearance.
It was only a temporary reprieve as the Baggies equalised two minutes later.
Lossl could only scoop out Matheus Pereira’s free kick and O’Shea had a simple header from three yards, his third goal of the campaign.
Town were furious claiming three Baggies’ players were offside when the free kick was delivered with Grady Diangana obscuring Lossl’s view.
Baggies, needing a win to have a two-two spot in their own destiny, made four changes by the hour, including forwards Grosicki and Austin.
The visitors continued to dominate territorially, but created precious little in terms of chances, other than one effort from Pereira which was blocked by Lossl.
With Baggies committee to all-out attack, Town regained the lead in the 86th minute with a terrific counterattack.
Lewis O’Brien burst forward and released substitute Smith Rowe who slotted a shot low to the left of Johnstone.
Town comfortably survived the six additional minutes for a hugely important victory as the prospect of successive demotions didn’t bear contemplating.