Ipswich Town's hopes of making the Championship playoffs have taken a hit this afternoon due to a 2-1 defeat at Huddersfield Town.
Ipswich sit just one spot outside of the playoffs following the loss, while Huddersfield have moved 12 points clear of the bottom three.
Ipswich had the game's first chance inside three minutes when Richard Chaplow delivered a cross towards Jay Tabb, but Mark Hudson was on hand to clear off the line for the home team.
Huddersfield opened the scoring after 12 minutes when Nahki Wells took advantage of some poor defending from Zeki Fryers to curl one into the bottom corner from outside the box.
As the half progressed, Huddersfield continued to press and had a strong penalty appeal after 20 minutes when Fryers challenged Sean Scannell inside the box, but the referee was not interested and waved play on. Moments later, Bartosz Bialkowski was forced to deny James Vaughan from an overhead kick.
Ipswich's best chance arrived after 24 minutes when Daryl Murphy rounded Alex Smithies before firing towards the bottom corner, but Hudson was on hand to clear off the line.
Huddersfield struck again on the 30-minute mark when Vaughan headed a deep Jacob Butterfield cross into the far corner. The hosts remained on top in the latter stages of the first period, with Oscar Gobern also coming close.
Ipswich were back in the game three minutes into the second period, however, when Luke Varney headed a Tabb cross into the far corner.
The home side launched a strong response and should have scored from a corner, but Ipswich goalkeeper Bialkowski made two stunning saves in quick succession to keep the visitors in the game.
Despite the goal for Ipswich, it was Huddersfield that continued to press and they again came close through Wells, before Gobern lifted one high and wide of the crossbar just before the hour.
Freddie Sears had Ipswich's best chance since their goal, but the forward could only sting the palms of Smithies following good work from Teddy Bishop. Tommy Smith was next to come close for the visitors five minutes from time, but his effort curled wide of the post as Huddersfield recorded all the points.
Matt Law
