Huddersfield Town began their EFL Trophy campaign with a dominant 6-2 victory over Newcastle United under-21s at the Accu Stadium on Tuesday evening.
Jack Whatmough, Marcus Harness and Leo Castledine scored for Town in the first half to give them a 3-1 lead at the interval, while Joe Taylor struck a brace and Charlie McArthur netted an own goal within the opening seven minutes of the second half to seal the comprehensive win.
Terriers’ boss Lee Grant made eight changes from his side’s 3-1 derby defeat at Barnsley on Saturday, with Sean Roughan, Harness and Ruben Roosken the three players to retain their place in the team. Will Alves was named amongst the substitutes following his deadline-day loan move from Leicester City.
Town came out of the traps quickly and immediately put their visitors onto the back foot with a couple of corners in the opening minutes, while Taylor fired into the side netting from an offside position.
David Kasumu played Harness in towards goal and the attacker had his strike blocked by McArthur, with the hosts going on to take the lead from the resulting corner.
Roosken’s ball in from the right was headed home by Whatmough from close range in the eighth minute, who netted his second goal in five appearances.
Taylor had a shot blocked soon after, before Town doubled their lead from the spot in the 13th minute. Castledine was brought down inside the box by Newcastle skipper Cathal Heffernan, and Harness sent Adam Harrison the wrong way with his penalty to net his first goal for the club, and put the Terriers in command early on.
Town had plenty of joy in the first half with their pressing as they consistently forced turnovers of possession in Newcastle’s half, with their U21 opponents looking to build their play from the back.
The Terriers continued to threaten as the half hour approached, with Taylor firing over from outside the box, while Harness had a strike blocked on the edge of the area.
Roughan also sent an effort over the bar from distance on the half-hour mark, before the visitors managed to restrict Town for a ten-minute spell.
Taylor headed over the top four minutes before the break, while Castledine’s curling effort from outside the box was beaten away by Harrison.
Despite Town’s dominance, it was the away side who halved the deficit in first-half stoppage time, as Scott Bailey’s strike from a corner took a wicked deflection off Sean Neave and spun into the left-hand corner of Lee Nicholls’ net.
However, the Terriers were able to restore their two-goal lead before the interval, with Taylor sent away and picking out Castledine to slot home less than a minute after Newcastle’s goal, with his strike sending Town in 3-1 up at the break.
Town netted three times in the opening seven minutes after the restart to take the game away from the visitors.
Taylor struck Town’s fourth of the game just two minutes after the break as a loose back pass picked out the forward, who went on to find the target from the edge of the box.
The striker then netted his second and the Terriers’ fifth around three minutes later, checking onto his left foot before firing low past Harrison, before McArthur steered Castledine’s cross past the Newcastle stopper to make it six shortly after.
Town threatened to add to their tally on the hour mark, with Cameron Ashia forcing Harrison into a save, while Kasumu sent his effort wide on the follow-up.
Joe Brayson had a shot blocked for the away side 20 minutes from time, before the visitors struck a consolation with 13 minutes remaining, as Dylan Charlton fired home after being picked out by Neave.
Town pushed for more goals late on, with Jay Sway having a strike kept out by Harrison and Murray Wallace heading wide from the resulting corner.
Alves also fired over on debut in the final ten minutes, while another shot from Wallace had the same outcome.
Ashia had a strike kept out by Harrison in injury-time, as Town went top of their group with a strong opening display.
Following their impressive start, the Terriers will have their sights set on sealing their passage into the next round, with fixtures against Harrogate Town and Mansfield Town still to come.
### How they lined up
**Town:** Nicholls, Sorensen (Sway 53), Wallace (C), Whatmough, Taylor (Radulovic 57), Harness (Alves 53), Roosken (Ashia 57), Kasumu, Roughan (Feeney 83), Castledine, Vost. Unused subs: Goodman, Wiles.
**Newcastle U21s:** Ad Harrison, Heffernan (C), Thompson, McArthur, Al Harrison, Bailey, Charlton, Harper, Neave (Wooster 88), Seung-soo (Brayson 62), Pivas (Watts 55). Unused subs: Taylor, Yildiz, O’Donovan, Waddani.