Middlesbrough stunned at struggling Huddersfield

Last updated on .From the section Championship

Relegation-threatened Huddersfield produced a stunning second-half fightback to beat Middlesbrough and dent their automatic promotion hopes.

The hosts led moments later when Josh Koroma curled a shot into the corner before Matty Pearson added a quickfire double as below-par Boro collapsed.

The visitors had a goal ruled out for handball before Chuba Akpom headed a consolation from Riley McGree's cross for his 26th goal of the season.

It left Boro six points adrift of second-placed Sheffield United having played a game more, while the Terriers move level on points with Cardiff City in 21st place,

With the Blades goalless at Norwich at half-time, Middlesbrough went into the break just a point off the automatic promotion places, but fortunes had changed dramatically by the hour mark as Huddersfield's three-goal burst in 12 minutes preceded United going ahead at Norwich.

Instead, a third defeat in their last six away matches leaves Michael Carrick's side with an uphill task to overhaul a six-point deficit to the top two with seven games left.

Down at the bottom, back-to-back wins have given Neil Warnock's side hope of avoiding the drop - now only in the bottom three on goal difference.

Town went close to an early lead when Koroma's shot was cleared off the line by Darragh Lenihan as Boro struggled for fluency, but they were on course for a ninth win in 11 when Cameron Archer squared for Forss to fire them in front.

Huddersfield had scored just twice in their previous four games, but blew the visitors away with an unlikely four-goal burst in 20 minutes.

Ruffels burst from full-back to go one-to-one and finish emphatically, and moments later Danny Ward's cross found Koroma to put the hosts in front.

The carnage continued apace when Michal Helik was allowed to head a corner back across goal for Pearson to bundle in, and then arrived at the back post to tuck in Ward's deflected cross.

Akpom headed in his customary goal - scoring for the fifth consecutive game - to cut the deficit.

Yet hopes of producing the game's second stunning fightback proved beyond Carrick's side, who next face a crucial clash with runaway leaders Burnley at the Riverside on Friday.

"I thought Middlesbrough were actually better than us first half, but they still never really had a shot that Tomas (Vaclik) had to save so we were alright, we just weren't positive enough. So we just had to reiterate what we had been working on all week about how positive we are.

"The goal actually lifted the whole place, it was a fabulous sound and they just drove us on really.

"That's as good a result as I've had in my whole career - I've not had many better than that.

"I think there's six or seven teams in (the relegation battle), I've always thought that. Watford away and Blackburn are two difficult games so let's see where we are, but we're in the pack again now."

"We thought the first goal would be important for us, and we were quite content with the way the game had gone and the position we were in, but we wanted to be better in the second half.

"Then we came out and gave them the goal, really, and then they go again and again and before you know it, before the boys could take a breath and get to grips with it, they had a lot of chasing to do. It was a crazy 15 minutes and that's what's cost us.

"Of course we had to be better, there's no hiding from that. There were things we could have done a lot better to avoid what happened in that spell, but it's the first time it's happened to us and we'll have to learn from it."