Huddersfield 1-5 Fulham

Fulham hit five in a strong Huddersfield performance on Saturday afternoon.

Aleksandar Mitrović's bizarre opener got the ball rolling, before Bobby De Cordova-Reid claimed a hattrick of assists, dishing up to Josh Onomah, Fabio Carvalho and Ivan Cavaleiro - the latter netting a brilliant brace after being subbed on late.

Marco Silva named two changes from Middlesbrough in his first Championship away day with Fulham. De Cordova-Reid and Jean Michaël Seri entered the action in place of Neeskens Kebano and Tyrese Francois, in an elsewhere unmoved line-up.

There was a rapturous applause as the two teams entered the field at a packed-out John Smith’s, with Fulham sporting the brand new all-black away strip for the first time.

It didn’t take long for us to find our rhythm, and 90 seconds in the woodwork was all that stood between us and the opener. After a lung-busting run forward from the left, Antonee Robinson squared Onomah on the edge of the box, who sent a finessed curler towards the bottom right, requiring a smart parry onto the post from Ryan Schofield in goal.

Like the crowd, the start to the game was lively, and soon it was Huddersfield’s turn to come close. After a corner was headed towards goal and blocked, the ball was teed up for Matty Pearson to stroke home from close quarters. The offside flag was promptly raised though, and the scoreline remained untouched.

You couldn’t take your eyes off this one, and before long there was more drama in the form of one of the strangest goals you’re likely to see going in Fulham’s favour on 9 minutes. After a rogue backpass from 40-yards, Schofield panicked and inadvertently sent the ball out to Mitrović. Our big man slipped at the vital occasion, but somehow still managed to bound the ball home as he fell.

Moments later and our Serbian talisman could’ve made it a quickfire brace. Bringing the ball under control effortlessly from a floated header through the middle, he blasted at goal on the half-volley, but this time Schofield got behind it to block.

The game settled for the next 20 minutes to balance out the frantic opening, as Silva’s side kept the ball and knocked about some tidy stuff to assert their dominance on proceedings.

This control was almost rewarded just after the half-hour mark as Mitrović caused trouble for the Terriers yet again. After a flowing passing move, Harry Wilson floated in a delicious delivery with his left cutting in from the right and Mitro made no mistake planting it home, only for it to be called offside.

The pressure was relentless from the Whites in the search for a second, and after some dynamic dribbling from Carvalho, our youngster played it across for Wilson, who saw his effort kiss the wrong side of the post and head wide.

This was quickly cleared from the memory though, as Fulham were to double their advantage moments later. From another luscious left-footed Wilson delivery from the right, the ball was flicked on by De Cordova-Reid and bundled across the line from inches out by Josh Onomah, and there was a deserved cushion on the scoreboard.

But of course the way this game was going, this cushion wasn’t to last long. Another corner up the other end ended with Pearson prodding a header into the net and it was again back to a one-goal advantage for Fulham.

60 seconds later on 42 minutes and you guessed it – another goal... on Fulham’s tally. Onomah surged up the field as he seemed to carry the game on his back and eventually got his pass off to De Cordova-Reid. Some neat footwork from our Jamaican international bought him a yard in the box and allowed him to nudge the ball into the path of Carvalho, who slid his shot low and hard into the net.

After a manic first half, Fulham went into the break 3-1 to the good much to the delight of the travelling Fulham faithful, who were certainly making their voices heard.

There was a contrasting calmness to the opening of the second half as our quality was seeing us through comfortably enough with little Huddersfield resistance.

De Cordova-Reid, who already had a pair of assists to his name, had a pop at goal himself on 56 minutes, cutting in from the left and shooting from range, but this time it was comfortable enough for Schofield.

Moments later and Carlos Coberán’s side had their first effort of the half also. Sorba Thomas made a driven run down their left and played it to Josh Koroma, who managed to drop the shoulder and move inside before firing off a shot, but Paulo Gazzaniga collected confidently.

The travelling contingent were orchestrating as their Fulham team flourished on the pitch now, and soon went close to adding a fourth goal.

Onomah made another bullish run through the heart of the Terrier’s defence before giving it to Carvalho who shot first time down the barrel at Schofield. The rebound fell to Wilson who struck a venomous strike towards goal, cannoning off the crossbar to avoid inflicting further pain to the home side.

The next episode in the drama of this contest was to be a red card to our Welshman Wilson. After he was fouled on the touchline, he was adjudged to have kicked out at his opponent and was sent down the tunnel early.

Silva responded with a double swap, as Frank Anguissa and Ivan Cavaleiro replaced the influential Carvalho and Onomah as Fulham had to gear up for life with 10-men.

And it didn’t take long for them to settle. Just seconds after coming on, Cavaleiro turned on the burners down the middle and latched onto a delightful De Cordova-Reid ball, bringing it down and delicately dinking over Schofield into the net. Cue eruptions in the Fulham end…

In the dying seconds we bagged a fifth. After great work from Mitrović to slot in Cavaleiro again, he took his man for a spin and fired into the bottom corner to cap off a fantastic day in the office.

It really was a performance to be proud of from the Whites and sees us onto four points from a possible six. Onto Millwall at The Den on Tuesday evening.