Bristol City came out on the right side of a seven-goal thriller at Ashton Gate as they defeated Huddersfield Town 5-2 to move up to fifth in the Sky Bet Championship.

Goals from Josh Brownhill, Niclas Eliasson and Ashley Williams, in addition to an own goal, capped off a brilliant half of football that saw City 4-1 ahead at half-time, Karlan Grant scoring for the visitors.

Andreas Weimann netted shortly after the restart, and whilst Juninho Bacuna found the net with a consolation goal in the 57th-minute, the three points had long been secured for the men from the West Country.

Story of the match

The deadlock was broken in the 11th minute by the hosts, with Brownhill - on his 150th appearance for the club - putting his side in the lead.

The midfielder combined well with Huddersfield academy graduate Jack Hunt down the right-hand side to work an opening for Hunt. The right-back's low ball into the box yielded two shots that were both blocked, however it was third time lucky as Brownhill saw his shot deflect past goalkeeper Kamil Grabara and into the net.

They thought they had doubled their lead almost instantly from kick-off, but Famara Diedhiou was adjudged to be offside after Grabara had spilt Andreas Weimann's shot straight into his path.

The visitors were not without their chances, though.

Grant came close three times in five minutes but was prevented twice by goalkeeper Daniel Bentley  - the first of which was a flying stop to palm behind Grant's quickly-taken strike on the half-volley from 20-yards out - with a miscued volley falling in-between.

City were rampant with every attack, causing problems with their pace and width, and doubled their lead on the half-hour mark. 

A short corner was worked to Eliasson, and the Swede comprehensively beat his man before standing up a ball to the back post.

Amid the melee of onrushing bodies, Terriers defender Terence Kongolo inadvertently bundled the ball into his own net - yet had he not done so, the same outcome would surely have been reached by one of the Robins' men waiting behind him.

However, the away side looked to have found themselves a lifeline in the 35th minute, with lively striker Grant running untracked in-behind the City defence and firing a shot past Bentley to give his side some hope - but that did not last long.

Less than a minute later Brownhill advanced with the ball down the right, and his chipped cross fell straight to the head of Eliasson ten-yards out at the back post who nodded high past Grabara for his side's third of the afternoon.

Huddersfield were clearly shell-shocked by their sudden crash back down to earth, which was heightened further when City notched their fourth goal in only the 40th minute.

Creator-in-chief Eliasson was yet again the provider, and yet again he easily beat his man before delivering a cross into the box. His ball was met by the head of central defender Ashley Williams, who crashed home to put the home side in cruise control heading into the break.

The message from Town manager Danny Cowley at the interval would surely have been to try and contain their hosts as they sought for a route back in the match.

He would have therefore been tearing his hair out when Weimann ran onto a neat ball slipped behind the Huddersfield defence in the 49th-minute, before rounding the goalkeeper and slotting home from an acute angle.

Perhaps understandably that goal relaxed the hosts, and they took their foot off the gas from thereon. 

This allowed Huddersfield to grow into the game - albeit clearly too late to cause any real change to the destination of the points - yet Bacuna was able to reduce arrears when he smashed home across Bentley into the bottom corner having been teed up by Elia Kachunga after a good run by substitute Josh Koroma.

Takeaways from the match

Eliasson shows his devastating capabilities

With one goal and eight assists from his 15 appearances this season, the pacy wideman is showing just how dangerous he can be to Championship defences. 

However, staggeringly, he has started only four games this season.

He possesses the speed, trickery and control to terrorise almost any defender in the division, as this match demonstrated. They must show him an element of trust to believe he can perform for 90 minutes.

City will be hoping that he can continue the form he showed here - but if he does, he surely will not remain at this standard of football for long.

Terriers must show a greater desire to defend

With the relegation scrap they are in, the only way Huddersfield will ensure they pull themselves away from the wrong end of the table will be to show guts, hunger and a real yearn to grind out results.

These characteristics have seen their levels improve dramatically following the appointment of Cowley, but here there was a distinct lack of a fight to defend their goal; the goals they conceded were meek and preventable from their point of view. With the predicament they are in, they need to erase these errors from their game if they wish to progress up the table.

Massengo belies his tender years

Bought for a fee believed to be £7.2 million in the summer, young midfielder Han-Noah Massengo is a player who defies his age of 18 in his performances.

The teenager dominated the ball here, making his side tick constantly with coolness and composure on the ball, whilst also showing extreme maturity out of possession for a man so young. 

To be trusted with being his side's main pivote shows how highly manager Lee Johnson believes in him - as does the fee he spent on the Frenchman when purchasing him from Monaco - and he seems to be flourishing under the responsibility. Brought in to replace talismanic former captain Marlon Pack, who left for local rivals Cardiff City, he has more than filled his boots. A star in the making.

Player of the match - Niclas Eliasson

The winger was at his dynamic best to help his side to their biggest win of the season.

Utilising his electric pace, supersonic feet and direct running he gave the Huddersfield defence nightmares. At the heart of almost all of their attacking brilliance.

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