Stoke 4-3 Huddersfield: Potters triumph in seven-goal thriller

Tyrese Campbell scored a brace to take Stoke within a point of the SkyBet Championship play-off positions after a end-to-end game against Huddersfield Town.

Five goals in a frantic 20 minute first-half spell saw both sides take the lead only to be pegged back in a exciting match in bleak weather conditions.

The victory sees Michael O'Neills men climb to seventh in the table whereas the visitors drop to 16th despite scoring three goals at the bet365 stadium.

Story of the game

After a quiet opening period to the match for both sides, Huddersfield almost gifted The Potters an early goal when veteran defender Richard Stearman passed the ball directly to Stoke playmaker Nick Powell 20 yards from goal.

Powell’s turn and shot from the edge of the box barely tested Terriers goalkeeper Joel Pereira. However, it was a sign of the action to come.

After 25 minutes the game exploded into life and it was the visitors who made the breakthrough. The impressive Carel Eiting expertly met a pinpoint cross from Harry Toffolo after good work on the Huddersfield left to make it 1-0.

The lead did not last long however as the home side found the equaliser within five minutes.

Sam Clucas drifted in a free-kick from the left which was nodded down by Scottish forward Steven Fletcher to the penalty spot where Tyrese Campbell was lurking, Campbell scored a powerful right footed drive for his fifth goal of the season.

Three minutes later Campbell struck again. Terriers captain Jonathon Hogg was robbed of the ball by the harrying Powell, he found Fletcher who slipped a incisive ball down the inside left channel for Campbell, his powerful effort went through the legs of the goalkeeper to fire The Potters into the lead.

There wasn't much time for Stoke to celebrate however as seven minutes later Eiting played a clever ball behind the Stoke defence to find Isaac Mbenza in space, he drilled his first time shot beyond the onrushing Josef Bursik to level the tie after 40 minutes.

More drama followed before half time when Huddersfield overplayed the ball at the back, the pressing Stoke front line forced goalkeeper Pereira into a poor pass which found Campbell at the edge of the box, his chipped cross was turned into his own net by Stearman to give The Potters the lead at the break.

After a frenzied end to the first half it took 12 minutes of the second to produce another goal, this time the home side extended their lead.

Returning Stoke captain Clucas picked up the ball at the corner of the penalty area and ran at the Huddersfield defence, after some skillfull footwork Clucas fired a left footed piledriver past the helpless Pereira to make it 4-2.

However it didn't take long for the visitors to reply once more. Two minutes later Mbenza's whipped free-kick found the towering centre-half Naby Sarr unmarked in the Stoke box, his free header left no chance for Bursik and brought The Terriers back into the game again.

The game had seen seven goals in a frantic 60 minutes of action but there was to be no equalising goal for Huddersfield in the next 30.

Both sides took advantage of the new five substitutions rule to freshen some tired legs late in the game but The Potters held on for an important victory.

Takeaways from the match

Stoke and Huddersfield seem to enjoy scoring goals against one another. The last two matches between the sides have yielded an incredible 14 goals: nine for The Potters and five for The Terriers.

Whilst Stoke took all three points from this match and continued their impressive start to the season, Huddersfield have shown they are capable of scoring goals away from home and were unlucky to lose the match.

Stand-out player - Tyrese Campbell

The 20-year-old forward continues his incisive start to the campaign scoring his fifth and sixth goals of the season. His direct running and accurate finishing again caused problems for Championship defenders and will surely be catching the eyes of watching Premier League scouts.