Huddersfield’s winning run finally came to an end after a deeply disappointing 25-21 defeat at Broadstreet in a game they had looked comfortable in.
After such a storming start to 2015, Gareth Lewis and his men were hoping the stretch the run to seven wins in a row but a poor second half performance coupled with a much improved Broadstreet saw the home side overturn a 13-point half-time deficit.
Huddersfield made a positive start to the match, immediately putting a nervous looking home side on the backfoot and taking the lead after Joel Hinchliffe’s fourth minute penalty.
After holding out from Huddersfield’s bright start, Broadstreet hit back with a penalty of their own on 12 minutes through Ben Palmer, which was quickly cancelled out by another Hinchliffe pen four minutes later.
There was a sense of agitation in the home crowd which seemed to transfer onto the pitch and Huddersfield took full advantage of this and a sin-bin to score the first try on 26 minutes, a great passing move finding David Hall on the right wing who carried the ball well and switched to Ben Hoyle to finish the attack.
Hinchliffe completed the conversion and Huddersfield began to regain their early momentum, winning another penalty three minutes later, Hinchliffe again scoring to make it 13-3 in Huddersfield’s favour.
They kept hold of the lead till half-time, with Broadstreet not looking likely to trouble them and another win in sight.
The home side looked much improved after the break and scored an early try with Nathan Tilsley scrambling the ball over, Ben Palmer converting.
From there Broadstreet looked to put Huddersfield under serious pressure with the away side yet to get going in the half, but holding out defensively.
However, it was just a matter of time till the breakthrough and it finally came on 58 minutes when Nick Thatcher broke through the defence to score, Palmer’s conversion putting Broadstreet in the lead for the first time.
Another try followed soon after with Sam Gibbons finding space on the right-hand side to increase the lead to 22-16.
Having looked so comfortable at half-time, Huddersfield were suddenly in disarray and were now looking second-best to the resurgent home side in every department.
A Broadstreet penalty was scored by Palmer on with 15 minutes remaining to increase the lead further, the game now looking over as a contest.
Huddersfield had to improve to stand any sort of chance of a comeback and started to finally apply pressure to the Broadstreet defence again.
They clawed a try back on 76 minutes, a great push seeing Nick Sharpe over the line to pull the score back to 25-21.
Huddersfield now sought desperately to complete a dramatic comeback and pushed Broadstreet further and further back towards their own try line.
Had the game continued for five more minutes it seemed likely that Huddersfield would have scored but unfortunately they didn’t have that luxury and the referee blew up to give Broadstreet a vital win and finally end Huddersfield’s memorable winning run.
Huddersfield
Hodson, Knight, Hodgson, Owen, Hall, Hinchliffe, Jeffrey, Purcell, Thornton, Sanderson, Rhodes, Thompson, Malthouse, Hoyle, Sharpe
Subs: Morrill, Wood, Battye, Rawsthorne, Walker (H)
