Kasey Palmer on target to help Coventry beat former club Huddersfield

Posted Sunday, January 29, 2023 by PA

Former Huddersfield loanee Kasey Palmer scored against his old side as Coventry ran out 2-0 winners at the CBS Arena.

The ex-Chelsea academy product spent 18 months on loan in West Yorkshire, making 28 league appearances for the Terriers and scoring four times.

Gustavo Hamer was also on the scoresheet for Mark Robins’ side, who ended a run of five games without victory in the Championship dating back to before Christmas.

There was an added bonus of a clean sheet for the Sky Blues after conceding four goals in each of their last two home outings.

A lacklustre Huddersfield side, sporting the worst away record in the Championship, seldom threatened the Coventry goal and remained in the relegation zone, three points from safety.

Hamer opened the scoring in the 53rd minute, after an uninspiring first half, when he cut inside from the left after a neat one-two with Viktor Gyokeres and unleashed a rasping drive which found the far corner.

Coventry had picked up just one victory since returning from the World Cup break and Swedish star Gyokeres also set up the second, crossing for Palmer to nod home from close range after persistent work on the left in the 71st minute.

The welcome victory also marked the first league win for Coventry over the Terriers since 1972.

It had been a busy week in the transfer window for Coventry as new loan signing Luke McNally made his debut in a back three made up solely of loanees, next to Callum Doyle and Jonathan Panzo.

The Terriers had also been busy on the transfer front and despite naming an unchanged line-up from the last-minute heartbreak at Hull 14 days ago, new signings Joe Hungbo and Florian Kamberi came off the bench to make their league debuts.

Burnley loanee McNally was in action at both ends, throwing himself in front of a Jack Rudoni free-kick before heading Hamer’s corner over the bar.

Hamer had earlier seen a long-range effort beaten away by stand-in Terriers goalkeeper Nicholas Bilokapic.

Mark Fotheringham’s men were unable to trouble Ben Wilson in the Coventry goal, Jordan Rhodes heading a Duane Holmes cross into the welcoming arms of the Sky Blues stopper before repeating the feat in the second half from Josh Ruffels’ cross.

Matt Godden and Josh Eccles also came off the bench to make their first Coventry appearances since October and December respectively, the former testing Bilokapic with a low effort which the Australian rebuffed with his feet.