Facts

Huddersfield Town fell to a 3-0 defeat at Charlton Athletic as Chris Powell's return to his former stomping ground turned into a nightmare for the Terriers.

Johann Berg Gudmundsson's stunning first-half free-kick put Town on the back foot and they never truly recovered, with the brilliant Tony Watt taking advantage of some slack defending to net a brace.

The Terriers came closest through Murray Wallace at 2-0 down when his close-range effort was pawed away by Stephen Henderson, but Town were well beaten.

Town team (3-4-1-2): Smithies; Edgar (Smith, 64), Hudson, Wallace; Scannell, Butterfield, Hogg (Coady, 64), Robinson; Bunn (Lolley, 73); Miller, Vaughan. Not used: Murphy, Carroll, Gobern, Majewski.

Analysis

Defence found badly wanting - Coming off the back of the 3-0 midweek win over Reading and after some impressive showings on the road, Town were expected to give a good account of themselves and prove the strides they have made under their new manager.

But this performance harked back to some familiar failings in this Town side as they set up naively in defence and were run ragged by a dynamic frontline of Igor Vetokele, Watt and Gudmundsson.

Main man

Jacob Butterfield - Difficult to call, as none of the players did themselves justice on a bitterly disappointing afternoon, but the midfield schemer just about shaded it for a typically slick midfield display.

He failed to offer enough protection defensively but certainly could not be faulted for the want of trying to get his side on the front foot and he constantly probed the hosts' defence.

Bigger picture

Inconsistency comes back to hurt Town - Who could have forecast this result following a win by the same margin in midweek?

It underlines the nature of the beast that is the Championship and Powell has been quick to point that out when assessing how his side have performed so far this season so perhaps we shouldn't be surprised.

But having moved into the top half after that Reading win and with a push up the table being discussed all of a sudden, this was a horrible reality check so soon after and showed Town still have lessons to learn in this unforgiving division.

Game in a tweet