The Town slipped to a fourth straight league defeat as Ryan Ledson’s goal from his own half earned 10-man Huddersfield victory and leave the Hatters six points adrift of the top six.

In a game of few chances for either side, the major talking point came shortly before the half-hour when Terriers striker Alfie May was shown a straight red card for pulling the hair of Kasey Palmer.

The Hatters ended the first half in the ascendency with their man advantage, but it was a different story in the second when the hosts took the lead two minutes after the break thanks to an outrageous effort from skipper Ledson.

Mads Andersen’ pass out of defence searching for Liam Walsh was intercepted by Ledson who immediately arrowed a drilled 50-yard over the head of Josh Keeley and into the net to spark wild scenes of celebration.

Huddersfield, who beat Peterborough on Saturday having also played the last 30 minutes with 10 men, then held on for victory thanks to a solid defensive display as the Town struggled to make their numerical advantage count.

The hosts came close to adding to their tally when Radinio Balker sent a free header onto the crossbar on 62 minutes before then sending another effort over the bar from six yards eight minutes later.

The Hatters forced their first save out of home stopper Lee Nicholls with 19 minutes left on the clock when captain Jordan Clark’s snapshot from the edge of the box was parried to safety.

And, as time ticked down, the Town continued to push for an equaliser and one almost arrived on 75 minutes when Huddersfield hacked clear the danger from inside the six-yard box with Nahki Wells looking to net against his former employers.

Ali Al-Hamadi joined the fray for his second appearance in Hatters colours for the final quarter-of-an-hour and the striker added an extra dimension to the Town’s attack.

The Town came close to levelling when Clark sent an exquisite first-time effort a whisker wide of the target following Joe Johnson’s cross but with every passing minute the home side’s defence grew stronger.

Seven added minutes were signalled come the end of the 90 but the Hatters, despite sending on Lamine Fanne and Emilio Lawrence in a bid to force a late, late leveller, could not force an equaliser and were left to reflect on another disappointing outing away from Kenilworth Road.

It’s back-to-back home games now for the Hatters starting with the visit of Blackpool on Saturday.

See you then.

Town: Keeley, Lonwijk, Johnson, Mengi, Andersen (sub Wells 60), Walsh, Palmer (sub Al-Hamadi 76), Bramall (sub Fanne 86), Kodua (sub Lawrence 86), Richards (sub Morris 60), Clark.

Subs not used: Shea, Naismith.

Attendance: 15,367, including over 450 shouting for the Town.