Cheltenham Town striker Lloyd Owusu was denied a dream start to his Whaddon Road career after Huddersfield Town came from a goal behind to condemn Keith Downing’s side to a third consecutive defeat.

Owusu scored a bullet header on his debut to cap a fine first-half performance from a strong-looking Robins side, which also included another debutant in the form of Josh Low.

Huddersfield rallied after the break, however, and equalised in controversial circumstances. Referee Jarnail Singh awarded the Terriers a corner after David Unsworth’s powerful shot had cannoned behind off the crossbar – and not off the gloves of goalkeeper Shane Higgs.

From the resulting set-piece, defender Nathan Clarke capitalised on slack defending to poke a loose ball home from close-range to leave the Cheltenham bench brimming with rage.

The goal gave Stan Ternant’s men the momentum to take the lead – and soon after they did, again as a result of poor defending at a corner. 

This time the ball was cleared as far as the edge of the box only for midfielder Ian Craney to arrow a vicious shot past Higgs with just over 20 minutes remaining to leave Cheltenham bottom of the table.

That will stick in Downing’s throat after watching his side dominate proceedings in an encouraging first-half before the referee offered Huddersfield an avenue of opportunity to mount a fightback.

Higgs was forced to make two fine saves from Huddersfield duo Kiegan Parker and Liam Dickinson to keep the deficit to one goal.

Cheltenham also had chances to equalise in the frantic final stages but Owusu headed wide a good chance from an Alex Russell free-kick before Terriers goalkeeper Matt Glennon was well positioned to stop a powerful effort from substitute Dean Sinclair.  

Cheltenham Town (4-4-2): Higgs; Gill, Townsend, Caines, Wright; Low, Russell (Sinclair 75), Bird, Myrie-Williams; Hayles (Vincent 79), Owusu. Subs not used: S P Brown, Armstrong, Lindegaard.

Huddersfield Town (4-4-2): Glennon; Holdsworth, Clarke, Lucketti; Roberts, Craney, Collins, Flynn; Dickinson, Jevons (Parker 53). Subs not used: Skarz, Worthington, Goodwin, Beckett.