Huddersfield took Sky Bet Championship leaders Brighton apart as they cruised to a 3-1 victory at the John Smith's Stadium on Thursday night.

Tommy Smith's early goal for the Terriers was cancelled out by Tomer Hemed, but Nahki Wells and Elias Kachunga struck before the break to put David Wagner's side well in control.

Brighton started the night with the chance to extend their lead at the top to four points after Newcastle slipped up on Wednesday, but things went from bad to worse for Chris Hughton's side as they saw Lewis Dunk dismissed in the second half.

Image: Nahki Wells scoring Huddersfield's second

They do remain a point clear of the Magpies, however, while Huddersfield extended their gap over Sheffield Wednesday in seventh to six points.

Both sides made a raft of changes from their FA Cup matches at the weekend, but it was Huddersfield who started by far the brighter. After just nine minutes they had the lead, as Smith cut in from the right, saw his attempted pass into the middle come straight back to him before he curled the ball home.

Image: Elias Kachunga celebrates scoring Huddersfield's third

The Terriers continued to dominate, with Aaron Mooy in the middle running the game. But it was his error that allowed Brighton to level after 20 minutes, with a loose headed pass releasing Hemed in on goal, and he rounded the goalkeeper before calmly finishing.

The setback didn't dispel the home side, though, and they were back in front after 36 minutes. It came in slightly fortuitous circumstances as Beram Kayal's sliding challenge nudged the ball into the path of Wells, but there was nothing lucky about the finish as he turned just inside the area and slammed it past David Stockdale.

Image: Huddersfield Town's Jonathan Hogg (right) and Brighton's Biram Kayal in action

Brighton thought they were level again just before the break as Glenn Murray headed in from a free-kick only to be flagged for offside, but seconds later they were 3-1 behind.

Stockdale has been in superb form lately for Brighton, but he would have been hugely disappointed as his attempt at a save from a Wells strike in the third minute of first-half stoppage time only travelled as far as Kachunga at the far post, who had the simplest of jobs to nod it into the net.

Hughton threw on Chuba Akpom for his debut in the second half, following his loan move from Arsenal, but any hopes of a comeback were ended after 67 minutes when Dunk was given his marching orders, as his late, lunging tackle on Izzy Brown saw him pick up a second yellow card.

Huddersfield boss David Wagner:

"It wasn't our aim to make a statement, it was only our aim to perform the way we are able to and i think the boys did fantastic, especially in the first half. We played with high speed, high tempo and were on the front foot. We totally deserved the result.

"Brighton have only conceded 18 goals so far this season [before tonight] and are top of the league, this makes the result and the performance bigger. It was a great day for us.

"We scored three good goals, but what makes me proud is the style we did. We stuck to our identity. It was very uncomfortable today to play against us."

Brighton boss Chris Hughton:

"We never turned up and played well enough in a football match where we couldn't get away with what we attempted to get away with. We lost to by far the better side.

"At 1-1 we got ourselves back in the game, which was probably fortunate, but then you've got to have that period of stability to grow into the game and we never did.

"No complaints, every team will have days like this, where for whatever reason they're not at the races, and that was us today."