Ipswich Town manager Mick McCarthy was feeling less vibrant than his team 's bright orange strip after they blew a chance to climb into the play-off places . The Tractor Boys , who have now lost four of their last five away games , were caught cold by goals in the opening 30 minutes by Huddersfield strike pair Nahki Wells and James Vaughan . McCarthy responded by making two changes at half-time and was rewarded when Luke Varney reduced arrears earlier in the second period . Nakhi Wells celebrates after giving his Huddersfield side the lead at the John Smith 's Stadium . James Vaughan ( right ) doubled the lead for the home side and dent Ipswich 's play-off hopes . Huddersfield ( 4-4-2 ) : Smithies ; Smith , Goberin , Hudson , Lynch , James ; Scannell ( Wallace 89 ) , Goberin Coady , Butterfield ; Wells ( Edgar 83 ) , Vaughan ( Lolley 90 ) Goals : Wells 12 , Vaughan 30 . Ipswich : Bialkowski ; Chambers , Smith , Berra , Fryers ; Chaplow ( Bishop 45 ) , Skuse , Tabb ( Williams 67 ) ; Varney , Murphy , Wood ( Sears 45 ) Goal : Varney 48 . Bookings : Smith , Berra . But Ipswich could n't force an equaliser let alone manage the victory that would have seen them leapfrog Brentford into the top six . 'We were poor – nowhere near as competitive as usual , ' said McCarthy . ' I was very angry at half-time and strong words were spoken . ' I had to walk off at the end to calm down slightly rather than shake all the players ' hands . It 's been disappointing , let 's leave it at that . ' Huddersfield , who had n't won in seven matches , went ahead after 12 minutes . Wells capitalised on loose play from Zeki Fryers and curled a left-footer into the corner for his 13th goal of the season . Luke Varney ( centre left ) heads home early in the second half but it was n't enough for Mick McCarthy 's men . After Ipswich 's 23-goal top scorer Daryl Murphy had seen an effort cleared off the line , the home side extended their lead after half-an-hour when James Vaughan rose well to head in Jacob Butterfield 's cross at the far post . Luke Varney headed a goal back after 48 minutes but Huddersfield deservedly held out to leave manager Chris Powell declaring : 'We deserved it . 'Our first-half display was arguably the best we 've played since I 've been here . 'Vaughan and Wells took it to them from minute one . Fortunately for Ipswich 's promotion hopes , three of their remaining five matches are at Portman Road starting with bottom-of-the-table Blackpool on Saturday . McCarthy added : ' I do n't feel happy-slappy at the moment but me and ( assistant ) Terry Connor will watch this game back at seven o'clock in the morning and we 'll start preparing for the next one . ' I do n't have any fears about the response on Saturday . ' McCarthy ( right ) looks down as his side failed to keep up with the pace of their promotion rivals . Freddie Sears ( centre ) and Tommy Smith compete for the ball as Ipswich chased a late equaliser .
Nakhi Wells opened the scoring after an error from on-loan Zeki Fryers . James Vaughan doubled the advantage after seven o'clock in the morning for the home side . Luke Varney pulled one back for Ipswich straight after the break . Ipswich have now lost four out of five away in the Championship .