Reading FC and Huddersfield Town shared irritating Benik Afobe problem: View | OneFootball

All players love to get one over on their former clubs, but when you that group of teams stretches into double figures the odds are you’re going to find the net against them at some point.

That was the case with Benik Afobe, who featured for both Huddersfield Town and Reading during his early years coming up through the Arsenal academy system, with a number of loans peppering his early days in the game.

The duo must have been regretting taking a chance on the forward in the early stages of his career later down the line though, as his experience and ability to sniff out chances came back to haunt them time and time again.

With five goals against both sides over the course of a storied EFL career, the Terriers and the Royals must have both hated coming face to face with a blast from their respective pasts, as he continued to torment them for years to come.

Benik Afobe goal scoring record vs Huddersfield Town and Reading FC

Like so many attendees of a Premier League academy, Afobe’s early career consisted of a number of loans across the EFL, with his spells with the aforementioned clubs followed by stints at Bolton Wanderers, Millwall, Sheffield Wednesday and MK Dons.

After firing his first goal against Reading while with Wednesday, it was with the latter of the four that he really started to make his name, with a brace in a historic 4-0 victory over Manchester United in the EFL Cup further adding to his reputation as one of the Football League’s hottest strikers.

It was at that point that the Gunners decided to cash in on their forward, with Wolverhampton Wanderers spending £2 million to make him their man in the January of 2015 as they searched for promotion back to the Premier League.

This gave the striker the perfect opportunity to hone his goalscoring abilities in the second tier, and

both sides were soon to feel his wrath before the end of the season, with his second goal for the club coming in a 2-1 defeat to the Royals.

13 goals in 21 league matches between January and the end of the season proved just how scintillating the striker was at this point in his career, with his first strike against Town coming just days later in a 4-1 victory at the John Smith’s Stadium.

This was an Afobe at the peak of his powers, and the following season he continued where he left off; with another red-hot start to the season, and yet more goals against Huddersfield.

The forward gobbled up the chance put on a plate for him by Adam Le Fondre around the hour mark, before settling the affair as a contest with a clinical strike on the break two minutes from time to seal a 3-0 win.

Second tier defences could be heard giving a collective sigh of relief when AFC Bournemouth took the striker to the Premier League in the January of 2016, with the Democratic Republic of Congo international continuing to find the net in the top flight for the Cherries.

But with opportunities of first team football proving to be at a premium at the Vitality Stadium, an emotional return to Molineux followed in the January two years later, and we all know what that means, don’t we?

Back in the Championship, back in the goals. Another strike against Reading to boost the confidence, as he netted six times before the end of the season, before his nomadic career landed him at Stoke City.

Life with the Potters was never straight forward, as the striker’s goalscoring touch seeming to elude him with just nine goals in his time in Staffordshire, although he still managed to get his customary goal against the Berkshire side.

Benik Afobe later career: Bristol City, Trabzonspor, Millwall

With his suitcases being packed more times than he found the back of the net, Afobe made the move from the bet365 Stadium to Ashton Gate to turn out for Bristol City, before making the move to Turkey with Trabzonspor to try to rediscover some much-needed form.

He was still a Stoke City player at this time, and the next season they offloaded him once again to fellow Championship side Millwall, and with a return to England came more goals against two familiar foes.

You just don’t lose that feeling of knowing where the ball is going to end up, and Afobe showed that with his strike against the Royals upon his return to England, as he stole away into the penalty area to convert Ryan Leonard’s centre.

It’s the sort of goal that sums the striker up in a nutshell; that presence of mind to elude his marker, and sniff out a chance at the earliest opportunity, and a tried and tested method that worked so well for him over the years.

He saved his best for last against the pair though, with a brace against Huddersfield to come in that 2021/22 campaign, and the second of which was a strike any goal-getter would be proud of.

Seizing on a headed clearance in the penalty area, the striker swivels on the spot and unleashes an unstoppable volley past Lee Nicholls into the corner; and once again cementing his status as Huddersfield Town tormentor-in-chief.

Having left Bermondsey in the January of last year, Afobe now plays his football in the Middle East for Hatta Club, who compete in the United Arab Emirates First Division, much to the relief of two clubs in particular.