Sheffield Wednesday and Birmingham City will smell blood after 8 minutes of chaos at Huddersfield: View | OneFootball

Huddersfield Town's survival hopes took a major blow on Tuesday night when they were defeated 4-1 away to Preston North End.

It looked as if André Breitenreiter's side were going to come away with a valuable point away to a play-off contender, but the Terriers completely fell apart during an eight-minute spell where they conceded three goals to lose the game.

With just minutes left to play, Preston striker Milutin Osmajic scored to make it 2-1, the big Montengro international striker then scored again on 87 minutes to seal the win for the Lilywhites, before he really rubbed in when he scored his hat-trick in the second minute of added time.

Huddersfield were quite understandably shell shocked, and it's hard to see how Breitenreiter can pick his players up after such a collapse.

The result meant that the Terriers are outside the relegation zone due to their goal difference, and clubs around them will believe they can overtake them with just four games left.

Sheffield Wednesday and Birmingham will smell blood after Huddersfield's collapse

Had Huddersfield held on for all three points, or at least one point at Deepdale, it would have opened a gap, albeit just one point, ahead of Sheffield Wednesday, and they'd have gone two points ahead of Birmingham City.

However, not only did their collapse mean they came away empty-handed, but morale in the Terriers' camp will surely be low after falling apart in that manner.

To make matters worse for Huddersfield, Wednesday, who were 2-0 down at home to Norwich, came back to pick up a point, which means the two sides are now level on points.

Had Wednesday failed to win and Huddersfield held on for a point, they'd now be two points ahead of the Owls and that could have been all important come May 4th.

You need a bit of luck in a relegation battle, and this could be the bit of luck that both Birmingham and Sheffield Wednesday need to survive relegation.

The Terriers play Birmingham on the penultimate weekend of the season, and both sides will be aware of how important that fixture is and Gary Rowett's side will be hoping the Terriers' midweek collapse has long-lasting effects on them.

It's set to go to the wire in the Championship relegation battle, and every point counts. Huddersfield can't afford to drop points in that manner again if they're to have any chance of staying up.

Huddersfield supporters will be looking over their shoulders

When André Breitenreiter was appointed as the club's boss in the middle of February, expectations were that the club would improve and begin to pull away from relegation. That's not been the case.

The club have won just twice since the German's appointment and have fared no better than Darren Moore did.

In Breitenreiter's defence, he hasn't had a transfer window to bring the players in he wanted, and in hindsight, perhaps Moore should have been sacked earlier, so Huddersfield's new boss had time to bring in the players he wanted.

Looking at the Terriers' final four games, they do have some winnable fixtures. As mentioned above, the game against Birmingham provides the perfect chance to pick up all three points, and clashes against sides such as Bristol City and Swansea may prove fruitful with either side having little to play for.

The final game of the season sees them visiting promotion-chasing Ipswich in a game that could have huge implications at both ends of the table, and Huddersfield supporters will want their survival ordeal to be decided by then.