First-half goals from Jacob Butterfield and Harry Bunn were enough to give the visitors all three points, despite a late strike from Cox setting up a tense finish.

Reading went close to grabbing a point when Alex Pearce's chipped effort hit the crossbar but it wasn't to be as the visitors held on.

In truth, an equaliser would've been undeserved for the Royals, who didn't register a shot on target until the 75th minute.

It was a night of frustration for Adkins' men as they had large spells of possession but failed to create against a well organised Huddersfield side.

One positive for the hosts was that three players made their full league debut for the club, with Aaron Kuhl, Jamie Mackie and Craig Tanner all introduced by Adkins.

Kuhl came on at half-time and was particularly impressive in the centre of the park, but it wasn't enough to change the outcome of the game, with the damage all but done by that point.

The Terriers took the lead in the 10th minute from a loose Michael Hector pass which was seized upon by Butterfield and finished expertly with a curled effort that zipped past Federici in the Royals goal.

Hector had tried to play it to Hope Akpan but left it short which allowed the central midfielder to nip in and put the visitors ahead early on.

Reading had a lot of possession after that as the visitors sat back and soaked up the pressure, looking to break at every opportunity with the lively Nakhi Wells a constant threat.

And it was the visitors who grabbed the second goal in the 37th minute when Harry Bunn shrugged off Chris Gunter and was given all the time in the world to slide the ball into the far right-hand corner to score on his full Football League debut.

Reading pushed on in the second-half but failed to test Alex Smithies in the Huddersfield goal until late on.

Cox was the main attacking threat all night for the Royals and he got his reward in the 79th minute when he cut inside and fired a low shot through a crowd of bodies to reduce the deficit.

Alex Pearce then came close to grabbing an unlikely point but it wasn't to be as the Royals fell to their first defeat of the season.

Reading Federici; Gunter (C); Pearce; Pogrebnyak; Cox; Obita; Hector; Akpan; Blackman (Mackie 64); Cummings (Kuhl 45)

; Taylor (Tanner 69) Subs not used: McCarthy; Tshibola; Edwards.

Huddersfield Town Smithies; Dixon; Hogg; Scannell; Butterfield (Majewski 90); Coady; Wallace; Wells (Stead 83); Smith; Bunn (Sinnott 90); Lynch (C). Subs not used: Murphy; Holmes; Hammill; Crooks.

Referee: Stuart Attwell

Attendance: 15,035. (481 Huddersfield)