Nahki Wells fired in his first hat-trick for Huddersfield Town to help them to a 5-3 win after extra time away to Chesterfield in the first round of the Capital One Cup yesterday.

With the mood around Huddersfield still sombre after a 4-0 hammering by Bournemouth in their home opener last Saturday, and the departure of manager Mark Robins the next morning, the West Yorkshire club definitely needed a pick-me-up.

It came in the form of a 24-year-old Bermudian, but not before Huddersfield were subjected to more embarrassment.

Chesterfield, who play in Sky Bet League One after winning promotion last season, sprinted into a 2-0 lead before Wells scored his first with a header. Then the home side scored what appeared to be the winner with the third with 19 minutes left.

But Huddersfield staged a late recovery in the final six minutes of regulation time, Wells blasting home from the penalty spot and Jonathan Stead scoring in the second minute of stoppage time.

Once the extra-time period began, the Championship side became more dominant and Wells completed his hat-trick in the 94th minute before Joe Lolley, a substitute, netted four minutes later to give Mark Lillis victory in his debut match as caretaker manager.

Lillis singled out Wells for special praise and believes that his hat-trick will be a timely boost to his confidence.

“At 3-1 down with eight minutes to go, I was thinking that we needed to get something to lift the club,” Lillis said.

“Tonight was massive for everyone — particularly the 853 Town fans that came here tonight. We needed that boost after Saturday.

“The word ‘believe’ has been used before at Huddersfield Town and that’s what I said to the players before they went out — go out there and have no regrets at the end of the game.

“Nahki Wells’s three goals will give him a really good boost.

“Things didn’t go his way in the first-half, but we needed to get him scoring and I’m so pleased for the lads.”

Huddersfield take on Cardiff City away in the Championship on Saturday.