Coventry City vs Huddersfield Town; Sky Bet Championship
Coventry City vs Huddersfield Town. Sky Bet Championship.
St. Andrew's Stadium.
Coventry 0-0 Huddersfield: Drab draw at St Andrew's
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Coventry City and Huddersfield Town at St Andrew's as the Sky Blues and the Terriers played out an underwhelming goalless draw on Wednesday night.
Wednesday 16 December 2020 23:36, UK
Coventry were held to a goalless draw for the third time in five home games as they fought out a drab 0-0 stalemate with Huddersfield at St Andrew's.
Two separate three-minute spells in each half produced the total sum of the game's excitement as Isaac Mbenza missed a glorious chance for Huddersfield and Max Biamou hit a post for Coventry.
The point extended the Sky Blues' unbeaten run to eight matches, with five draws and three wins in that sequence, as they remain 18th in the Sky Bet Championship - six points above the bottom three.
But it was Huddersfield who looked the more threatening throughout, with Coventry goalkeeper Ben Wilson saving well from Mbenza and Alex Pritchard as the point moved the Terriers up to 14th place.
Huddersfield boss Carlos Corberan made six changes from the side humbled 5-0 at Bournemouth at the weekend, with Belgian forward Mbenza one of those returning for a first league meeting between these sides in 48 years.
After a quiet start, the game exploded into life with three big chances in the space of four minutes just after the quarter-hour mark.
Coventry keeper Wilson prevented the hosts from falling behind, diving to get a strong left hand to Mbenza's low shot after Lewis O'Brien had robbed Ben Sheaf just outside the area.
The Sky Blues broke swiftly from the resulting corner, Jamie Allen finding Gustavo Hamer, who exchanged passes with Callum O'Hare before drilling inches over from the edge of the area.
But the best opportunity of the three fell to Mbenza as he latched on to O'Brien's fine through ball and rounded Wilson, but steered into the side-netting from a tight angle with an unmarked Juninho Bacuna screaming for a square pass for a tap-in.
While the Terriers looked the more dangerous team for much of the half, Coventry improved as it went on, with Hamer and Allen testing visiting keeper Ryan Schofield from range before half-time.
The second half was bereft of openings until the final 10 minutes when the game opened up as both sides sniffed victory.
Only the width of the woodwork denied Coventry as Fankaty Dabo robbed Harry Toffolo and his near-post cross was touched onto the post by Biamou and ricocheted off the recovering Rarmani Edmonds-Green and back onto the upright before the Huddersfield defender hacked clear.
Huddersfield almost capitalised on the narrow escape at the other end as Carel Eiting won possession in the Coventry box and fed substitute Pritchard, whose shot was brilliantly tipped wide by Wilson.
What the managers said...
Coventry's Mark Robins: "I'm happy because of the energy we showed. I thought we looked like we were going to win and I can't believe we didn't. A couple of years ago, Huddersfield were in the Premier League. They have
Isaac Mbenza and Juninho Bacuna, who they paid a lot of money for; Carel Eiting on loan from Ajax - a top, top player.
"It was a real tactical game and the players deserve enormous credit because
the energy levels were really high. It's almost cruel what we are asking the players to do. It's very tough for them and we have to take our hats off to them because it is very tiring. The form we are showing, 14 points from eight games, is almost Championship form."
Huddersfield's Carlos Corberan: "For me today, the key thing about the game was the defending of the team. I think the team played with a high spirit and we had to work a lot to take one point. We had to defend a lot and counter well and we had that really good chance for Isaac, where maybe we could score and all of the elements of the game would change.
"I think the reaction as a team was very important after the defeat that we
had. I am more than happy with the result and I am happy with the reaction of the team after the last defeat, and I am pleased with the performance of the players and the competitive level of the team. I have a lot of confidence in the team and I know that something that makes us special is the mentality they have."
