Goalless draw as Town play 30+ minutes with 10 men.
- Rotherham United 0-0 Huddersfield Town
- Sorba Thomas shown a red card just before the hour
- Town control game but cannot break the deadlock
Town came away from Rotherham United with a point in the latest Sky Bet Championship game of the campaign, having played for over half an hour with 10 men.
The Terriers made the running across the entire 90 minutes without finding the one big moment to break the deadlock.
That effort was not aided by dropping to 10 men when Sorba Thomas received a red card for two yellows just before the hour mark, but Breitenreiter’s men still looked the most likely team after that.
Rotherham’s threat in the first half came from former Town loanee Sean Morrison’s long throws, all of which came from our left flank. That led to their best chance as early as the 10th minute when, after the initial throw was headed clear, Jack Rudoni lost out to Andy Rinomhota on the edge of the box and the former Reading man curled the ball against the far post. Striker Charlie Wyke was first to the rebound, but could only fire the ball over the bar at full stretch.
Other than that, Town made the running without seriously testing goalkeeper Viktor Johansson. We had half chances, but on several occasions shots were placed too close to the Swedish international.
Rudoni hit the goalkeeper with his shot on the turn in the box in the eighth minute; Kasumu had similar luck after Hogg nodded a Thomas corner into his path soon after.
One of the biggest chances fell the way of Jaheim Headley in the 34th minute, who raced to the back post to get on the end of a deep cross from Matty Pearson. Unfortunately, having got to the ball, he could only divert his header wide of target.
There was another talking point two minutes later when David Kasumu went down in the penalty area, and was booked by referee Josh Smith for simulation. Even if it wasn’t deemed a penalty, the replays had some viewers believing that decision could have gone differently.
Burgzorg had another shot that was too close to Johannson before the opening 45 came to a close, after some neat combination play between him and Brodie Spencer.
Town came out fairly brightly for the second half, with Burgzorg’s half volley soon arrowing just over the crossbar, but then the complexion of the game changed before the hour mark when Thomas earned two quick yellow cards. The first came after he was deemed to have felled Morrison chasing him down, with Sorba’s frustration evident, and the second came after he had sprinted 60 yards into his own half to stop a counter-attack. Sorba was adamant he had played the ball, but the referee showed him a second yellow and Town were down to 10.
Despite going down to 10 men, it was Town who continued to make the running. Rudoni fires straight at Johansson and then shot over from range, and Burgzorg soon slammed a shot at the goalkeeper after showing good feet to make space for the shot.
In the end, the one big moment didn’t come, despite the Terriers forcing several set pieces in and around the Rotherham penalty area.
Town’s team (3-5-2)
Lee Nicholls; Matty Pearson, Michał Helik, Radinio Balker; Brodie Spencer (Tom Edwards, 90+1’), David Kasumu (Ben Wiles, 46’), Jonathan Hogg (c), Jack Rudoni, Jaheim Headley; Sorba Thomas, Delano Burgzorg
Unused substitutes
Chris Maxwell; Josh Koroma, Brahima Diarra, Alex Matos, Danny Ward, Pat Jones, Ben Jackson
Town bookings
Brodie Spencer (26’), David Kasumu (36’), Sorba Thomas (54’)
Town red card after second booking
Sorba Thomas (59’)
Gate
11,033
Town fans
2,419
