Reading 0-0 Huddersfield Town: Danny Cowley's Terriers earn point
- Published
Huddersfield restricted a Reading side that scored five at Luton on Saturday
Huddersfield scrapped their way to what may prove a vital point in their fight against Championship relegation following a goalless draw at Reading.
The Terriers extended their unbeaten run to three games and recorded a third consecutive league clean sheet for the first time since August 2017.
Alex Pritchard came closest to snatching a winner for Danny Cowley's side, but his deflected shot was tipped behind for a corner.
George Puscas had Reading's best chance in the first half, but Jonas Lossl blocked his attempted chip from inside the penalty area as he came quickly off his line.
Huddersfield climb two places to 18th with the draw, three points and four places above the drop zone, but having played a game more than three of the sides below them.
They will face another crucial fixture in their bid to avoid successive relegations when they host bottom of the table Luton on Saturday.
A largely uneventful encounter at the Madejski Stadium saw just five shots on target registered, including an effort from Reading midfielder Michael Olise straight at Lossl with the final kick of the game.
Yakou Meite was also unable to add to his four-goal display against Luton on Saturday as he could not get on the end of a Pele ball over the top of the Huddersfield defence midway through the first half.
But the Royals managed another clean sheet as they also climbed two places to 13th with four games to play.
Mark Bowen's side will comfortably finish the season in mid-table but could still have a say in who goes down as they face relegation-threatened Charlton and Middlesbrough in their next two games.
Reading manager Mark Bowen:
"We'll take the clean sheet and you always have to be happy with that, but I thought we were lacking that bit of quality and ruthlessness in the final third.
"Time and time again, even going into the last 15 minutes, we were flat and sloppy in our decision-making, not beating the first man or getting the ball into the area quickly. We were a bit erratic in those sorts of areas.
"Maybe there was a bit of a hangover from Saturday, a game we won 5-0 and could've easily won by more, as we were a bit lethargic and it took us a while to get going.
"We can't take our foot off the pedal between now and the end of the season as we go to Charlton on Saturday and we'll have to be prepared to face a very, very strong performance against a side with everything to fight for."
Huddersfield Town manager Danny Cowley:
"I thought it was a really good performance, it was a game where we had much more energy than we showed on Saturday, much more attacking intent.
"We didn't perhaps get full value for the performance or make the most of the chances we did create. We just lacked that little ruthless edge.
"But to keep three consecutive clean sheets at this stage of the season in these circumstances is great credit to the efforts of everyone. I thought defensively we were terrific against a Reading side, who looked very dangerous against Luton on Saturday.
"We're in touching distance of the 50 points target, but we don't quite know if that's going to be enough. We're very focused on the remaining four games and they're coming thick and fast."