Huddersfield Town 0-0 Swansea City: Swans' winless run extended by Terriers

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Swansea City's Kyle Naughton and Huddersfield Town's Duane Holmes (right) challenge for the ballImage source, PA Media
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Swansea have 31 points and are out of the Championship play-off places on goal difference

Swansea City's winless run extended to five games as the Welsh club were held 0-0 by the Championship's bottom side Huddersfield Town.

The visitors enjoyed 75% possession and the majority of the chances, but they could not find a winning goal.

Substitute Michael Obafemi came closest to a breakthrough, but his 83rd-minute effort struck the crossbar.

Swansea goalkeeper Steven Benda denied Danny Ward an unlikely Huddersfield winner with a save a minute from time.

The stalemate leaves Huddersfield bottom of the table with Swansea eighth, heading into the World Cup break.

Despite a notable win in midweek over Queens Park Rangers, the Terriers came into this game as the Championship's bottom club, with Swansea winless in their last four, despite losing only two of their previous 11 fixtures.

A mixture of illness, injury and selection choices from Huddersfield boss Mark Fotherington meant the hosts made five changes from their win at Loftus Road with Jordan Rhodes, Kaine Kesler-Hayden, Tom Lees, David Kasumu and Luke Mbete all recalled.

Swansea boss Russell Martin made one change from the side held 2-2 at Birmingham City with Ollie Cooper - fresh from the disappointment of being left out of Wales' World Cup squad - replacing Luke Cundle.

The visitors had plenty of possession in the first half, but chances were at a premium at both ends until the 20-minute mark when Huddersfield goalkeeper Lee Nicholls denied Joel Piroe and Harry Darling missed the target from close-range.

The visitors continued to probe and Olivier Ntcham and Ryan Manning both saw efforts blocked as the Swans failed to make their possession count as Manning fired wide and Cooper just failed to connect with a dangerous cross.

The hosts did not have a shot on target before the break, but effectively stifled Swansea, who had only won one of their previous 10 visits to Huddersfield.

There was no change to the pattern of play after the break with Nicholls saving twice, first from Manning's shot after a flowing Swansea move before he easily held Matt Grimes' effort.

Swansea have conceded at least once in each of their last eight away league games, with no Championship side keeping fewer clean sheets on the road than the Swans this season, so it was perhaps unsurprising that they almost gifted Huddersfield a goal on 67 minutes.

There was little danger for the visitors until hesitancy from defender Nathan Wood allowed Duane Holmes a clean sight of goal, but his shot from the edge of the penalty area went wide.

The visitors continued to push for a winner, however, with sub Obafemi hitting the crossbar with seven minutes remaining as Nicholls' slight touch denied him.

Huddersfield's best chance to snatch three points came in the final minute of normal time as Swansea goalkeeper Steven Benda denied sub Danny Ward.

Benda had been a virtual spectator, but he was again needed to deny Brahima Diarra as Huddersfield also had a chance to win it in the final moments of stoppage time.

Huddersfield Town boss Mark Fotheringham:

"It was an important point for the group and our priority was the clean sheet.

"We're getting harder to break down. I just think we look really solid. We really deserved that point today.

"There are real leaders growing in this group and they're improving every week.

"When the game really opened up at the end, it felt like if anyone was going to win it was going to be us and I'm a bit sad not to have the three points."

Swansea City boss Russell Martin:

"It was a brilliant performance, but I'm really frustrated not to win.

"It was so dominant, and it was a really pleasing performance. The lads were so brave and showed courage, so I'm really proud of them.

"It's been a hell of a run of games and we've not lost this week, drawn all three games, but should have won all three.

"This is probably the best performance and the most dominant one. I'm frustrated with the amount of points that we've lost that were ours."

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