Huddersfield Town 2-2 Blackburn Rovers: Ryan Hedges rescues point for visitors
- Published
- comments
Joe Rankin-Costello had a hand in both of Blackburn's goals, scoring the first before his late header led to the equaliser
Substitute Ryan Hedges rescued a point for play-off hopefuls Blackburn Rovers with a dramatic injury-time equaliser against relegation-threatened Huddersfield Town.
A point at the John Smith's Stadium initially gave Rovers a two-point cushion to seventh spot, but they only remained in the top six on goal difference after Preston beat Reading later on Monday.
Jack Rudoni was instrumental as the lowly Terriers stunned the visitors with two goals in six first-half minutes, whipping in the corner that led to Matty Pearson's goal before adding a well-taken second himself.
A superb chipped finish from Joe Rankin-Costello immediately after the half-time break gave Blackburn hope - and time to rescue something from the game.
Rovers saw a tame effort come off the post late on, while keeper Tomas Vaclik made a series of crucial saves for the Terriers before Hedges pounced to level at the end of an absorbing clash.
Even then, the point was only rescued when Hedges latched onto the rebound from close range when Vaclik saved a header from Rankin-Costello.
Victory at play-off chasing Watford on Good Friday had lifted Huddersfield out of the relegation places, and there they remain for the time being as all the sides around them kick-off later on Monday.
Huddersfield made only one change after making it three successive wins to move up to 20th in the table, with on-loan Watford midfielder Joseph Hungbo making his first start for more than a month.
Tyrhys Dolan, who was brought in as one of two changes following Rovers' defeat by Norwich on Friday, helped carve out the first big moment of the game.
The winger did well to pull back a neat pass in tight space to tee up Rankin-Costello, who drew a good save from Vaclik with a low shot from 12 yards.
Soon after, Pearson pounced on panic created by a Rudoni corner from the left, with a deflected header from Tom Lees seeing Aynsley Pears swat haplessly at an attempted save which fell for the defender to nod home from point-blank range.
Matty Pearson (right) opened the scoring for Huddersfield with his fourth goal in three games
It was Pearson's fourth goal in three games, while Rudoni came up with a second in two matches with a precise low finish from the edge of the six-yard box, where he met a low ball from Hungbo.
While Blackburn controlled almost 80% of possession in the first half, a shot that Ben Brereton Diaz slashed wide was the best they managed in search of a reply before the break.
Within 70 seconds of the restart, Rankin-Costello gave the visitors renewed hope and vigour, swapping passes with Dolan on the edge of the area before lifting an excellent finish over onrushing keeper Vaclik.
Blackburn kept the pressure on and the lifted the tempo of the game in search of an equaliser, with Vaclik protecting the slender lead with an excellent save to deny Leonard with less than 20 minutes remaining.
Jonathan Hogg had chances either side of Vaclik's crucial intervention to add a third for Huddersfield, with his second a squandered header from a free-kick.
A threaded pass into the box from Tyler Morton almost rolled in for an equaliser, with the ball evading everyone before hitting the foot of the post and being cleared before Leonard could sweep home a finish.
And while Rankin-Costello, who was twice denied late on, failed to bury a header as the game moved into added time, Hedges was there to side-foot home a deserved leveller when Vaclik could only push his save into the path of the winger.
Huddersfield Town manager Neil Warnock:
"We've played five good sides in our last five games and we've got 11 points, so we're delighted.
"It can't get any more difficult than the last five games, we've had horrific fixtures. I can't fault any of the effort from the players.
"They've given me everything these last few weeks and to get 11 points is an amazing situation.
"I never thought we'd ever have a chance of getting out of it really, but the lads listen to everything I say and they're so genuine."
Blackburn Rovers boss Jon Dahl Tomasson:
"It was one of our best games of the season
"We had a lot of chances, I stopped counting. It's incredible that we're coming away with just a draw.
"We dominated from minute one until the end against a team who've had some great results recently."