Huddersfield Town 0-0 Watford: Hornets stretch unbeaten run after dour draw

Huddersfield Town manager Darren Moore (left) and Watford head coach Valerien Ismael had to settle for a point apiece

Watford stretched their unbeaten run to five Championship games as they shared a scoreless draw with Huddersfield Town for the first time in their history.

The Hornets created few opportunities at John Smith's Stadium, although Yaser Asprilla tested Lee Nicholls at the start of the second half.

Huddersfield, who have now tasted victory only once in nine league games, had the better of the first period but were unable to find a breakthrough.

The draw - the first between the sides in 17 meetings - means their league positions stay unchanged, with the Terriers 21st and Watford 16th.

With several regulars unavailable, Town boss Darren Moore handed Kyle Hudlin his first Championship start and the young forward caused Watford plenty of problems.

Hudlin set up an opportunity for Ben Wiles that was blocked, and might have scored himself, putting Daniel Bachmann under pressure to charge down the Hornets goalkeeper's clearance, but the ball flew wide.

Ben Jackson and Sorba Thomas both forced saves from Bachmann while Watford, despite seeing plenty of the ball during the first half, were unable to seriously threaten Nicholls' goal.

Asprilla did force the home keeper into action soon after the restart with an angled shot that was tipped behind.

However, other than a long-range attempt by substitute Ismael Kone that sailed high of the target, Watford did not manufacture a great deal.

It was a similar tale at the other end, where Wiles worked his way into space on the edge of the box but rifled his shot over the bar.

Huddersfield manager Darren Moore told BBC Radio Leeds:

"With a good Watford team and the way they move the ball about, it was important for us to continue filling those gaps and nullifying the space that they wanted to work in.

"I thought the team did that today and the level of concentration was spot on. We could have done better with that ball but what I liked today was the commitment, the desire and the players' willingness to share the load among themselves.

"When tired legs were appearing after 70-80 minutes, it was the energy from the crowd that spurred the lads on and meant we came out with a valuable point.

"The biggest thing for me was the clean sheet, especially after last week [a 4-1 defeat at Leeds]. That was the main aim and focus of the group, so I'm really pleased."

Watford head coach Valerien Ismael told BBC Three Counties Radio:

"It's nice to see that we're starting to get disappointed when we're not winning away. If you see the statistics, we're going in the right direction - it's another clean sheet and five games unbeaten.

"The game was difficult - it's the first time we faced a gameplan like that but it will help us to improve in the future. We need to learn from the game and find more solutions.

"We won duels, we didn't concede corners, and we defended set-pieces much, much better. But maybe [we need to] shoot at the goal more, to have more belief in one v one situations and more quality in our crosses.

"There were too many square balls and at some point we need to take more risk into the last third."