Rotherham 0-0 Huddersfield: Sorba Thomas sent off as Millers hold Terriers
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Sorba Thomas' red card was the first of his senior career
Rock bottom Rotherham claimed their first point in 10 games as they battled to a goalless draw against Huddersfield, who had Sorba Thomas sent off and remain in the Championship relegation zone.
The Millers, 20 point from safety before kick-off and destined for relegation to League One, came close to taking the lead when Andy Rinomhota saw his effort come back off the post from 18 yards.
Despite that early scare, Huddersfield bossed the majority of the first half with Matty Pearson, David Kasumu and Jaheim Headley all going close.
Thomas' two yellow cards in the space of four minutes with half an hour left put his side under pressure but, to their credit, they managed the Millers' attacking threat with relative ease.
Andre Breitenreiter's Terriers stay in trouble in 22nd place, while Rotherham will take comfort in ending their nine-game losing run and, after conceding 10 goals in their last two games, a clean sheet too.
Having slipped into the relegation zone following successive defeats, Huddersfield knew a win against the side propping up the rest of the Championship would be likely to take them back out.
Despite a high-tempo start, it was the Millers who carved out the best early chance when Rinomhota's curler hit the inside of the far post and threatened to roll along the line after Sean Morrison's long throw was cleared out to him.
That stung the Terriers into action as Pearson steered a near-post header wide before Kasumu's drive was held by Viktor Johansson.
The Millers keeper then had to be alert to deny Delano Burgzorg's effort after he linked up nicely with Brodie Spencer.
With the second half fairly even, the game took a potentially decisive turn when Thomas picked up his second booking. Having been cautioned for conceding a free-kick four minutes earlier, he then caught Ollie Rathbone from behind as the Rotherham player charged forward giving referee Josh Smith little choice but to bring out another yellow card.
Rotherham, without a goal for more than seven hours now in a four-game run stretching back to 24 February, never really threatened to end that with Rathbone's shot comfortably saved by Lee Nicholls their best moment.
The point sees the Millers shave their massive deficit to safety down to 19 points while the draw takes the Terriers level on points with Birmingham City in the fight to stay up.
Rotherham head coach Leam Richardson told BBC Radio Sheffield:
"It was a battling performance in a local derby, I was disappointed when we got possession of the ball and against 10 men.
"But I thought we started the game terrifically well - hitting the inside of the post and having some really good moments.
"Second half, both teams didn't give much up but we've got to be better with our habits - go wide, counter-press more and finish in better areas.
"I feel like we've come far in certain areas but then in a moment we haven't taken it.
"We've not been strong enough at the back end of the pitch and not being productive enough at the top end.
"I'm disappointed with the result but taking positives with the clean sheet and players are coming back from injury."
Huddersfield Town boss Andre Breitenreiter told BBC Radio Leeds:
"We played over 30 minutes minus one player and we controlled the whole game over 90 minutes.
"They were dangerous from throw-ins and long balls and we knew this, but most of the time we defended well.
"We had many wrong decisions in the second half I felt, but we had to live with it. We concentrated on defending with 10 players and also creating chances.
"For this I have total respect for my players as they did it really well, and you couldn't tell we were down to 10."