Burnley 0-0 Huddersfield: Clarets held by dogged Terriers

By Ben Grounds

Saturday 23 September 2017 19:44, UK

Burnley and Huddersfield played out a drab goalless draw at Turf Moor with both sides lacking the quality they have shown this season.

Chris Wood came closest to breaking the deadlock with his first-half effort from Stephen Ward's cross but the former Leeds striker headed wide.

Huddersfield were the better side in the second period and had the better chances as Tom Ince fired wide from 25 yards after substitute Rajiv van La Parra had shot tamely at Nick Pope.

David Wagner will be the happier of the two managers, having organised his defence extremely well with Christopher Schindler the stand-out performer in a match low on quality.

In what was the first top-flight meeting between these two clubs since March 1971, both sides found themselves in the top half of the table heading into the clash.

During a fiery opening, Abdelhamid Sabiri and Jack Cork both went into Chris Kavanagh's book for fully committed challenges, before it was Burnley who settled the better of the two sides.

After 24 minutes, a lovely exchange between Scott Arfield and Ward down the left resulted in the full-back crossing onto the head of Wood, but the striker could not direct his effort inside the far post.

Wood managed to find a yard to get in front of Schindler, but he was unable to add to the three goals already scored since his move from Leeds.

It would prove the only clear-cut chance of the opening period, and the dearth of quality on show was summed up in first-half stoppage time as Arfield, looking to inject some urgency, only achieved in producing a comical foul throw.

When the sides emerged for the restart, it was Huddersfield who began the livelier, and Laurent Depoitre ought to have done much better when released down the left by Ince but he could only shoot straight at Pope.

Ince then looked to take the game by the scruff of the neck as he latched onto Aaron Mooy's pass to fire an effort that flew a yard wide of the post, but in truth, neither side did enough to earn the victory as the points were shared.

Opta stats

Burnley (W1 D3) are unbeaten in four Premier League games for the first time since December 2014.
Huddersfield have kept four clean sheets in their six Premier League games this season (second only to Man Utd), after managing just one in their last seven Championship games.
Burnley are unbeaten in four league games against the Terriers (W3 D1), after losing each of the three before that.
Aaron Mooy has now created 14 goalscoring chances in the Premier League for Huddersfield, twice as many as any of his teammates.

Man of the match - Christopher Schindler

Chris Wood came into the game as one of the in-form Premier League strikers but he was expertly contained by Schindler throughout the match.

The tall German centre-half was only beaten on one crucial occasion by his opposite man, but Wood was unable to take advantage, and the chance appeared to play on his mind for the remainder of the encounter as Schindler dominated the duel.

Having scored the crucial spot-kick to confirm Huddersfield's place in the Premier League last May, the club's one-time record signing has made an impressive start to life in the top flight and was always on hand to make vital interceptions to help his side to a fourth clean sheet of the season.

The managers

Sean Dyche: "We showed patience, but we're still searching for that cutting edge. Woody had a great chance from a great piece of play from Wardy but overall I'm pleased to get another point on the board.

"The only gripe I've got is they've got to change the rules on retrospective bans as I've seen a player blatantly dive in a manner that is unacceptable in football in my opinion."

David Wagner: "It was a tight game, very even. Maybe in the first half, Burnley were the better side with two half-chances.

"I think in the second-half, we had the best chance of the game with Depoitre's shot, and so it's a deserved result. I was pleased with the defensive side of things.

"We had our moments, of course, Burnley away is a difficult place to go. The two chances we had, we were not clinical enough."

What next?

Burnley will be back in action next Sunday as they travel to face Everton in the Premier League on Nissan Super Sunday at Goodison Park live on Sky Sports.

Huddersfield are in action a day earlier as they host Tottenham for the 12.30pm clash on Sky Sports at the John Smith's Stadium.