Luton Town vs Huddersfield Town. Sky Bet Championship.
Kenilworth RoadAttendance9,977.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Luton Town and Huddersfield at Kenilworth Road as the Hatters followed up their midweek 5-0 win over Coventry with a stalemate on Saturday
Saturday 2 October 2021 18:39, UK
Luton could not follow up their 5-0 midweek thrashing of Coventry with another goal-laden performance as they played out a goalless Championship draw with Huddersfield on Saturday afternoon.
Hatters defender Kal Naismith missed an early chance from 40 yards on a sodden surface, but the ball skidded wide, while team-mate Harry Cornick's angled effort was gathered by visiting goalkeeper Lee Nicholls.
The Terriers' only real opening early on saw Danny Ward volley an effort wide, while Luton created the best chance when Amari'i Bell picked up a loose header to burst into the area, but disappointingly dragged his shot across goal.
Luke Berry could not quite divert his chance on target when arriving at the far post to meet James Bree's cross, while Ward was the only one having any sighters for the Terriers, shanking an effort well wide from outside the box.
With six minutes to go until half-time, Luton came within inches of a deserved lead. Cornick did brilliantly on the right to beat his man and put in a cross which Bell met a few yards from goal, but could somehow only volley the ball against the post.
Elijah Adebayo then had a go at breaking the deadlock but his low shot was well gathered by Nicholls under pressure from the lurking home forwards.
After the break, the visitors started strongly, as they began to come into the contest as an attacking force, Josh Koroma's shot deflecting and allowing Simon Sluga to save.
Cornick then saw his long-range effort deflected behind, but Huddersfield were within a whisker of taking the lead on the hour mark when Danel Sinani went for the top corner with a curling attempt but narrowly missed.
Sinani had another attempt on goal moments later from even further out, only finding the midriff of Sluga, as team-mate Scott High let fly from outside the box - when he had others better placed - but his effort did not test the Luton keeper.
Bell put on a run of his own after being picked out by Luton substitute Henri Lansbury, the visiting defence doing their job, while the Hatters' replacement then had a go himself after Nicholls punched Bree's corner out to him, only to slip and skew his volley wide.
With time running out, Huddersfield might have won it as full-back Harry Toffolo was played in by Koroma's clever reverse ball but, from a tight angle, he got underneath his shot and lifted the ball over the top.
Late on, Lansbury's high hanging cross was easily dealt with by Nicholls as both sides had to make do with a point.
Luton's Nathan Jones: "I'm relatively pleased, not with the draw, but with the overall performance. I thought we were totally dominant first half and it just shows the respect we're building now as they're normally an aggressive side that want to play, want to be possession dominant and we didn't allow them that. We went after that, forced them to kick and I thought we were totally dominant first half, but for a little bit of guile.
"We missed a glorious chance to take the lead and then we probably just didn't show enough quality in the final third. We had 21 crosses in the first half, so just a little bit more guile, but I'm pleased with the levels we're showing. I've spoken to people I know on their staff and they were fearful coming here today, so that's the reputation we're now building. That's the level of respect we now have and I'm very pleased with that as we've shown a great shift again."
Huddersfield's Carlos Corberan: "I think a point was fair. I knew Luton would be playing the first half with a lot of confidence. Luton was the better team in the first half and we were much better in the second - so it was a fair result. am happy with the reaction of the team in the second half. Both teams had big chances, but it's true they didn't make Lee Nicholls work a lot.
"It's mentally demanding in the Championship. I am pleased - there was a lot of effort in the second half after suffering in the first. The clean sheet is positive. The conditions and the opponent's press made it difficult and we didn't use our moments to break their press and ended up more in our half of the pitch. But I have to take the team's reaction second half as a positive. Without creating a huge amount of chances, we showed an improvement."
