Southampton vs Huddersfield Town. Premier League.
St. Mary's StadiumAttendance29,675.
Sunday 24 December 2017 08:28, UK
Laurent Depoitre's second-half header for Huddersfield extended Southampton's winless run to six matches in a 1-1 draw at St Mary's.
Charlie Austin gave Southampton the lead from close range (24). However, he could have been sent off shortly afterwards for kicking the visitor's goalkeeper Jonas Lossl in the nose.
Austin missed a wonderful chance to put the hosts 2-0 up on the hour-mark and was made to pay for it as Depoitre headed in Huddersfield's equaliser (64).
The draw means Huddersfield go into 11th place and level on 22 points with Watford. Brighton's 1-0 victory means Southampton drop down to 13th.
Huddersfield started brightly and would have taken the lead in the 14th minute if not for Forster's heroics. Florent Hadergjonaj's threatening cross was met by Christopher Schindler, forcing Forster into tipping the ball over the bar.
But even with the visitors pushing for the opener, Southampton took the lead through Austin. James Ward-Prowse's corner was nodded on by Wesley Hoedt into the path of the unmarked poacher, who tucked home from point-blank range.
The scrappy contest took a controversial turn in the 32nd minute as Austin left a foot in on Jonas Lossl's nose when they both chased for a loose ball. However, five minutes later, the Danish goalkeeper continued the game and made a brave stop from close range to deny Tadic Southampton's second.
The first great chance in the second half fell to Austin. On the counter-attack, Redmond squared the ball to the 28-year-old who, with just the goalkeeper to beat, dragged his shot wide of the post.
And the former QPR striker was made to rue his chance as Huddersfield punished the Saints four minutes later. Substitute Tommy Smith burst down the right flank and crossed in for Depoitre, who positioned himself between Maya Yoshida and Jack Stephens, to nod in a deserved equaliser.
Austin's eventful day came to an end when he limped off with a hamstring injury following his dangerous strike on goal that Lossl parried away.
Yoshida almost got the winner for Southampton in injury time, but his free header from Ward-Prowse's corner came off the post before bouncing out off Lossl to mark a frustrating afternoon for Mauricio Pellegrino's men.
Southampton have won just one of their last 10 Premier League games (D4 L5) and are winless in their last six (D3 L3).
Huddersfield have picked up four points from their last two away games in the Premier League, as many as they collected in their first eight in the competition.
Charlie Austin has had a hand in seven goals in eight previous league appearances against Huddersfield (five goals, two assists).
Austin has scored five goals in his last five Premier League starts for Southampton.
Laurent Depoitre has scored three goals in his last three Premier League games, more than in his previous 13 combined (2).
Lossl endured an eventful afternoon after being kicked in the nose by Austin, but he also produced a string of fine saves to keep Huddersfield in the game on many occasions.
After bravely playing on following the collision with Austin, he denied Tadic and Yoshida from scoring two of the game's clear-cut opportunities.
David Wagner: The second half was good as well in my point of view. We created lots of good opportunities and scored a wonderful goal as well. It was very deserved point for us that we can take out of this game.
As ugly as this incident [Lossl and Austin] was as ugly now he looks Merry Christmas to him.
His wife will not be very happy when she meets him tonight but he looks good, he looks OK. He has to recover like the whole group and we will be ready for the Boxing Day game at home at the John Smith's Stadium.
Mauricio Pellegrino: Today was a flat game. A lot of challenges and balls in the air. In this physical battle, Huddersfield is possibly a bit stronger than us. We had to put the ball on the floor but we couldn't too much. The big picture today is that we were really close to scoring the second and we couldn't.
"Austin proves he's clinical, lovely little stooped header. But he's a lucky lad that he stays on the pitch. The through-ball, he chases it, the 'keeper's come out. Austin's two yards away from the 'keeper, then he sticks out just the toe of his boot, and he's left the boot there. I think the lad's broken his nose.
"Austin scores the goal, then he's got a hamstring and it looks a bad one. He's going to be out for a while. And then defensively they're still vulnerable. And Southampton are in trouble, they're only three points off safety."
Southampton travel to north London to face Tottenham, live on Sky Sports Premier League, on Boxing Day. Huddersfield, meanwhile, take on strugglers Stoke at 3pm on the same day.
