Huddersfield Town vs Birmingham City. Sky Bet Championship.
The John Smith's StadiumAttendance22,001.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Huddersfield Town and Birmingham City at the John Smith's Stadium on Saturday | Andre Breitenreiter's Terriers all but relegated to League One after draw
Saturday 27 April 2024 18:24, UK
Huddersfield's relegation from the Sky Bet Championship was all but confirmed as they drew 1-1 with fellow strugglers Birmingham at the John Smith's Stadium.
The Terriers need a final-day win at Ipswich and to overcome an almost insurmountable goal deficit to Plymouth after they could only take a point against the third-bottom Blues.
Birmingham took the lead in the closing stages of a first half devoid of quality when Koji Miyoshi showed composure at the far post to fire back across goal and into the net.
The second half was two minutes old when Rhys Healey swept home the equaliser following a move down the right.
Huddersfield survived in the fourth minute when goalkeeper Lee Nicholls failed to hold an inswinging free-kick but the home side cleared the loose ball.
Michal Helik then got on the end of a corner but his hook back at the far post was held by John Ruddy in a fast and frenetic start to the game.
Jack Rudoni was causing Birmingham problems on the right but was left appealing in vain after Lee Buchanan appeared to bring him down on the edge of the area.
Birmingham forced their first corner with 17 minutes gone but Ethan Laird could only deflect wide at the back post.
Rudoni was wide with a volley into the ground as the visitors struggled to clear as the half-hour approached.
Juninho Bacuna wasted a good chance as his header at a corner went high over the Huddersfield goal in the best chance to that point.
Nicholls then made a fine stop from his own player when a sliced Josh Koroma clearance went straight at the keeper.
Birmingham took the lead just before the break as Keshi Anderson crossed from the left for Miyoshi to finish smartly.
Huddersfield were level from their first attack of the second half as Rudoni got away down the right and crossed for Healey to sweep in.
Ruddy denied Healey a second shortly afterwards as he blocked the striker's effort with his body with the visitors under concerted pressure.
Miyoshi set up Jay Stansfield with a pass into the area but the striker steered a difficult chance just wide of the far post on the hour.
Anderson was booked for what was almost a rugby tackle on Sorba Thomas as both sides struggled to find a second goal which would have meant so much to their respective survival hopes.
Huddersfield broke quickly from a Birmingham free-kick but first Rudoni saw his shot blocked and from the follow-up Danny Ward curled just wide of the target as the contest ended level.
Huddersfield's Andre Breitenreiter:
"It's difficult to win with 15 goals next week and we didn't really do it today.
"The players played with heart, with passion, with willingness. The standard from today must be the standard in every game.
"Many games we played well, and when we worked hard as a team we collected points.
"We didn't get relegated today, the second half was a really good performance. Once again we created lots of chances.
"This is football, this happens, but we need quality to score a goal.
"We have had so many draws. You must score the goals and we didn't score from the big chances we had.
"We had some good games with a clean sheet but also big injuries in our defence."
Birmingham's Gary Rowett:
"At the moment we know that draws are not good enough.
"The disappointment for me is we got ourselves in a great position going 1-0 up going into half-time.
"We were quite solid to go 1-0 up and we felt then the game was in our control. We spoke to the players at half-time about how we wanted to keep that defensive shape.
"It was a good cutback from Rudoni and a good finish. It was disappointing to get in that position. It was a disappointment with the way we handed over the lead.
"For 20 minutes they had that momentum and late in the game we had the momentum. Jay (Stansfield) had a good position and just shot wide.
"We made formation and personnel changes to see if we could find a way to score the all-important goal.
"We were competitive but showed a lack of composure in both attack and defence."
