Stalemate in Town's first friendly in Austria
- Terriers draw with Werder Bremen in Austria- Goalless draw in Zell am Ziller
- Town's pre-season sponsored by Hirsche Automotive
Town’s first friendly in Austria ended in stalemate as neither the Terriers nor Bundesliga side SV Werder Bremen could find the breakthrough.
Despite a lack of clear-cut chances for either side, David Wagner’s side got a good workout against a well organised, mobile side in humid conditions as the Sky Bet Championship campaign drew closer.
The Greens had the best of the opening stages, pressing Town very hard in possession and looking dangerous when breaking at speed.
However, they failed to properly test debutant goalkeeper Danny Ward. The Welshman, fresh from joining the Town squad in Austria on Sunday, looked very confident when coming to deal with a few balls into his penalty area and was never called upon to make a save of note in the opening 45.
It took the Terriers a good 25 minutes to grow into the game, but once they did it was David Wagner’s side that created the chances of note in the first half.
As Town grew into the game, so did Rajiv van La Parra. It was the pacey Dutchman who created the first opening just after the half hour, winning an aerial challenge on halfway before collecting the return pass from Kyle Dempsey, who operated as a number 10 once again.
Rajiv’s poor touch looked to have gifted the ball to a defender in the area, but he recovered possession and crossed dangerously to the front post where Elias Kachunga turned the ball wide under heavy pressure.
Sadly Dempsey was clattered in the build-up of that move and he had to be withdrawn, limping heavily. Happily, Jack Payne came on and impressed. With Ivan Paurević looking the part in a deep midfield role upon his return from illness, Town started to enjoy possession.
Kachunga did well for the other decent Town chance of the half just before the interval. He battled hard in an aerial challenge from Christopher Schindler’s drilled free kick and managed to get the ball to the impressive Payne, who drove forward and shot wide from just over 20 yards out.
Bremen’s most dangerous moment came with seconds left of the half when Florian Kainz did well down the Town right, but with two teammates waiting in the middle he drifted his cross wide of the far post.
The best chance of the game fell Bremen’s way in the 54th minute when Bosnian international Izet Hajrovic delivered a fantastic free kick onto defender Fallou Diagne’s jead in the penalty area, but his downwards header was brilliantly saved by Town’s Under-21 goalkeeper Luke Coddington.
As the half progressed, Philip Billing and lately Harry Bunn were withdrawn with knocks as the sides reached stalemate, pressing each other into errors.
Before departing, Bunn had a shot deflected wide after good work from Dean Whitehead and Jonathan Hogg and Hoggy fired wide from a narrow angle after a typically speedy interception.
Bremen had two other efforts. First a short corner was worked to the edge of the box, where left footed right back Janek Sternerg hit a powerful shot a few feet wide of the far post.
After that the speedy Diagne latched onto a though ball and although Jon Stankovic saw him off with some strong play, the loose ball fell to Milos Veljkovic. He was unlucky to see his lob over the stranded Coddington bounce over the crossbar.
Town’s first half team (4-2-3-1):
Danny Ward; Chris Löwe, Christopher Schindler, Mark Hudson (c), Martin Cranie; Ivan Paurević, Aaron Mooy; Rajiv van La Parra, Kyle Dempsey (Jack Payne, 35’), Sean Scannell; Elias Kachunga
Town’s second half team (4-2-3-1):
Luke Coddington; Jason Davidson, Michael Hefele, Jon Gorenc Stanković, Tommy Smith (c); Jonathan Hogg, Philip Billing (Dean Whitehead, 63’); Harry Bunn (Jordan Williams, 87’), Jack Payne, Joe Lolley; Rekeil Pyke
Town bookings:
Elias Kachunga (37); Ivan Paurević (44)
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