Goal in each half at the John Smith's Stadium sees the fixture drawn
- Huddersfield Town 1-1 Bristol City
- Delano Burgzorg had given Town first half lead
- Preston next in HD1 on Tuesday 12 December
Having opened the scoring in the first half through Delano Burgzorg, an equaliser moments after the game had reduced following the half-time break saw Town settle for a share of the points.
Town almost suffered the worst start imaginable, with Bristol City getting a chance on goal within the opening 10 seconds or so, but Chris Maxwell did enough to block the strike from close range. Going up the other end through Jaheim Headley moments later, his cross was too powerful for Wiles to control on the run, with the away side accepting the goal kick.
Lining-up in a 3-5-2 on paper, on the ball the Terriers had plenty of options in the final third with both Koroma and Headley pushing high up the field from their positions on the wing. With the away side in a 4-2-3-1, both teams were bypassing midfield early on, in an attempt to overwhelm the defence.
That overload almost worked for Town 15 minutes in, with Delano Burgzorg getting a knock down from Ward and setting Josh Koroma off down the right. Beating his man to make room to cross, his ball to the near post was claimed by the goalkeeper before Ward could get his head near it.
A sign of the open nature of the game, a chance for Dickie that Maxwell saved with his feet to concede a corner ended with Town having a cross along the six yard line cleared away. Claiming the corner on the full, Maxwell released Koroma who beat three before playing Ward in down the left, and his ball across for Burgzorg was the one cleared.
Celebrating his 33rd birthday, Danny Ward came close to opening the scoring in the 21st minute in unusual circumstances. Closing down the goalkeeper, O’Leary tried to play the ball over Ward’s head with an overcomplicated chip, but our number 25 read the intention and caught the ball with his forehead, beating the goalkeeper and hitting the side netting.
Not having to wait much longer for the opener, David Kasumu showed what he’s all about in the 24th minute, putting it on a plate for Delano Burgzorg to open the scoring. With a ball dropped in behind the defence, Kasumu sprinted past two who had a head start on him to claim, bursting through to the edge of the box before squaring to his forward.
Taking a touch, Burgzorg finished low with his left boot, giving O’Leary no chance from close distance. The type of breakaway goal that Town have threatened in recent weeks, David Kasumu deserves huge credit for his anticipation, energy and composure in creating it.
With more play in midfield from both sides following the goal in recognition of how open play had become, Kasumu almost repeated his run forward 10 minutes later following a turnover on the edge of Town’s box. Won back by Wiles, captain Hogg played it through to Kasumu on the right wing who made his way up the touchline at pace. Pinging a low cross into the six yard box, the delivery was just behind Ward and too far ahead of Burgzorg for either to apply the finish.
Still looking for a second with a few minutes left of the half, a spell of Town possession on the edge of the Bristol City box ended with Josh Koroma sucking a full-back in before skipping past him. Making a run across the box to the near post, Danny Ward almost got on the end of it, but it was headed away well just before he could make a connection. Burgzorg and Koroma combined a couple of times more down the right with the crosses headed away by the defence on each occasion, with Town taking their lead into the half-time break.
Having almost scored within a minute of the game starting, the away side did just that after the half-time break. Having had the backline broken with a ball through from Dickie, a simple ball across from Weimann was tucked home first time by Conway, in a very similar situation as Delano Burgzorg had opened the scoring.
On a high after their goal, Mark Sykes went close again for the away side a few minutes later. Working a short corner out to him on the edge of the box in space, he opened up to curl with power, just putting too much on it as it dipped just over the crossbar.
Fighting back into the game, Town had a number of disagreements with the referee in the minutes that followed. Spinning past Williams in midfield, Kasumu was the first to be aggrieved, with the midfielder being pulled back with both arms, as Williams looked to be trying to get a piggy-back from his opposite number. Given the foul, no card was produced.
Just two minutes late, the Terriers had a huge claim for a penalty. With the ball worked to Burgzorg inside the box, he cut back on himself to beat a defender with the ball bouncing. His touch appeared to flick the ball straight into the hand of Tanner inside his own box, but the referee was unmoved and play was allowed to continue.
Burgzorg almost put something very special together on the stroke of an hour played, sprinting hard at the defence into the box. Appearing to nut meg one defender, he charged around him to get back on the ball with just the goalkeeper to beat, but a covering defender got a foot in just before he could regather the ball.
Making a series of substitutes over the next few minutes, Wiles and Ward made way from Brahima Diarra and Rarmani Edmonds-Green, as Josh Koroma pushed forward centrally. Opening up again as it had been in the first period, Chris Maxwell was the next goalkeeper called into action with Knight spinning to shoot in the box, earning a corner - which was headed clear - after Maxwell tipped around his post.
Hotting up inside the final 10 minutes, both Pearson for Town and Conway for Bristol City saw themselves cautioned, with Josh Koroma coming close with a cheeky volley with his back to goal, only for a block from the defence to redirect the ball kindly into the goalkeeper’s gloves.
Despite both sides committing bodies forward in the final moments and throughout added time, neither was able to find a winner, with each leaving the John Smith’s Stadium a point better off.
TOWN’S TEAM (3-5-2)
Chris Maxwell; Matty Pearson, Michał Helik, Tom Lees; Josh Koroma (Austerfield 90+1'), David Kasumu, Jonathan Hogg, Ben Wiles (Diarra 65'), Jaheim Headley; Delano Burgzorg, Danny Ward (Edmonds-Green 73')
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
Lee Nicholls; Tom Edwards, Yuta Nakayama, Loick Ayina, Tom Iorpenda, Michael Stone
TOWN GOAL
Delano Burgzorg 24’
TOWN BOOKINGS
Pearson 79'
GATE
17,429 (615)
