The weather had certainly changed as Huddersfield Town arrived at the Abbey to take on the men in Amber. Town were expected to provide our toughest test so far this season. United made 4 changes from Tuesdays game v Millwall with Louis Appere, Ben Knight, Callum Perry with new signing Cathal Heffernan lining up in the back 4. Another good crowd of 7041 including 1036 from Yorkshire waited for the action. An impressive attendance considering the changeable weather.
United attacked the south stand end and both sides had periods in possession. Perry had the first chance on 5 but his shot was blocked. Perry then crossed to the back post for Liam Bennett to head narrowly wide. Then following a long clearance, Heffernan headed the ball clear which fell nicely for Fletcher who hit a terrific shot which hit the outside of the post, keeper Jake Eastwood looked to have it covered. Zak Bradshaw playing well then passed to Isaac Heath but again the shot was blocked. The game at this stage was interesting rather than exciting but it was good to see the U’s doing well against a much fancied side. Bronkhorst of Huddersfield was guilty of a couple of late challenges in quick succession. He should have been yellow carded for the second foul.
Pelly Mapanzu after being set up by Heath fired at goal but his effort was cleared. Fletcher of Huddersfield was extremely lucky to evade any action by the referee following an elbow in the face of United defender Kell Watts. Indeed the foul seemed missed by both the referee and main stand assistant. The referee stopped play and Watts was down for nearly 5 minutes. It was frustrating to see this offence occur between 2 of the match officials. A number of silly challenges by both teams followed but the game was still end to end but being played at pedestrian pace. In the last of 3 added minutes, Wallace for Town headed a free kick from Harness but Eastwood got down to save. Half time came at 0-0.
United kicking towards the NRE were soon into the attack. Bradshaw headed a corner back into the six yard box but Appere ‘s close range shot was grabbed by Town keeper Young. Fernandez then set up Bronkhordt who fired over. It was again frustrating to see Zak Bradshaw booked for a foul on Bronkhorst, particularly as the Town player should have been booked in the first half. On 58 United replaced Appere and Heath with Gassan Ahadme and Sullay KaiKai. The game was still very much cat and mouse but now the rain was torrential. Ben Knight fired over a free kick but his effort went wide. On 66 Huddersfield replaced Smith-Sway and Fletcher with Radulovic and Collins. Silly free kicks still upset the flow of the game but the playing conditions were now tough.
On 74 United replaced Mapanzu and Knight with new signings Owen Moxon and Raees Bangura-Williams (BW). The U’s were awarded a free kick on the edge of the box, KaiKai hitting a superb free kick well tipped over by Young. United were getting on top as the players slid around in the wet conditions, following a corner Watts headed on for Perry to shoot narrowly wide. Then on 80 United took the lead BW chased Bowat to the goal line, the defender went down and allowed BW to pull the ball back for Bradshaw to fire home for 1-0. The goal could have been disallowed for a push on the defender. Moments later it was 1-1 with United caught sleeping as Radulovic crooked for Joe Taylor to fire home. United should have cleared the ball before any danger but I thought KaiKai was fouled in the build up, so once again the goal was questionable.
Referee Blair was making himself unpopular with both sets of fans with his decision and non decision making. In pouring rain conditions both teams went at it, but United shot themselves on the foot by giving the ball away in midfield. Taylor was played in and tackled by Bennett. I was at the other end of the pitch so I did not have a good view but watching the game last night on tv (which the referee cannot at the time do) saw a good tackle and it was outside the box. It was no surprise to see Young go down well in the area, but after Bennett was unfairly booked, Young got up to send Eastwood the wrong way for 1-2. An amazing 9 minutes of stoppage time was shown with United replacing Perry with Shayne Lavery. Taylor fired at Eastwood following a break but play was broken up on a number of occasions with town players going down injured apparently.
United fired some corners but Dom Ball fired well over as time was running out. Town brought on Low for Sanchez on 97. Then new signing Moxon crossed for Ahadme to head wide. The referee blew for full time on 101 minutes. It had been a tight game with a draw really the fairest result.
United fought for a long time in difficult conditions to take the lead only to fall asleep and concede straight away. It is worthy of mention that on another day both goals could have been ruled out. The penalty was a very poor decision and the referee and assistant could have done much better. On a positive note, United fared very well against a decent side and have 2 games next week to get back on track. Zak Bradshaw earned the star man award today.
Ref Watch – Harrison Blair – 6. A strange afternoon for the referee. For 70 minutes he ran around virtually unseen, which is good. However all 3 goals could have been chalked off and VAR would have helped with the unjust penalty. However the foul on Kell Watts with a clear elbow was missed by both the referee and main stand assistant which was very poor to say the least. I’m sure he can do better.