Huddersfield 0 - 0 Burnley - 30th Dec 2017

Huddersfield 0 - 0 Burnley

Jeff Hendrick denied penalty for Burnley in Huddersfield stalemate

Honours and points were shared here, just as they were when the sides met at Turf Moor earlier in the season, though a second goalless game was not without incident. Burnley had a strong claim for a second-half penalty waved away when Jonas Lossl brought down Jeff Hendrick in the box, the goalkeeper clearly taking the midfielder’s leg after being rounded near the goal-line. Burnley had been the better side, in keeping with their league position, though it was not an afternoon of many chances.

“It was a performance that deserved three points,” Sean Dyche said. “A point on the road is worth having but we should have more. It was a definite penalty. Obvious.” David Wagner did not argue. “I have not seen the video but I have spoken to Jonas and he says there was contact,” the Huddersfield manager said. “So it looks like we were lucky, because we were not at our best. Burnley were better but I can’t complain about a point and a clean sheet.”

Huddersfield actually began quite promisingly, with Collin Quaner producing a stinging shot at the end of one of his surging runs for once to force Nick Pope into the first save of the game. Burnley gradually pushed their hosts back, however, and had so many men forward in support of a break from Johann Berg Gudmundsson that an out-of-position Mathias Jorgensen was obliged to flatten the Iceland winger at the expense of a booking.

By the end of the first half Huddersfield had seen shots from Gudmundsson and Steven Defour roll narrowly wide of their goal and were having trouble playing the ball out from the back due to Burnley’s pressing. All Burnley needed to make their superiority count was a goal but Barnes’s effort on the stroke of the interval was blocked by Florent Hadergjonaj.

Scott Arfield had a great chance to open the scoring at the start of the second half, only to put his shot too close to Lossl having done the hard work with a burst into the area to collect Jack Cork’s pass. A similar move on the hour saw Arfield and Hendrick break into the area together, and though the latter would have been faced with a shot from a narrow angle after rounding Lossl on the goalline there was no question that the goalkeeper’s trailing leg brought him down. Huddersfield are on a roll with penalty decisions: Mark Hughes was incensed with one that failed to go Stoke’s way on Boxing Day, and if anything this was even clearer. Hendrick was tripped yet Paul Tierney remained unmoved – although interestingly he did not produce a card for simulation either.

Lossl was called into action again before the end, saving at close range from Nahki Wells after Sam Vokes’s headed flick had found his fellow substitute in front of goal. Wells was on the field for only 10 minutes, and scoring the winner against his old club would have been quite a story on only his second appearance since joining Burnley in the summer, but it was not to be. He ended his afternoon being pulled up for a blatant push in Danny Williams’s back, which was more in keeping with a low-key occasion.

Guardian