Carlos Corberan on where it went wrong for Huddersfield Town against Swansea City

HUDDERSFIELD TOWN head coach Carlos Corberan admitted that the maximum that his side deserved to take was a point after being bettered by a dominant Swansea City side in the second half of their 1-1 draw at the John Smith's Stadium.

A season's best home crowd of 20,535 saw Town lose their way badly in the second 45 minutes after a very presentable first-half performance when they displayed threat on the counter-attack.

It yielded a 15th-minute opener for Danel Sinani - who unfortunately exited the fray at half-time due to a hamstring issue.

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Town's pressing and organisation off the ball stymied a possession-based Swansea side for most of the first period, but the visitors proceeded to hold sway on the resumption and take over the game.

Huddersfield Town head coach Carlos Corberan, pictured on the touchline against Swansea City. Picture: Bruce Rollinson.Huddersfield Town head coach Carlos Corberan, pictured on the touchline against Swansea City. Picture: Bruce Rollinson.
Huddersfield Town head coach Carlos Corberan, pictured on the touchline against Swansea City. Picture: Bruce Rollinson.

Inspired goalkeeping from Lee Nicholls kept them out until Swansea finally conjured the leveller which had been coming 12 minutes from time when Flynn Downes started and finished a neat move involving him and Korey Smith.

A combination of excellence from Nicholls, some stout defending from Tom Lees and Matty Pearson and some wasteful finishing ultimately prevented the Swans from taking three points, with Corberan indebted to the performance of his keeper in particular.

Corberan, whose side are now eight matches unbeaten, said: "Our keeper had more work and he helped us not concede a second goal. Lee Nicholls was a key player again today.

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"I think the maximum we deserved was the point. We didn't attack enough second half, we were just defending.

"I think maybe I should have changed it earlier. We did a lot better after we put on (Jordan) Rhodes and went 5-3-2 and I think maybe I should have seen that sooner as it gave us more possibilities to go long to two strikers.

"The first half was good enough and we had opportunities to take further advantage because the team understood very well when to play short, when to play long and how to use space.

"We knew we were playing against a side who it's difficult to be aggressive against in attack. We pressed really well first half, but with the passing of the minutes it became harder to keep the tempo and ended up becoming more defensive.

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"We didn't counter-attack well enough and ended up playing more long and didn't balance the game."

Levi Colwill (knee) missed a second successive game for Town, but Corberan hopes he will be in the fray for next weekend's game at Reading.

He added: "He was going to train on Friday but the medical team said he couldn't train. I hope to have him back next week."

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