Carlos Corberan unhappy after Huddersfield Town draw

HUDDERSFIELD TOWN head coach Carlos Corberan voiced his unhappiness after his Town side spurned a golden chance to claim their first win of 2021 after being pegged back by ten-man Stoke City in a 1-1 draw at the John Smith's Stadium.
Carlos Corberan. Picture: Bruce Rollinson.Carlos Corberan. Picture: Bruce Rollinson.
Carlos Corberan. Picture: Bruce Rollinson.

The Terriers were afforded the perfect start after just five minutes when they went in front when Pipa's shot was deflected into the net via Stoke captain John Obi-Mikel.

It was just reward for a confident start by the Terriers, but they gifted a leveller to the Potters on 23 minutes when Naby Sarr brought down ex-Leeds United winger Jack Clarke in the box after the hosts were punished for surrendering the ball cheaply in possession.

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Steven Fletcher tucked away the penalty to restore parity for Stoke, who were the better side for the rest of the half before being who reduced to ten men moments before the interval after defender Rhys Norrington-Davies, on loan from Sheffield United, saw red for a high and reckless challenge on Juninho Bacuna.

Town dominated possession in the second half, but could not prise open the Stoke rearguard, with the visitors - without a win in eight matches - dropping deep and defending resolutely in a 4-4-1 formation.

The closest moments for Town came when Lewis O'Brien's strike was tipped onto the bar by Angus Gunn, while auxilary left-back James McClean made a fine goalline block to deny Bacuna.

As the clock ticked, Town began to run out of ideas and saw a late shout for a penalty rejected when Fraizer Campbell went down at the feet of Gunn.

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Earlier on in the half, referee Gavin Ward was also unmoved after Pipa went down in the box after Clarke stuck out a leg.

Corberan said: "We did not get the result we deserved or wanted. I think one point was not enough for us today and we cannot be happy.

“This is a result that cannot be enough for us.”

"I think we did enough in the first half, especially in the first 25 minutes when we were dominating the opponent. But we then made some mistakes in attack today that stopped us creating more chances and to have a clean sheet.

“I am more frustrated with the first half (after 25 minutes) than the second.

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"We created some good (second half) chances and Juninho Bacuna had one cleared off the line.

I don't know if it was a penalty or not but we have to accept it and more than the second half I think we missed important minutes in the first half.

"It was 15 minutes in the first half that meant we didn’t win the game.”

"We should have had a minimum of three points but it's not the result we got."

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