‘Dust ourselves down and go again’ as Huddersfield Town's climb away from trouble is brought back down to earth

Town were looking to improve a run that had seen them claim three wins and two draws from their previous five games to move out of the relegation zone.

Another victory at Swansea.Com Stadium would have moved them four points clear of danger, but they ended up losing to a deflected Ryan Manning strike – a goal Warnock described as “soul destroying” after seeing his side fail to make the most of their first-half opportunities.

“We just have to dust ourselves down and get on with it,” said Warnock.

“We had a decent chance in the first half and I thought Swansea had run out of ideas until that goal went in off the chest of Hoggy (Jonathan Hogg).

“It was what we expected from Swansea and we knew we wouldn’t have much of the ball. But possession is pointless if you don’t do anything with it. If we had taken our chance it would have changed the game. The fans would have got agitated and they would have had to come out a bit more. You need a bit of luck in football and to lose to a deflected shot that was going miles wide is such a disappointment to us.

“Hoggy did well to try to block it, but to see it ricochet off his chest and go in like that is soul destroying.

“They have 80 per cent possession against everyone nearly, but I can’t remember too many saves our goalkeeper had to make. It is disappointing, but that’s how it is.”

It was the first of two vital long trips to south Wales in their battle for Championship survival for Huddersfield, who visit the Cardiff City Stadium on April 30, and they set up to with a 5-4-1 formation, seemingly determined to frustrate Swansea from the off.

They succeeded in doing that throughout a first half in which all the big opportunities went Huddersfield’s way.

With 20 minutes gone, a back-post corner was headed across goal by Tom Lees to give Michal Helik a chance to head home, but he put his effort wide. Jaheim Headley then found himself in acres of space in the home box after Danny Ward had flicked on a long throw, but his left-footed volley failed to hit the target.

At the other end, Swansea’s Ben Cabango, headed a whipped cross from the left by Manning against the right post.

Olivier Ntcham then smashed a golden chance from the edge of the area over the bar to leave the Swansea fans frustrated after a first half with no chances from either side on target.

A goal seemed inevitable from the Swansea side with up to 80 per cent possession at times during the game and it finally came in the 69th minute when Grimes set up Ryan Manning for a shot that looped into the goal after striking at least one Huddersfield player.

That was the cue for Swansea to pour forward as Huddersfield had to change their shape and finally try to get forward themselves.

Jack Rudoni blasted a late free-kick into the wall.

Swansea: Fisher, Latibeaudiere, Cabango, Wood-Gordon, Manning, Fulton (Cundle 59), Grimes, Cullen (Darling 80), Ntcham (Cooper 46), Paterson (Whittaker 59), Piroe (Allen 86). Unused substitutes: Naughton, Sondergaard.

Huddersfield Town: Vaclik, Lees, Helik, Pearson, Kasumu (Koroma 73), Hogg, Rudoni, Edmonds-Green (Waghorn 84), Headley (Ruffels 73), Diarra (Simpson 74), Ward. Unused substitutes: Jackson, Lowton, Bilokapic.

Referee: M Donohue (Lancashire).