Huddersfield 2 Peterborough 2: Late lapse again costs Town but they move out of the drop zone

Despite collecting just one point from their last three games, Smithies is convinced the quality of Town’s play will get them the required results over the last five games.

They moved out of the drop zone with Saturday’s draw, but were left frustrated at not claiming a win after a late error by Smithies enabled Posh to score their second equaliser.

Blinded by the sun, baseball-cap wearing Smithies failed to catch a cross and, although the ball was scrambled for a corner, Jack Payne’s mistimed header from Lee Tomlin’s flag kick trickled in by the unguarded far post.

It enabled the next-to-bottom visitors to stretch their unbeaten run to eight games.

Smithies explained: “I couldn’t see a thing in the second half. I could see the ball half the way and I went for it, but as soon as it went into the sun I completely lost it and just saw white light.

“I couldn’t see anything. The whole back four said they were struggling with the sun.”

On a more positive note, however, Smithies said: “We deserved to win, but the main thing is that we are out of the relegation zone and we have a really big game next week at Wolves and a win there can really help us.

“We are excited about every game and are really up for every game. We couldn’t really give much more in terms of effort.

“It’s just about the quality now and as the pressure builds it gets that much more difficult to produce that quality. But the fans got behind us really well and that is a massive aspect which they might under-estimate how much it can help us perform.

“We had produced a fantastic performance at Bolton, but could not get the ball in the back of the net and ended up losing.

“There was no way we deserved to lose so (Saturday) was all about building on that performance, reproducing a lot of the good things and we did that. We will take this momentum into the game at Wolves.

“Even though we have picked up only one point in the last two games, performance-wise we have to take that standard into the Wolves game. If we continue to play like this, more often than not we will come out with a win or at least a draw.

“It’s going to be a hell of a scrap, but all the games to come are as we go to some big clubs and others come here. Every game is massive now.

“It’s amazing how close the bottom half of the table is so there are quite a few teams who could be dragged into it while a couple of wins can take us right out of trouble so that’s what we need to produce. We can definitely stay up.”

Town were indebted to captain Peter Clarke, whose error had led to Bolton’s winner in midweek, for clearing off the line in each half and denying Kane Ferdinand a late winner with another block.

Posh proved a threat on the break throughout while Town produced some fine passing movements despite the poor pitch.

James Vaughan led the line with a swagger with Sean Scannell and Neil Danns supporting from the flanks, but it was Oliver Norwood, handed the playmaker’s role in place of suspended Adam Clayton, who set up both goals.

The first came in the 41st minute after Vaughan’s fair but crunching challenge on Jack Payne had left Posh down to 10 men for a spell. Norwood took advantage of the space, advanced and let fly a shot which Robert Olejnik, going to his left, beat into the ground only to see Danns hook home the rebound.

Posh responded soon after the break. Nat Mendez-Laing, denied by Clarke’s 14th-minute goalline clearance, burst down the right channel before outfoxing back-pedalling centre-back Murray Wallace and squaring for Tomlin to curl the ball past Smithies.

Wallace, in for calf victim Anthony Gerrard, responded by heading home his first goal for the club in the 69th minute after an initial corner from Norwood had been cleared but worked back to the midfield man, who swung in a fine cross for the defender.

Darren Ferguson, who had re-shaped his formation for a third time in an intriguing battle of wits with Mark Robins, urged his men forward, but defeat was on the cards when Clarke acrobatically cleared Tyrone Barnett’s goalbound header off the line.

However, they finally got their reward, and Ferguson said: “We knew they conceded most of their goals in the last 15 minutes, so we knew we’d get a chance late on. At the end, I thought we were going to nick it, which would’ve been unfair on Huddersfield. It wasn’t a game we deserved to win.”

Town chief Robins, who was also without Jack Hunt (hamstring) and Danny Ward (groin), commented: “I’m absolutely aware of our record of conceding late.

“It’s a disappointing statistic for the season and it will be put right.

“It’s a case of making sure we do the right things more often and that’s not just defenders, that’s everybody.

“It’s in our hands, we’ve got to play the teams around us. We’ve got Wolves, then Blackburn after that, then Millwall, Bristol City and Barnsley. It’s about what we do from now until the end of the season. It was disappointing we haven’t got three points but we’ve got a point, take that and move on.

“We’ve got to start seeing games out and picking points up. But we’re a game nearer the end, we got ourselves out of the bottom three, we were only in there a week and we don’t want to go in again.”

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Huddersfield Town: Smithies, Woods, P Clarke, Wallace, Dixon; Arfield, Norwood, Gobern (Beckford 59), Danns, Scannell; Vaughan (Lee 90). Unused substitutes: Bennett, Novak, T Clarke, Atkinson, Lynch.

Peterborough United: Olejnik, Little, Alcock, Zakuani, Knight-Percival, Rowe; McCann (Swanson 67), Payne (Ferdinand 42); Tomlin; Mendez-Laing (Barnett 67), Gayle. Unused substitutes: Day, Brisley, Pritchard, Cuvelier.

Referee: M Heywood (Cheshire).