Huddersfield Town 1 Birmingham City 1: Hammill’s Town future remains in balance after his late heroics

Huddersfield manager Simon Grayson praised Adam Hammill following his late equaliser against Birmingham but does not know whether he will be able to extend the winger’s loan deal.

Wolves’ Hammill, who came off the bench in the last game of his loan spell, struck deep into stoppage time to rescue a point for the struggling Terriers and deny Blues manager Lee Clark a winning return to the John Smith’s Stadium.

Grayson, whose side remain three points clear of 20th-placed Birmingham, said: “I have not spoken to Dean Saunders at Wolves about Adam yet. I will speak to him after the weekend and see what he wants to do.

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“If that is his last action for Huddersfield then it is a brilliant way to go out. He kept the ball alive and had three players around him. It was a fantastic goal.

“We have an honest bunch of players out there. They will make mistakes, but they are honest and will keep working very hard. That is another very valuable point for us.”

It had looked like a goal in first-half stoppage time from Callum Reilly, who had missed training due to illness, would be enough to give Birmingham all three points.

The goal was the 19-year-old’s first in senior football and came following a sustained spell of Blues pressure.

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Chris Burke nearly doubled the visitors’ lead when he curled a powerful shot wide on the hour mark.

But the Terriers, who are now without a Championship win in their last 11 outings, came back strongly in the closing stages with Alan Lee and Jermaine Beckford both coming close to equalising.

Hammill then escaped three defenders before firing a curling shot into the top corner from just inside the box to level in the third minute of stoppage time.

The late leveller left Clark, back at the ground for the first time since being sacked 11 months ago, deflated.

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He said: “I am gutted about the result. The key for us is to kill teams off. When the opposition are only one goal down then they have always got a chance.

“When you are 40 seconds away from the end and you concede an equaliser it is a kick in the guts and we have to bounce back.

“Callum was ill during the week, but put himself forward to play. He has scored his first goal for the club and should be immensely proud of himself.

“I am excited by how we have played in the last seven or eight games, with the exception of Bolton. If we keep playing like that, we will get the rub of the green.”

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Huddersfield Town: Smithies, Hunt, Gerrard, Peter Clarke, Dixon (Novak 90), Clayton, Danns, Norwood (Hammill 57), Scannell, Vaughan (Lee 68), Beckford. Unused substitutes: Bennett, Woods, Arfield, Southern.

Birmingham City: Butland, Caddis, Caldwell, Davies, Robinson, Burke, Elliott, Gomis, Redmond (King 78), Morrison (Zigic 90), Reilly (Spector 46). Unused substitutes: Doyle, Lovenkrands, Hancox, Hall.

Referee: G Salisbury (Lancashire).

Man of the match: Sean Scannell.

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