Huddersfield Town 1 Walsall 1: History beckons for Town as draw equals Forest run

A draw against Walsall stretched Town’s unbeaten league run to 42 games, thus emulating the achievement of Clough and Taylor’s Nottingham Forest between November 1977 and November 1978.

Only Arsenal, who went 49 Premier League matches undefeated between May 2003 and October 2004, have eclipsed that figure in English football.

Barring postponements and the jolt of defeat, Town would reach the all-important 50-mark away to Wycombe Wanderers on January 7, while they would claim the Football League record outright by avoiding defeat to Forest’s neighbours Notts County at the Galpharm on Saturday week.

For now, they can bask in a truly magnificent achievement – and one that reflects superbly on manager Lee Clark and his players.

As Clark stated afterwards: “I’ve said to the lads that no matter what happens in their careers from now on, they’ve got an unbelievable thing on their CV.

“To match a team as great as that one is a phenomenal achievement really.

“If you’re playing a team sport, whether it’s rugby, football, cricket or whatever, to go that length of time without losing shows you’ve got something special.”

Asked how it felt to be bracketed alongside the legendary Clough, Clark reacted modestly.

“I think I would have to be unbelievably successful for years and years to be mentioned in the same breath as him,” he said. “I was lucky enough to play against his sides and to see him at close quarters.

“He was a phenomenal manager and is up there with the greats for what he achieved at both Derby and Nottingham Forest.”

There is no greater indication of the character that has hoisted Huddersfield into the record books than the fact Clark revealed there was disappointment rather than delight in his dressing room after the final whistle.

Rather than bask in their statistical triumph, Clark’s men were frustrated at having dropped two points in the promotion race.

The result was rough justice on them, for they dominated the first half to the extent that one almost felt sorry for Walsall, but Town were unable to break the deadlock until the 67th minute when Lee Novak stabbed home Gary Roberts’s cross from close range.

Substitute Jamie Paterson rescued a draw on 78 minutes with a superb right-footed strike from the left edge of the penalty area, which curled into the bottom left-hand corner of Ian Bennett’s net.

Although Huddersfield had 23 goal attempts compared to Walsall’s five, the visitors had easily the best match-winning opportunity of the afternoon.

Quite how Jon Macken scuffed his shot from six yards with only Bennett to beat in the 26th minute was a mystery, while Walsall nearly won it at the end when Will Grigg’s injury-time lob was beaten away by Bennett after the substitute failed to get enough leverage on his effort. That said, Town could also have won it at the death when Grigg appeared to upend the jinking Jack Hunt inside the penalty area.

Referee Scott Mathieson took a different view, flourishing a yellow card at a disbelieving Hunt for simulation.

Clark looked less than enamoured with the decision, while Mathieson was booed off by the majority of a 13,000 Galpharm Stadium crowd.

“I asked Jack about the incident and he said, ‘It’s got to be a touch, ‘cos why else would I go down?’ said Clark. “He said, ‘I’m in the box, I’m in a shooting position and I’m ready to pull the trigger.’

“Unfortunately, it’s gone now and there’s nothing we can do about it.

“The referee told me it was his opinion and I said to him that if he is wrong then he has cost us three points.”

Clark, however, was not of a mind to make excuses.

Some fluent football during the opening period spawned a host of chances, with Scott Arfield orchestrating proceedings in midfield, but the ball stubbornly refused to find its way into the Walsall onion bag.

Even the prolific Jordan Rhodes failed to get on the score sheet – something that happens about as often as 42-game unbeaten runs.

Rhodes headed straight at Walsall goalkeeper David Grof midway through the first period and, towards its end, picked him out again when well-placed.

“We created a lot of chances but we weren’t our usual clinical self,” admitted Clark.

“Our passing was fantastic, there was a good tempo and we created chances, we just didn’t put them away.

“On another day, we’ll get a two, three, four-goal advantage with that type of performance.

“The draw took a bit of a shine off the day, but the performance was worthy of a win and worthy of the record.”