By Nathan Findlay –
Huddersfield Town equalised at the death to draw 2-2 with Reading F.C. in their final game of the season.
The Terriers finish their season in 20th place and with a total of 49 points.
The season has been a very rough one with some months better than others but at the end of the day, Huddersfield are safe.
Match Highlights
Huddersfield faced Reading for their last game of the season and fought the Royals to a 2-2 draw.
The game was a strong one for both sides with many chances throughout.
The Terriers opened proceedings with a lovely free-kick from Josh Koroma in the 15th minute.
Unfortunately, just three minutes later, Huddersfield conceded a penalty to Reading, who took advantage of the equalizing chance thanks to Michael Olise.
Reading quickly put even more pressure on the Terriers, with a slew of attacking chances.
The pressure paid off in the 26th minute, with the Royals bagging their second coming from Yakou Meite’s header.
The game stalled out a bit after that with only a few chances coming in from both sides.
A late push from Huddersfield to get something out of the game worked as in the 93rd minute, with substitute Ramani Edmons-Green putting the ball in the back of the net off a corner, bringing the game to a 2-2 close.
It will hopefully be somewhat of a good feeling for the Terriers to finish the season with a draw as opposed to a loss, but in the end, it matters little given Huddersfield’s overall performance this season.
Again, one positive to take from the game is that they didn’t give up trying to go for a goal right up till the end, with keeper Ryan Schofield even going forward for the corner that ultimately produced the equaliser.
It’s that kind of positive attitude and fighting spirit that we need to see more off next season.
Things could have turned out much worse if it wasn’t for the teams below the Terriers performing even more poorly. Both the players and the management will have a lot to think about over the break.
Relegation
Today we saw the final games of the season play out and as predicted it was a brutal fight with some impressively tight games, especially at the bottom of the table.
In terms of relegated teams, Wycombe, Rotherham and Sheffield Wednesday will all be playing in League One next season.
Arguably the biggest game of the day was the six-goal thriller between Derby County and Sheffield Wednesday, which ended 3-3.
Both sides gave it their all with the lead changing hands several times.
However, a single point proved to be enough to save Derby from the drop, as Rotherham failed to capitalise on an early lead against Cardiff, who equalised to cosign them to League One.
An impressive 3-0 win against Middlesbrough wasn’t enough to save Wycombe, who also needed Derby to lose to be in with a chance of staying up.
All in all, it was an exciting afternoon, and shows how exciting the second-highest division of English football can be.
Promotion and Playoffs
On the other end of the spectrum, things were a little less tense with the top six clubs fairly secure in their positions.
Top-of-the-league Norwich ran away with promotion a while ago and end their stellar season with 97 points
Watford will also be joining them, with third place Brentford having to settle for the playoffs as they were unable to catch up in points.
They’ll be fighting for that all-important third promotion spot alongside, Swansea, Barnsley and Bournemouth.
Based on the points gap I think Brentford are in a good position to go all the way, but as we all know tournaments like these can be very unpredictable. It will be exciting to watch all the same.
Post-Match Thoughts
I think that this was a decent finish for Huddersfield considering their last 10 games.
The game played out quite evenly with both sides creating good chances throughout, so a draw seems like a very fair result.
The Terriers have had it very rough this season from early injuries from main players to losing streaks.
It is safe to say it hasn’t been the most pleasurable season. But all that matters is that Town are safe and ready to go again next season.