Huddersfield Town have not become so high and mighty that they can look down their noses at a Premier League point, but they were entitled to feel shortchanged by this one because two more seemed tantalisingly attainable. David Wagner’s team had almost a full match in which to convert numerical supremacy into victory after Jordan Ayew was sent off in the 11th minute but they wound up banging their heads against the brick wall erected by Swansea’s 10 remaining players.
Carlos Carvalhal’s celebrations at the final whistle attested to how highly the visitors prized this result. “Before the game a point would have been good; after the game it is massive, because of the circumstances,” he said.
What looked like being an even contest changed when Ayew was dismissed for fouling Jonathan Hogg near the halfway line. The forward’s lunging challenge looked reckless rather than spiteful but he ended up planting his studs into his opponent’s knee, so the referee had to order him off.
Swansea switched immediately into survival mode, and barely left their half for the rest of the match. By full-time Huddersfield had taken 30 shots to Swansea’s zero.
Too few of those shots were on target, however. Only one forced Lukas Fabianski to display his inner acrobat, tipping a ferocious drive by Steve Mounié on to the crossbar. Most of the hosts’ efforts were blocked by one of Swansea’s three central defenders, who manned the barricades with tremendous defiance.
Huddersfield’s dominance increased in the second half but sharpness still eluded them. Hogg flashed a 25-yard drive inches wide in the 50th minute before Scott Malone failed to connect with the ball from six yards out after a cross by Tom Ince. Ince came agonisingly close to snatching victory in stoppage time but his header bounced out off a post.
