Huddersfield Town manager Carlos Corberán thanked his goalkeeper Lee Nicholls and his defence for hanging on to a point against Swansea City yesterday afternoon at the John Smith’s stadium. The clubs largest crowd of the season met with a partzan swans away support in a thrilling championship encounter.
Spanish born Corberán who started life as a goalkeeper couldn’t contain his admiration for Lee Nicholls post match after a second half siege not often seen in any football match unless yiu are watching Manchester City. Corberán, whose side are now eight matches unbeaten, said: "Our keeper had more work and he helped us not concede a second goal. Lee Nicholls was a key player again today. I think the maximum we deserved was the point. We didn't attack enough second half, we were just defending. I think maybe I should have changed it earlier. We did a lot better after we put on (Jordan) Rhodes and went 5-3-2 and I think maybe I should have seen that sooner as it gave us more possibilities to go long to two strikers.
With a thirty one percent win rate Corberán has only seen favour as the terriers manager in recent months. Some would say his team having played four more games than the swans are in a false potion in the championship, and on yesterday’s performance in the second half you would have to agree. He went on. "The first half was good enough and we had opportunities to take further advantage because the team understood very well when to play short, when to play long and how to use space. We knew we were playing against a side who it's difficult to be aggressive against in attack. We pressed really well first half, but with the passing of the minutes it became harder to keep the tempo and ended up becoming more defensive. We didn't counter-attack well enough and ended up playing more long and didn't balance the game."
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Quite simply Corberán and his Huddersfield side had no answer to the swans second half dominance. On another day it would have been four or five, but then on another day in the past it could well have been a smash and grab 2-1 win for the home side. The swans take on Preston North End at home next Saturday with crowd restrictions lifted in Wales and a far more expectant crowd based on what we saw yesterday.