Report - Huddersfield Town 2-2 Blackburn Rovers

Huddersfield Town story posted by Sean Makin on 26/04/2015
Huddersfield Town came from two goals down to earn a deserved point in the last home match of the season against Blackburn Rovers.Report - Huddersfield Town 2-2 Blackburn Rovers

Joe Lolley scored a superb late equaliser to earn the Terriers a draw after Rudy Gestede and former Town striker Jordan Rhodes had put Blackburn two up.

Jacob Butterfield halved the deficit before half-time with a beautiful curling free-kick.

Huddersfield boss Chris Powell handed a debut to youngster Joe Wilkinson at right-back which meant Tommy Smith moved to left-back in place of the injured Reece James.

James Vaughan was passed fit after a knee injury but had to make do with a place on the substitute bench.

Blackburn handed a full debut to 21-year-old Darragh Lenihan, who played at centre half due to an injury crisis at Ewood Park.

Town started brightly as captain Mark Hudson brought a smart save out of former goalkeeper Simon Eastwood with a header from a Butterfield corner.

Oscar Gobern fired over from a good position before Eastwood was saved by the post when caught in two minds over Conor Coady's curling effort.

Rhodes and Paul Taylor had fired efforts harmlessly wide for Rovers but they took the lead on 27 minutes.

The Town defence failed to deal with Rhodes' persistence and his shot deflected into the path of Gestede, who found the net from close range with the aid of a deflection.

The visitors doubled their advantage just four minutes later when Wilkinson put the ball out for a corner when it was heading out of play, and Rhodes connected with a header from the resulting corner for his 20th goal of the season.

Town pushed forward and got themselves back into the match just five minutes before the break. Ishmael Miller was fouled by Tommy Spurr on the right hand corner of the box and Butterfield curled the resultant free-kick into the back of the net.

Town then went close to drawing level before the half-time whistle when Gobern hit a long range effort that curled just wide of the post.

Lolley was brought off the bench on 59 minutes for Wilkinson as Town boss Powell went for the more attacking threat.

Scannell's cross evaded Miller before Nahki Wells brought a save out of Eastwood.

Wells did have the ball in the back of the net moments later only for the goal to be ruled out by the linesman's flag.

Rhodes pounced on a loose ball and rounded goalkeeper Alex Smithies but his angled shot found the side netting.

The deserved equaliser came on 84 minutes when the ball sat up nicely for Lolley to hit on the half volley from long range and it flew past Eastwood to nestle in the bottom corner.

Blackburn manager Gary Bowyer sent on striker Joshua King with three minutes to go and the Norwegian almost found the winner but he was denied by a superb save from Smithies.

Teams:

Huddersfield Town: Smithies, Wilkinson (Lolley 59), Hudson, Lynch, Smith, Gobern, Coady, Butterfield, Miller (Vaughan 75), Wells.
Subs not used: Murphy, Edgar, Hogg, Wallace, Bunn.

Blackburn: Eastwood, Henley, Lenihan, Spurr, Olsson, Taylor (Cairney 64), Williamson (King 87), Evans, Conway, Gestede, Rhodes.
Subs not used: Raya Martin, Dunn, Brown, Marshall, Spearing.

Referee: Brendan Malone.
Attendance: 17,056.

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