Wednesday’s relegation now looks a near certainty after we once again lost points from a winning position in a 1-1 draw with Huddersfield at Hillsborough tonight.
With Birmingham’s 2-1 victory over Reading, we are now nine points from safety with just 10 games to play and, realistically, would need to win seven of those matches to reach the 50-point mark, which is seen as the usual target to survive the drop from the Championship.
In a scrappy game with few clear-cut chances at either end, Josh Windass had given us some hope of a win when he put us ahead on 36 minutes, latching onto Jordan Rhodes’ hooked through ball, outpacing Naby Sarr and firing home from 12 yards.
However Huddersfield, who dominated possession without causing many problems for Keiren Westwood, got back on level terms with 18 minutes remaining.
Sarr was allowed to run clear in the box from a free kick and when Westwood kept out his close-range effort, the ball rebounded back off the knees of the retreating Callum Paterson and into the net.
It was a Wednesday peformance totally lacking in the drive and intensity needed in our perilous position and we missed a great opportunity five minutes from time when Paterson latched onto Elias Kachunga’s clever pass but Ryan Schofield blocked his attempted clip over the keeper.
With that went the last chance to take all three points and, despite ending our run of seven successive defeats and recording a first point under Darren Moore, our hopes of surviving relegation are bleaker than ever.
Westwood, Harris (Shaw 61), Lees, Hutchinson (Urhoghide 61), Palmer, Reach, Bannan, Pelupessy, Windass (Kachunga 81), Rhodes (Paterson 61). Unused subs: Wildsmith, Penney, Green, Hunt, Marriott,