Town recorded their third successive home draw after their game against Huddersfield ended goalless. David McGoldrick came closest to breaking the deadlock for the Blues in stoppage time, forcing a superb instinctive save from Terriers keeper Jed Steer, while Nahki Wells had the best chance for the visitors - who had sub James Vaughan red-carded in injury time - in the first half when Christophe Berra hooked his effort off the line.

Town boss Mick McCarthy made three changes from the team which lost 2-0 at Blackburn a fortnight ago with left winger Tommy Oar handed his full league debut.

The Australian international, who was making his first appearance at Portman Road, came in for Larsen Touré, who dropped to the bench, with Ryan Fraser, who missed the game at Ewood Park with an ankle problem, sidelined for two months with a knee injury.

Jonas Knudsen, who was ill at Blackburn, returned at left-back with Jonny Parr also amongst the subs. Up front, Brett Pitman replaced Daryl Murphy alongside Freddie Sears.

Town started brightly, Oar sending in a second minute cross which Pitman was only able to flick on towards Luke Chambers but Huddersfield left-back Jason Davidson cleared ahead of the Blues skipper.

Two minutes later, Ishmael Miller turned Tommy Smith on halfway after Maitland-Niles had lost possession and broke away into the area on the left but Berra got across to block his shot.

Play quickly moved to the other end and Oar whipped over a low cross from the left which Terriers skipper Mark Hudson cut out ahead of Sears.

With Oar off the field receiving treatment for a nose bleed after an early clash with Huddersfield keeper Steer, Miller again escaped down the visitors’ left flank on nine but rather wasted the opportunity by scraping a poor effort across the face of goal and wide.

The Terriers continued to have the better of it with the Blues giving possession away too easily with the ball rarely sticking up front.

There was an escape on 10 when Knudsen slipped allowing Sean Scannell to get away from him on the right but keeper Dean Gerken easily claimed his cross.

A minute later Chambers got his name in referee Andy Davies’s book for a trip on Harry Bunn with Huddersfield breaking following a Town attack.

Maitland-Niles hit a shot against a Huddersfield defender on the edge of the area on 26, Town’s first strike of the afternoon, albeit one of little consequence.

However, the Blues were starting to see more of the ball but without particularly threatening, while the home crowd were becoming increasingly frustrated by some of referee Davies’s decisions.

On the half hour a contentiously freekick awarded against Maitland-Niles almost led to Huddersfield taking the lead. Miller flicked on a header and Wells, who scored three times in the two games against Town last season, lifted the ball over the advancing Gerken but Berra did superbly to get back to hook off the line.

Cole Skuse showed an impressive turn of pace to get back to muscle Scannell off the ball in the 34th minute having initially slipped, the Terriers again having broken quickly with Town short of numbers at the back. Shortly afterwards the Blues midfielder mis-hit an effort from distance which trickled through to Steer.

Three minutes later, Dean Whitehead, a Town target during his former Sunderland boss Roy Keane’s time in charge at Portman Road, was booked for a foul on Sears on halfway.

With the half in its final five minutes, Oar whipped in two dangerous freekicks from the right which Martin Crainie and then keeper Steer cleared. The Terriers also managed to deal with the latest in a number of Knudsen long throws, albeit at the third attempt.

The game remained goalless at the break with Huddersfield having gone closest to opening the scoring with the Wells chance that Berra hacked off the line.

The visitors had presented the greater threat throughout the half, particularly on the break, with Terriers keeper Steer having had a very quiet first half.

Oar’s first appearance at Portman Road lasted only 45 minutes with David McGoldrick replacing the Australian, who had found it hard to get into the game, at the start of the second half with Sears moving to the left.

McGoldrick hit a low effort through to Steer in the 54th minute after Maitland-Niles had laid the ball off to him but the Huddersfield keeper was again untroubled. Four minutes later Smith was booked for a foul on Miller on the halfway line.

Huddersfield put the Blues under pressure as the game moved towards the hour mark but were unable to create a serious chance. Then on 61 McGoldrick shot well over from distance. A minute later, Douglas was booked for a foul on Bunn.

Murphy replaced Pitman on 68, while for the Terriers Mustapha Carayol took over from Scannell, who had suffered a knock a few minutes earlier.

The Blues number nine made an immediate impact, feeding Sears, who hit a powerful low effort which forced Steer into his first proper save of the afternoon.

There was controversy moments later when Huddersfield keeper Steer kicked the ball out of play as one of his team-mates was injured. As he did so the player got up and Chambers, much to the annoyance of the visiting players, took the throw quickly to Maitland-Niles.

The on-loan Arsenal man crossed towards McGoldrick and Murphy but the offside flag was raised.

Joel Lynch headed Carayol’s corner over, then at the other end Douglas nodded a Maitland-Niles’s freekick over at the far post.

Town were having most of the ball as the game moved into its final 10 minutes but still without creating many significant openings.

On 81 McGoldrick cut a low cross back from he byline on the right to Douglas, who was tripped, the loose ball falling to Murphy, whose effort was stopped brilliantly by Steer.

However, it was all academic with the linesman indicating that the ball had gone out as McGoldrick crossed.

Huddersfield went close in the 84th minute when Davidson's freekick from the left fell to Emyr Huws on the edge of the box. Gerken saved his shot, but the loose ball fell to Terriers sub Vaughan. His effort looked set to be saved by Gerken until it was turned over by Lynch. With four minutes remaining Touré replaced Maitland-Niles.

Town continued to push, Skuse seeing a shot blocked after a Chambers cross from the right was blocked.

The Blues had a great chance to win it in injury time. Knudsen’s long throw from the right was cleared to Touré. The Guinean international’s shot took two deflections and fell to McGoldrick eight yards out but Steer instinctively stuck out a leg to divert it wide.

Huddersfield were reduced to 10 men in the closing stages when Vaughan needlessly threw the ball in Knudsen’s face as the pair argued over a throw. Referee Davies had no hesitation in brandishing his red card.

The former Canary’s dismissal was the final action of Town’s third home draw on the trot with the Blues now having gone four games at Portman Road since their last win, against Burnley on August 18th. Their most recent previous 0-0 draw was against Bolton at Portman Road in January.

Having been very much second best in the first half Town, who kept their third clean sheet of the season, were better after the break but without ever dominating or creating many openings.

The Blues improved after the introductions of McGoldrick and particularly Murphy and probably should have claimed all three points when the former Nottingham Forest man had his chance late on.

However, aside from that opportunity, Douglas’s header over was perhaps Town’s only other serious chance of the half and the visitors, who recorded their first clean sheet of the season, also might have won it via Vaughan’s rebound from Huws’s late shot.

Town, who have now won just once in seven league games, are up to 10th ahead of back-to-back away trips to Hull City on Tuesday and Forest next Saturday.

Town: Gerken, Chambers (c), Smith, Berra, Skuse, Douglas, Maitland-Niles (Touré 85), Oar (McGoldrick 46), Pitman (Murphy 68), Sears. Unused: Bialkowski, Malarczyk, Parr, Bru.

Huddersfield: Steer, Davidson, Cranie, Hudson (c), Lynch, Huws, Whitehead, Scannell (Carayol 68), Bunn, Wells, Miller (Vaughan 73). Unused: Murphy, Smith, Paterson, Dempsey, Billing. Referee: Andy Davies (Hampshire). Att: 17,937 (Huddersfield: 395).

Photo: Action Images

VulpineBlue added 21:14 - Oct 17 Just got in. A truly awful game. A dysfunctional midfield that leaves the defence exposed and the frontmen dying of starvation. It's impossible to know which strikers are in form if they have to drop so deep to get the ball themselves. I don't usually criticise players- in fact I thought Jay Tabb was usually more than OK, but for the life of me I cannot see the point of Jonathan Douglas, especially when we have a player of the calibre & potential of Kevin Bru on the bench.

5

Jimmy86 added 21:25 - Oct 17 Well the ref was awful and the sad thing is, we were worse. We could still be playing now and we wouldn't have scored. The really worrying thing for me, is this undoubtedly is a better squad than last season and it seems Mick doesn't know his best team. Gerken did ok today, but for me Bart is still the better keeper, think Mick was just looking for an excuse to put Gerken back in. What does Douglas do that Bru doesn't?? That's another sore point at the moment and it just shows how stubborn mick is, when he says the more fans want a particular player to come on, the less likely it will happen. Pig headed Stubbornness to the extreme. Didz is possibly are most technically gifted player, but he should have buried his chance late on and secured the 3 points. Good save, but the keeper shouldn't have even had chance to save it. Yet again there is zero creativity in that time and despite playing 4 4 2 there's never an overlap between full back and winger. Disappointing to say the least. We had such a great start and things looked promising. 2 tough away games to come, we have got to up our game and quick

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blueboy1981 added 21:35 - Oct 17 essex57 .......... thought perhaps that even you, would have 'seen the light' by now - on second thoughts - probably not ...... !!
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blueboy1981 added 21:37 - Oct 17 ....... judging by the 'down' marks you've given many posts tonight.
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PJH added 21:39 - Oct 17 What is this light that we are all supposed to be seeing please,blueboy? You have apparently been seeing it for a number of months-is it only visible in certain areas?
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warktheline added 21:40 - Oct 17 Essex57, does 8 million for Mings mean anything to you???????? Get with it!
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wayway added 21:42 - Oct 17 McCarthy will not be sacked. He is the manager the Evans PLC wants, just biding his time till he retires when he is 60. He will not go to the PLC stooge and ask for money for players and he is happy that the Cresswell/Mings money goes straight to the PLC coffers. And the fans? The PLC do not give a toss only to rip them off with ticket prices. Nothing will change till the Evans PLC stops treating the club as a tax loss and decides to sell. It's a good job we don't own the ground cos that would have been sold long ago and we would no doubt be playing at Colchester

4

Minneapolis_ITFC added 21:47 - Oct 17 It was only in the recent past that you would get berated out of sight by certain sections of our support for daring to say a word in anger about the manager but given enough time, people will steadily realize he isn't the savior some had envisaged. It's nothing personal, McCarthy is an established name that has provided success at other clubs, but it's simply not working here. The play-off achievement from last season was commendable but were well beaten over the two games and as for this time around, we'd be fortunate to grab another top six finish the way things are headed. A 0 - 0 at home to today's opposition represents a score that isn't good enough. We need someone to come in with fresh ideas and sit the team down and explain what needs to be done and with a little more ambition. You know, a go-getter, and McCarthy is void right now of these characteristics. Too bad it wasn't another boring international break : by all accounts today's game was so dull you wouldn't have noticed any difference.

2

TimmyH added 21:49 - Oct 17 I bet £1M of that 8M from Mings transfer goes to Mick's salary per season, if we can afford to pay him £1M bonus for keeping us up in 2012/13 then that would not be an absurd amount to pay him... he actually said he gets paid well. Now to start earning it or perhaps we should wave another £1M bonus to get us automatically promoted (now that would actually be earning it this time).

1

stevelincsexile added 21:58 - Oct 17 Just got home after 340 mile round trip. How can I justify to my good lady at home the cost to watch such rubbish. MM seems so void of ideas and is so reluctant to make the changes the we all can see ( I have been an ardent supporter of him in the past) that there is only one way we will go, downwards. This team in no way resembles the team that started the season so well so why change what looked a good team other than Frasers injury.

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warktheline added 21:58 - Oct 17 It's a touch unfair that some are saying 'we told you so', no one can deny McCarthy's 'achievements' to date, but as with life ,things change, move on and evolve etc, thus opinions also alter. Of course some have never embraced McCarthy's style, and personally I've always respected that, but as with everything there are 'grey areas' and all is not black or white! I for one have learnt that since joining the forum 3 years ago!!!!

1

blueboy1981 added 21:59 - Oct 17 PJH .......... OBVIOUSLY only visible to certain people - numbers of which are INCREASING. Medicine tastes awful sometimes - OBVIOUSLY ..... !!!
0

blueboy1981 added 22:01 - Oct 17 PJH ........... struggling for words at the moment I guess.
1

TractorJed added 22:03 - Oct 17 YAWN, please wake me up when this latest period of mediocrity is over!! Enough is enough , wrong in so many ways
1

blueboy1981 added 22:03 - Oct 17 warktheline .......... point taken - but equally so he has had his failings, which cannot be denied.
6

irishtim added 22:11 - Oct 17 Have always been one of Mick's biggest supporters but I'm getting tired now. Changes need to be made in the team by Mick. If they are not addressed soon then I agree we need a change of management. Still think Mick can turn it around.
1

Tractastic added 22:20 - Oct 17 Less Portman Road and more Jurassic park these days with a real dinosaur running the show!
5

thebeat added 22:28 - Oct 17 I think the most telling line of the day "Johnny Douglas has been terrific all season" says it all really. Does he really believe that? Cus if he does i want some of whatever he puts on his cornflakes.........
3

essex57 added 22:30 - Oct 17 Wot does 8 million pound get in this day and age Wark the line they get lots more than that over 3 years in parachute payments your the ones that need to get real we support a team in an unfashionable part of the country that not many players rush to play for unless there in the last chance saloon spending millions is not the answer as Magilton Keane and Jewell are testament to and to some extent it was the downfall of Burley paying big money and wages to cr@p players when we got into Europe

-7

essex57 added 22:30 - Oct 17 Wot does 8 million pound get in this day and age Wark the line they get lots more than that over 3 years in parachute payments your the ones that need to get real we support a team in an unfashionable part of the country that not many players rush to play for unless there in the last chance saloon spending millions is not the answer as Magilton Keane and Jewell are testament to and to some extent it was the downfall of Burley paying big money and wages to cr@p players when we got into Europe

-6

Count_Arthur added 22:30 - Oct 17 Not scared to make changes - no one is undroppable - yeah, ok, whatever MM! He talks the talk before the games and the only change he really made (Oar) was because he had to. Getting bored of his stubbornness now. He doesn't mind changing 11 players at Old Trafford but won't do it at Portman Road! Enjoy the brand new Ferrari you just collected from Italy Mick, worth every penny! Bonkers!

5

Taricco_Fan added 22:33 - Oct 17 "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
5

BrettenhamBlue added 23:36 - Oct 17 turning into another mediocre season. If we continue to play like this though we may have some drama as we desperately try to avoid relegation yet again. What is up with Douglas? He's been so poor to date. At least Coke had an excuse when he was playing (he's never had a good game for any club). But Douglas was loved by the Brentford fans and was known for his enthusiasm and commitment. What's gone wrong? Still not certain about Toure. Need to see him play more. And there's really no point in stating the obvious once again (we need a new right back etc). Every fan knows it, every player knows it, all opposition managers know it (hence they exploit it), Micks cat knows it. But MM seems oblivious. It's like the Pink Elephant in the room.

2

GiveusaWave added 23:57 - Oct 17 Yes,we played awful. Yes,we need a rb. Yes, the ref was bad. But on the bright side we picked up a point. My friends from Huddersfield can't believe they didn't win. We were outplayed for most of the game and were less interesting to watch than dead fish floating at the top of a lake.somehow we drew. Somehow we held out. We even passed the ball to them on multiple occasions and they still didn't score. Huddersfield fans are gutted,that was 3 easy points for the taking. Like many fans said at the start of the season.we are not a promotion chasing squad. reading etc have real squad depth and quality from back to front. How many future Premiership players do we have in this squad? Imagine Chanbers at rb in the Premiership? Or Tommy Smith vrs World Class Forwards week in:week out. Hate to think about the thrashings next season.

1

algarvefan added 00:49 - Oct 18 I have been a constant supporter of Mick's and admired his ability last season to get to the play off's with a very ordinary but committed team. This season however is looking very different, where is the money we got for Mings? Where is the clubs ambition to build on last season? It's time to shake the tree and see what happens, I would rather lose with young triers than the dross we see now!!

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