Huddersfield hit back to hold Plymouth

Josh Koroma’s first-half equaliser earned Huddersfield a hard-earned point from a 1-1 home stalemate against relegation rivals Plymouth.

Koroma scored his first goal since September to cancel out Morgan Whittaker’s early effort, denying Plymouth boss Ian Foster a winning start in his first Sky Bet Championship game in charge.

The shared points did little to ease either sides’ relegation fears, with Huddersfield now winning just one of their last nine league matches and Plymouth’s winless run extending to five.

Huddersfield’s American owner Kevin Nagle, watching from the stands, wants more new recruits before the transfer window closes and will step up his bid after the Terriers missed the chance to pull further clear of the bottom three.

Championship fixtures | table | highlightsStream the Championship and more with NOWGet Sky Sports | Download the Sky Sports AppWhittaker’s early effort was turned away by Huddersfield goalkeeper Lee Nicholls and at the other end Koroma shot narrowly wide as both sides set a lively tempo.

Plymouth opened the scoring with the game’s first cohesive move in the 12th minute.

Callum Wright sent Bali Mumba scampering clear down the left and his excellent cross was volleyed home at the far post by Whittaker for his 14th league goal of the season.

Alex Matos, on loan from Chelsea and making his league debut for the Terriers, fired into the side netting from four yards out, but Plymouth went close to a second when Ryan Hardie’s free-kick was deflected just off target.

Plymouth looked the more likely to add to the scoring until Huddersfield hit back in the 38th minute.

Mumba’s misdirected pass was pounced on by Sorba Thomas and he picked out Koroma, who cut inside on to his left foot and fired beyond Conor Hazard into the bottom corner.

Both sides were intent on chasing all three points at the start of the second half.

Whittaker’s long-range effort narrowly cleared the crossbar and Koroma’s deflected shot forced Hazard into a low save.

Clear-cut chances dried up and, while Huddersfield dominated possession, they lacked the cutting edge to seriously trouble a well-organised Plymouth defence.

Huddersfield’s Ben Jackson’s low effort was saved by Hazard and Jack Rudoni headed wide as Plymouth settled for a point and closed the game out, while some Terriers fans booed at the final whistle.

The managersHuddersfield’s Darren Moore:

“I think we’ve all agreed in here that we’ve just dropped two points, so I think it’s fair to agree with that.

“I can only express that even further. We’re on the same page because that’s the high standards that we set here.

“No. For me it’s about making sure you put all your energies into the game, to keep the positives going.

“Of course we want to win games, that’s the business, the industry, it won’t ever change and the next opportunity we get is the next one.

“We all know we’re trying extremely hard to do that. Hopefully, from my positivity and my determination, the boys can continue to do that.”

Plymouth’s Ian Foster:

“We’ve had four or five days on the grass and I’ve given them an awful lot of tactical and principle information and what was pleasing today was you could see it. They implemented our ideas well.

“The difficulty we’ve got is we’re clearly struggling away from home. We needed a platform to build from and a structure to do that.

“But we’ve also got to find the balance between structurally sound and difficult to beat to having that attacking potency.

“Although the goal was magnificent, I thought that was probably the part of our game that we lacked.”