Wednesday left the Accu Stadium with a point they had little right to after 75 minutes. A Huddersfield own goal and a 98th-minute Jamal Lowe penalty turned a deserved defeat into a draw.
No answers and no plan
Wednesday had 60% of the ball in the first half but did nothing with it, failing to register a shot on target before the break. It was lacklustre and low in tempo. Misplaced passes and wasted effort cluttered the middle of the pitch, and the Owls looked short of answers and of a plan. When Huddersfield did break, Joe Lumley twice kept them out with outstanding saves, and that was the only reason it was goalless at half-time. Callum Slattery's early booking summed up a scrappy, frustrating opening.
Huddersfield strike twice
Henrik Pedersen made a change at the break, bringing on Davis Keillor-Dunn for Kieran Morrison. Morrison's departure brought a change of shape. Harry Gray and Slattery moved more centrally and the wing-backs pushed on, but the side looked lopsided and wanting. Huddersfield wasted no time in exploiting it. Joe Taylor finished from Archie Collins' delivery within a minute of the restart, and Collins was the provider again on 68 minutes when Derensili Sanches Fernandes doubled the lead. Wednesday still hadn't seriously tested Marcus Young. Lumley's booking for dissent around the hour mark showed the mood.
Heskey changes the feel
Pedersen went again on 69 minutes, with Billy Mitchell and Di'Shon Bernard making way for Jaden Heskey and Gabriel Otegbayo. Heskey's presence in the middle of the pitch gave Wednesday something they'd been missing all afternoon, and they began to play with more confidence. Huddersfield, two goals to the good, dropped deeper and invited pressure. For the first time, Wednesday played with real intensity, and the shots on target that had been missing for 75 minutes started to arrive. There was a loud shout for handball when a Barry Bannan strike appeared to hit the raised arm of a jumping Huddersfield defender, but nothing was given.
The breakthrough, when it came on 88 minutes, was a freak. Ibane Bowat glanced the ball into his own net, and suddenly a game that had looked dead was very much alive. Six minutes of added time went up, and Wednesday kept turning the screw.
Deep into stoppage time, Liam Cooper went down in the box after a high foot from a corner caught him in the head. There was a long delay: Cooper needed lengthy treatment and was eventually replaced by Liam Palmer. The referee consulted his assistant and the fourth official before pointing to the spot. Jamal Lowe, leading the line on his own all afternoon, kept his cool and converted in the 98th minute to make it 2–2.
Verdict
It's hard to dress it up. For three-quarters of this game Wednesday were poor, and it was another flat display in a run of form that has been worrying. They had plenty of the ball over the 90 minutes, 70% in the end, and did very little with it until the final quarter of an hour.
There were positives in the closing stages, though. Heskey changed the feel of the midfield, and Keillor-Dunn was one of the few bright spots on the day. On this evidence, he has a strong case to start. A late comeback on the road counts for something, and character was the one thing this side didn't lack at the end. We'll take the point and move on. AFC Wimbledon at Hillsborough next Saturday is the chance to build on those last 15 minutes.
Match details
Huddersfield: Taylor 46', Sanches Fernandes 68'
Wednesday: Bowat (og) 88', Lowe (pen) 90+8'
Wednesday: Lumley; Valery, Cooper (Palmer 90+7'), Bernard (Otegbayo 69'), James; Bannan (c), Mitchell (Heskey 69'), Gray, Slattery (Burstow 85'), Morrison (Keillor-Dunn 45'); J. Lowe.
Unused subs: Maynard-Brewer, Weaver.