Huddersfield Town held automatic promotion hopefuls Brentford to a 0-0 draw at home on Saturday, helping them move five clear of the relegation zone.

The Terriers have slumped in recent months thanks to poor form and injury crisis, plundering them back into a relegation battle after the Cowley's oversaw a mini-resurgence in October and November.

Huddersfield hosted Brentford on the back of two league defeats and were up against it from the off, given the Bees’ current red-hot form heading into the clash. Thomas Frank’s side were left frustrated by the hosts, however, after they kept them at bay for the most part and limited Brentford’s attack to half-chances in and around the edge of the box.

Huddersfield handed debuts to four new signings on Saturday and three of those started in Richard Stearman, Harry Toffolo and Emile Smith-Rowe. Danny Cowley has been very busy in this window and he has made some very shrewd signings, as Saturday proved.

With a positive result keeping the bottom three at arm’s length, we take a look at three things we learnt from Huddersfield Town in their draw with the Bees…

A huge clean sheet

Huddersfield drawing 0-0 signalled their first clean sheet since the 10th of December when they saw off Charlton 1-0 at the Valley, which is a sign of how their form has dipped following the mass injury crisis.

Three out of the main back four that Cowley had settled with suffered injury setbacks around that time, and this coincided with them shipping a lot more goals in the league, but with defensive recruitments and players coming back, they are starting to show more solidity at the back.

This stalemate meant that Huddersfield have played twice against the Bees now without conceding, something that barely any teams will be able to boast about, come the end of the season, given how formidable their attack is. 

Defensive performances are what helps most teams climb away from a relegation battle, so this could be a big platform for them to build some momentum for the rest of the season.

They could have nicked it

 

The Bees dominated the game for large portions, given that they had 63% possession, but they didn’t have many chances and registered no ‘clear-cut chances’ all game.

Huddersfield had the game’s only clear-cut chance, as Emile Smith-Rowe’s cross found top scorer Karlan Grant at the back post just over six yards from goal, only for him to blaze the shot over the bar first time.

This was a golden opportunity that Grant will be kicking himself over, having had little in the way of chances all game and it would have given the Terriers a huge three points that not many people would have expected coming into this game.

Jay Dasilva hit the post late on for Brentford but it was another speculative effort from outside the box, whereas Grant absolutely should have broken the deadlock, given some of the harder chances he has gobbled up this season, like the one at Griffin Park.  

Can you name every Huddersfield Player of the Year for the past 15 seasons?

Signings have made an instant impact

Cowley came into this January window knowing where he needed to strengthen, with his September appointment giving him four months to assess the squad’s strengths and weaknesses.

He has already brought in players to remedy this, with Richard Stearman, Emile Smith-Rowe, Harry Toffolo and Andy King all making their debuts on Saturday. Tommy Elphick and Jaden Brown’s injury problems have forced Cowley into the market, with Stearman and Toffolo coming in and adding a clean sheet to their solid debut performances, showing already what shrewd business this could be.

The blend of experience and youth in their signings have been just what they needed in key areas, and this game proved that.