Huddersfield Town 0 Burnley 0: Jonas Lossl fortunate to not concede penalty as competitive draw ends goalless 

A year bursting with high notes ended on an undefeated note for Huddersfield and Burnley, who concluded their business in 2017 by sharing the spoils.

And the draw here ensured Huddersfield will arrive at Leicester next year as the 11th-placed Premier League team, now six points clear of the relegation positions, if further testimony of an extraordinary 12 months is required.

A four-match unbeaten run has maintained hopes of survival, though in truth they were lucky to escape with a point from this encounter. 

Sean Dyche’s team controlled the flow of this fixture and were guilty of spurning a catalogue of opportunities to break the stalemate. The impressive Johann Berg Gudmundsson and Scott Arfield were particularly culpable.

They were also unfortunate not to be awarded their first penalty since April in the 61st minute when midfielder Jeff Hendrick was upended by Huddersfield’s Danish goalkeeper Jonas Lossl.

“The only thing I’ll comment on, because everyone will see it and know it’s a penalty, is that the thing that’s frustrating is that we know a lot of penalties are given for people flailing their arms around,” Dyche said.

“He goes down naturally, so he’s not playing for it. He’s had good feet, gets around the keeper, who catches his trailing leg, but he doesn’t shoot his arms around.

“It’s just a definite penalty and he doesn’t go down throwing his arms everywhere. That can’t not make it a penalty. What are the referees viewing now? Are they viewing a dive being a penalty because his arms are everywhere? I think he [the referee] said to Jeff he’d felt he lost his footing. He did, because the keeper took his legs.

“The overriding feeling is that it was a very thorough performance that warranted more than we got.”

Huddersfield had begun in fine fashion. German forward Collin Quaner’s driving run culminated in a rasping drive which drew a fine save from the Burnley goalkeeper, Nick Pope.

However, they soon became disconcerted by the visitors, who swarmed forward at every opportunity and pressed high up the pitch to starve David Wagner’s side of easy possession. 

The Huddersfield coach conceded that his team had been fortunate to earn a draw.

“I’ve spoken to Jonas [Lossl] and he’s said there was contact, so it looks like we were lucky in this situation,” Wagner said.

“There is no doubt that they had the better chances, more chances, and were the better side today.

“If you are not at your best you have to work and fight, and that’s what the players have done. It’s always great if you can get points on the board when you are not at your best.”