Points mean prizes as two games remain

one-third of their opportunity to haul themselves to safety has now passed by having taken only onethird of the points they are likely to need.

As a neutral this was easily the best Town game to watch since the season resumed, and that in itself tells you something about the level of improvement in their performance after the rancid showing they put on against Luton Town on Friday night.

Not that this was a classic that will echo down the ages, but both teams had their moments and the game had a constant, frenetic energy as if the referee had shouted ‘next goal wins’ early in the first half.

Jonas Lossl was chiefly responsible for ensuring that did not come to pass, making a phenomenal save from Kadeem Harris just before half time when the ball looked destined for the top corner.

There were other good chances at either end, too – a very similar Emile Smith Rowe effort that flew wide of the far post, a Moses Odubaju strike at the end of a blistering run that drew another Lossl stop, a brilliant Karlan Grant take-down-and-shoot off a Jonathan Hogg pass over the top that flew just wide of the post.

But while such dramatic moments will be the enduring images of this game, we should not overlook the greater industry and movement from Town’s attacking players, and especially not an absolutely dominant Richard Stearman performance that was as vital in keeping Wednesday at bay.

That we are singling out Stearman and Lossl for particular praise rather than, say, Grant or Steve Mounie, also tells you that this was not an absolute panacea to their ills.

It is now four straight games without a goal for the Terriers, and eight straight games without one from open play.

In that context, any improvement is thin without the three points to go along with it.

We won’t know until the end of the season whether this was one point gained or two points dropped, and you can’t blame Town fans if they have come away from this game with their nerves even more shredded.

There is still every chance that Huddersfield Town will be playing League One football next season, and next up for Town are an excellent West Brom side that will be looking to get the win they need to push themselves back into the Premier League. You can’t be happy when your side face going into an away game on the final day of the season needing three points to guarantee they stay up.

At any other time, in any other season, you take the point and you never think about this game again.

But Huddersfield Town fans now face another anxious eight days of sleepless nights, poring over league tables and fixture lists, becoming experts on EFL rules around points deductions and appeals processes, dreading every goal alert that flashes up on their phones even when Danny Cowley’s side aren’t themselves in action.

Even now, effectively four points clear of the drop with two games to go thanks to the hammer blow Wigan have inflicted on Hull City’s goal difference, the only antidote to that anxiety is points.

Two games to go...

You can’t be happy when your side face going to the final game of season needing

three points