TERRIERS KEPT ON LEASH BY SWANS
Cowley’s geared up for battle at bottom
DANNY Cowley believes Huddersfield’s fight to avoid the drop to League One will go down to the wire.
Andre Ayew’s first-half strike put the Welsh side on course for their first win in six matches, before Chris Willock levelled the scores deep into the second period.
But Jay Fulton rose high to head the hosts back ahead, and they were able to relax in added time after Jordan Garrick scored his second goal off the bench in a week.
“Conceding a goal like like stinks of a team in a relegation battle,” said Cowley.
“When you come off with one point from eight games you know what you’re in for. You know it’s going to be a long hard season that will go down to the wire. We want to get more consistency and I don’t want us to be so accepting, but we’ll continue to fight.
“We’re leaving Swansea very disappointed. We worked so hard to get back into the game, and then we concede like that. It can’t happen if you want to be a successful team.
“We had control and momentum in the second half and we thought we’d take something from it. It’s frustrating.”
Jonathan Hogg’s heavy touch on the edge of his own box created chaos in the Terriers defence after 28 minutes.
Conor Gallagher, Ayew and Brewster all had efforts blocked after the Chelsea loanee nipped in to win possession.
The hosts finally found the net when Huddersfield goalkeeper Jonas Lossl palmed Aldo Kalulu’s fired cross into the path of Ayew, who diverted into the bottom corner.
The home fans thought Kyle Naughton had doubled the lead after seeing his shot ripple the side netting, but it was only Ayew’s first goal in six games that separated the teams at half-time.
But the visitors gave themselves a chance to snatch a result when they hauled themselves level after 78 minutes when Willock drove to the angle of the box and unleashed a pinpoint drive that hit the far post and went in.
But Fulton headed Swansea back ahead from Matt Grimes’ corner two minutes later. And Cooper could relax for the final stages when Gallagher slipped in substitute Garrick, who rounded Lossl and slotted home to finish.
Swansea remain five points adrift of the play-off places, but manager Steve Cooper says they are still in contention.
“I don’t think we’ve ever been out of the play-off mix because the league allows that to be the case,” said Cooper.
“We just wanted to win today. Our idea of how we want to play the game never changes. We were just really happy that we got what we deserved. Everybody got what they deserved, the supporters, the players and the past two games have been difficult here.
“We were more than good for the result. In the first half particularly, I thought it was as good as we’ve been for a while.
“I didn’t think we looked like we were going to concede. To respond the way we did, it would have been easy to feel sorry for ourselves, but we didn’t do that.”