Neil Warnock saw Huddersfield move off the foot of the Sky Bet Championship with a 0-0 draw against Bristol City and said: “I thought we were unlucky not to win it.”
However, a first point after back-to-back 4-0 defeats against Burnley and Coventry still leaves Town six points from safety.
But Warnock said: “If we play like that we can give teams a hard game. I couldn’t ask for any more other than a goal.”
Both managers believed their sides were denied penalties by referee Leigh Doughty. Warnock and assistant Ronnie Jepson raged after Jay Dasilva’s challenge on Brahima Diarra did not merit a spot-kick at the end of the first half.
“The referee said he thought Diarra kicked the air,” explained Warnock. “But when you look at it he (Dasilva) took all his legs. I will get a phone call this week apologising no doubt.”
Huddersfield were indebted to Czech international goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik for keeping them in the game in the first half.
But the Terriers rallied ln the second half, with substitute Josh Koroma shooting wide, Jack Rudoni denied by Max O’Leary’s save and Martyn Waghorn seeing Andreas Weimann clear his effort off the line.
“I thought we were a bit apprehensive in the first half hour because last Saturday was a major shock to us with the goals we conceded,” said Warnock.
“But we had a chat at half-time and told them to get on the front foot and be more positive with early passes. There was no lack of effort.
“We wanted three points, but if you can’t get three we’ve got to chip away.
“It might give one or two lads a bit more belief that they can do it if they stick together and don’t make stupid mistakes.”
City boss Nigel Pearson also believed his side was denied a first-half penalty for a push on Mark Sykes.
“It was frustrating officiating again,” he said. “If that was outside the box, it would have been given as a free-kick.
“But because it’s in the box, it doesn’t happen. Neil will talk about their shout for a penalty.
“It just bemuses me. I don’t want to waste too much energy talking about them. Ours was an honest performance. They (Town) showed some fight after some difficult results.
“Huddersfield were very committed and put us under pressure towards the end.
“We stood up to it but we made some naive decisions which, as the away side, we should have controlled the tempo a bit better.
“I thought we had decent control in the first half and created decent opportunities. We were a bit careless late in the game but they had to approach the game in a more positive way in the second half.”
