Huddersfield Town have earned an FA Cup fifth-round replay with Manchester City after holding Pep Guardiola's side to a goalless draw at the John Smith's Stadium this afternoon.
Both teams created chances in an even first half without finding the breakthrough, but the second period passed by without much goalmouth action and the two sides were forced to settle for the stalemate.
Huddersfield made an encouraging start to the first meeting between the two clubs for exactly 17 years, and the hosts could have taken the lead as early as the fifth minute when Rajiv van La Parra saw a curling effort from the edge of the area kept out by the returning Claudio Bravo.
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Like Bravo, Sergio Aguero was brought back into the starting XI for the first time in five matches, but the Argentine struggled to make his mark in the first half and City's opening chance fell to Nolito, who was thwarted by Joel Coleman having bundled into the box. The rebound fell to Jesus Navas, but Mark Hudson was in the right place to clear the follow-up effort off the line.
Aguero did have a half-chance midway through the opening period when he beat Coleman to the ball after the keeper had raced off his line, but the striker lifted his finish over the crossbar.
Huddersfield were more than holding their own, though, and they had the ball in the back of the net shortly afterwards, only for the goal to be correctly disallowed for offside.
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A curling Jack Payne free kick flew narrowly over to gift the hosts a corner which City failed to deal with, and after Bravo had denied Dean Whitehead's snapshot Philip Billing buried the rebound into the corner. However, the flag was raised against Van La Parra, who was standing directly in front of Bravo when the City keeper made the initial stop.
City continued to create chances of their own too, and Fabian Delph was unable to make the most of a smart Aguero through-ball before Nolito scuffed a volley wide at the far post.
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Bravo was just as busy as Coleman, though, and the City keeper was called into action once again in the 37th minute when Van La Parra fired a low strike towards the bottom corner from the edge of the box.
Aguero was forced to wait until the 41st minute for his best chance of the half when he beat the offside trap to collect an incisive pass from Delph, only for his first touch to let him down before his subsequent effort was kept out by Coleman.
An even first half ended goalless, but City came out much sharper after the interval and almost took the lead inside the opening minute when Aguero slalomed his way into a shooting position before seeing his low drive well saved by the Huddersfield keeper.
The visitors continued to enjoy the lion's share of possession, but clear-cut chances were few and far between for either team and it took until the 88th minute for the next meaningful shot to arrive when Elias Kachunga cut inside onto his left foot and curled an effort a few yards wide.
There was to be no late drama as Huddersfield earned a return trip to the Etihad Stadium, giving the Terriers a second chance to reach the quarter-finals of this competition for the first time in 45 years.
Barney Corkhill
