Hull City 1 Huddersfield Town 0: More pain at a rival Yorkshire venue for Terriers as Tigers find a way at the death

For Hull City, there was overwhelming relief.

The most frustrating of afternoons was rescued in the second minute of stoppage time when Liam Delap saw his low shot creep into the net off the post following Jaden Philogene’s cross.

Having hit the bar with a powerful header in the final quarter, there was a certain amount of sweetness in developments for Delap.

Hull dominated with the ball against a Huddersfield side who came for a point - understandable in the circumstances given some key absentees and their current predicament.

Their defensive resolve was stout and hearty, but the mask slipped in the 92nd minute.

After a bruising recent beating at Elland Road in their previous away game, there was hurt for a different reason for Town.

The first half, aside from a few flashes and a brief spell of home assertion just after the half-hour mark was pretty low-key in truth, which Huddersfield were entitled to be perfectly happy with given some recent travails.

More especially in their previous away game, across the M62 in a demolition derby at Leeds.

Town’s defence shape and overall organisation in a 5-3-2 system without the ball was on point in the main and a goalless scoreline at the interval was certainly to their liking more than Hull’s.

Danger man Philogene, who returned to the side after missing last weekend’s game at West Brom with a muscle issue, had the odd moment. But marker Ben Jackson was stoic and attentive to his task and given a bit of protection.

Hull - who boasted 80 per cent possession in the opening half - knocked on the door in the final 15 minutes of the half with Philogene cutting inside and seeing his angled drive kept out by Lee Nicholls, before Jean Michael Seri’s well-struck strike curled narrowly wide.

Ozan Tufan then stung the palms of Nicholls with a long-ranger with the half-time whistle arriving at a handy juncture for Town.

Going forward, Town, with captain Jonathan Hogg back on deck and Josh Koroma, David Kasumu and Kian Harratt on the bench, offered a couple of moments in isolation on the counter.

But in the main, it was an exercise in containment and kept Hull in check.

Town’s best moment came just before the half hour when Sorba Thomas cut inside and saw his fierce drive flash just wide, while an early chance saw Kyle Hudlin shoot straight at Ryan Allsop after Hogg intercepted the ball in midfield.

Huddersfield’s game plan was in place. It almost got shattered at the start of the second half.

Some ingenuity from a free-kick saw Twine dink the ball nicely to Tufan, whose ball flashed across the box and just needed a touch from a home player. It represented a big let-off for the visitors.

It was not the precursor to a sustained period of dominance in what turned out to be a scrappy second half.

Assigned to maintain their concentration, Town did that while bringing little to the table offensively. It was not the day for that as far as they were concerned.

Rosenior rang the changes, bringing on Cyrus Christie and Aaron Connolly in an attempt to change the narrative, with Delap moving out wide.

Delap soon supplied Twine, who blazed a shot wide before a major scare for Town saw Nicholls tip over Tufan’s looping header in the nick of time from Tyler Morton’s centre.

Morton then sent over a delicious curler towards goal, with Tufan injuring himself in challenging for the ball with the onrushing Nicholls.

The feeling that it might not be Hull’s day then started to set in as Delap thumped a powerful header against the bar following Tufan’s cross from the right.

But unfortunately for Town;s sake, Delap was not finished. Not by a long way.

Hull City: Allsop; Coyle, Jones, McLoughlin (Connolly 63 (Docherty 90+4), Greaves; Morton, Seri (Christie 63); Philogene, Tufan, Twine (Vinagre 80); Delap. Unused substitutes: Ingram, Allahyar, Vaughan, Furlong, Smith.

Huddersfield Town: Nicholls; Jackson, Pearson, Helik, Lees, Nakayama; Thomas, Hogg, Edmonds-Green (Headley 73), Wiles; Hudlin (Harratt 88). Unused substitutes: Maxwell, Ruffels, Koroma, Diarra, Edwards, Kasumu, Austerfield.

Referee: M Donohue (Greater Manchester).

Attendance: 20,630.