Championship club Huddersfield forced an FA Cup fifth-round replay with Manchester City thanks to an entertaining goalless draw at John Smith's Stadium. Goalkeeper Claudio Bravo, restored to the Premier League side's starting line-up, did well by saving twice off Rajiv van La Parra and from Jack Payne's free-kick in the first half, while Philip Billing had a goal ruled out for offside. In front of a record football crowd of 24,129, Terriers goalkeeper Joel Coleman kept out efforts from Nolito and Sergio Aguero in each half. The draw for the quarter-finals takes place on Sunday at 18:30 GMT on the BBC News Channel, BBC Radio 5 live and the BBC Sport website. Both sides last met on this day in 2000 in the First Division with the game ending in a 1-1 draw, and it was a case of history repeating itself 17 years later.
City striker Aguero was given a first start in five matches, but the Argentine could not find a way past Coleman who was dominant in the air, keeping out the top-flight side with a total of four saves. Coleman did make a rare mistake in the first half when he rushed off his line for the ball and was beaten to it by Aguero, but the City player's lobbed effort failed to find the target. City's much-maligned goalkeeper Bravo, who had been dropped for the past four games, was in impressive form. He made three saves, the best of which came from Payne's set piece which was heading for the top corner. It will be a tough task at the Etihad Stadium and this may well have been a missed opportunity for the West Yorkshire side.
High-flying Huddersfield - third in the Championship - harried and hustled the opposition, allowing them no time on the ball. As a result, the hosts extended their unbeaten run to seven games in all competitions. Top scorer Elias Kachunga [11 goals this season] and Nahki Wells [nine], were left on the bench and introduced only on the hour mark, but neither were able to trouble Bravo. Meanwhile, City manger Pep Guardiola, looking to become the third Spaniard after Rafael Benitez and Roberto Martinez to win the competition, was able to call on £92m worth of talent in Kevin de Bruyne and Leroy Sane with 20 minutes to go.
Despite being held, City have kept another clean sheet, the fifth in their past six away games. Huddersfield manager David Wagner said "We are still in the competition which is great. Another match in this busy footballing period but that is not a problem for us. For sure we are one of the fittest teams in the division. "We were able to make them uncomfortable, they were the better team with chances which is no surprise to anybody but we showed great attitude and passion. "We are very happy to have another match against a very good team, to test us again. We learn from every game, I love to see my players on the pitch playing football matches. "A clean sheet against Manchester City makes our chest bigger."
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said "It is not frustrating, it was a tough game against one of the best teams in the Championship. "Two days ago there was a rugby game on the pitch which made it slow but we made a good performance. They are a really good team, congratulations to Huddersfield. "When you play against teams at the top of the Championship, it is obviously difficult. There were no complaints, my team did what I asked them to do."
