Huddersfield Town 3
Stoke City 1
Reported by Nigel Taylor
Around 2000 expectant fans made the trip up from Stoke to bolster the
attendance to just under 11,000 on a day which will go down in history as
one of Towns greats. The day in November when Town finally won a league
game in the 97/98 season.
The game looked pretty open from the off, Stoke content to knock the ball
about in their half of the field but didnt really do much going forward,
with Edmondson and Morrison cutting out any advances into Town territory.
To tell you the truth, I dont remember much about the 1st half, highlights
being a free kick layed off to Morrison who powered it 4 foot over the
crossbar, Morrison doing a BEAUTIFUL turn on the ball to deny a Stoke
raider, then galloping a few yards up the pitch and hitting the long ball
over the top to Stewart - to me it looked like he should have nodded it
over the keeper first time, but he let the ball bounce up, then prodded at
it to knock it over the keeper but unfortunately the defender was back
covering.
Stoke had a free kick on the edge of the box late in the 1st half,
reminiscent of the quick QPR kick last season the shot was taken as the
Town defence were still organising, and Bartram, beaten, watched it onto
the post and wide - this was the first sign of things to come....
Half time, 0-0, pretty even, Town probably having the upper hand slightly.
From the K.O, the ball was played out wide to find Lawson on the edge of
the box, he knocked it across, Dalton shaped as though he was going to turn
on the ball and shoot but instead poked in on into the path of the
onrushing Richardson, who powere the ball safely into the bottom corner,
converting the kind of chance that Bullock used to send 15 foot over the
crossbar.
1-0 up on 45 minutes. The next 20 minutes the lads sat back, inevitable
really, and it always looked like a 2nd goal would be needed. Unfortunately
on 79 mins the 2nd goal of the game came to Stoke, a bit of a bouncing
around ball in the box, nobody picked it up, and the Stoke player powered
it into the roof of the net - unstoppable for Bartram.
For 10 seconds I thought that Town would fall apart, but straight from the
kickoff ground was made into the Stoke half, a free kick won on the edge of
the area, and Richardson, taking a leaf from the Stoke book, placed the
early ball into the path of Stewart, who made no mistake this time and
restored the lead to 2-1 with 10 mins to go.
On 81 mins, Stoke were again starting to pressurise Town, and with their
keeper sprinting up field for a corner, only to be stopped by his dugout
and sent back (I *think* he misread the time on the clock as 91 instead of
81!!), it was another sign of things to come - as the final 10 minutes
mounted and Stoke pressure built, a last minute corner for Stoke and the
keeper was up the field again.
The corner came too deep, but with Stoke players falling about the place, 2
Town defenders misjudging it, Dalton set off, battled the ball away from
the green shirted Stoke player on the edge of the Town box, then RAN ....
He got to just over the half way line before he was caught up by a
defender, who tried his best to drag Dalton down, but rather than go down
(which would have resulted in the player being sent off and the game won),
Dalton battled on, and just when it looked like he'd gone too far, he
passed the ball into the net from perhaps 35-40 yards, the ball settling
just the right side of the upright to make it 3-1 to Town.
A few seconds later and the final whistle blew up to a reception unseen in
a league game since Town qualified for the play-offs. Everyone stayed
behind, Morrison gave a 'Cowan punch' to the Kilner Bank, Jacko came out to
applause and recognise the chant of his name - Town were back....
Player Ratings
Bartram - 6 - Better than of late, made a couple of game saving stops -
hopefully this game will have given him a bit of confidence to go on and
keep a couple of clean sheets this week.
Edmondson - 7 - Much better from Edmondson, who never performed to this
level under Horton - deserves to keep the place even if Ryan recovers as
he's got that little bit more experience than Ryan.
Jenkins - 6 - Got forward well, but otherwise wasnt really involved in the
game from a defensive point of view.
Gray - 6 - Again, didnt really notice him, mainly because...
Morrison - 8 - of a strong commanding performance in the middle again, made
one dodgy back header, but barring that was a rock at the back
Dyson - 8 along with Dyson.
Dalton - 8 - Dalton continued to relish his free roving role, scored one,
had an hand in another, he's probably saved us spending ?500k with his
recent performances.
Richardson - 8 - I like this lad - he gets involved, and he has a real good
measured pass, took the goal well, made the 2nd - trouble is, isnt he
banned for 3 matches now?
Horne - 5 - Sorry - maybe he's unfit, but this just wasnt his game - too
far behind the pace and overshadowed by Richardson in the middle.
Edwards - 5 - A quiet game, couldnt really get the breaks when he needed
them..replaced by Lawson at HT who prob deserved a 6, though didnt do
enough to persuade Jacko that we dont need a big striker.
Stewart - 7 - Took his goal well, but should have had 2 - he faded a lot in
the last 25 minutes when things were getting tough. Cant complain really
tho, if he has the presence of mind to make a run into the box like the one
which resulted in the goal just once a game then its fine by me!
Summary
Getting this first victory was always going to be the major difficulty this
season - I'm just glad that its happened at home to give the fans something
to savour on a night when the pubs in Town probably made a mint. Best of
all, theres no week of training to be spent awaiting the next game, the
best thing that can happen now is for a game on Tuesday and then one on
Friday ... ok, so we've only won 1 league game all season, but the spirit and
belief should be raring to go now ... I wouldnt put it past Town to get 2 away
victorys this week, Tranmere and Man City are hardly setting the world
alight at the moment and we owe them both a good pasting ... so whats the
betting we'll be off the bottom of the table come next Saturday morning
then???