Huddersfield Town 4 Swindon Town 0

Coca-Cola League One
Saturday, 30th April 2005

The 4-0 scoreline hides the real story of this game as Town were forced to end up playing almost half of their youth team when injuries and red cards decimated the team.

Experienced defender Steve Jenkins was forced to pull out of the game after the pre-match warm-up and young Kyle Lapham was thrown in to make an unexpected first team debut. With red cards for Duke and Fallon, and King having to substitiute Roberts and Smith, Town were forced to play a total of five youth team players.

It was always going to be an uphill battle playing the second half with just 9 men and Town almost got away with a respectable 1-0 defeat until Huddersfield made their numerical advantage pay in the final ten minutes.


Swindon got off to a good start despite being forced to make a late change with Steve Jenkins injured during the pre-match warm-up. This meant an unexpected debut for Kyle Lapham and coach Alan Reeves being included among the substitutes.

Rory Fallon maybe should have done better with Town's first real chance on 3 minutes, but his soft goalbound header was turned around the post by the Huddersfield keeper.

Huudersfield also wasted an early chance when Adams tried his luck with an overhead strike that cleared the Town bar.

Christian Roberts was putting in some good work down the right and he set up Fallon with ten minutes gone but Rory's luck just won't change and his long range shot drifted wide of the goal.

David Duke was cautioned for a challenge on Brandon with 15 minutes gone, but Town were more upset with the referee's decision to ignore Brandon's retalioratory kick at Duke that went unpunished.

Neither side was dominant and there were few clear chances being created, but Town were beginning to show signs of taking control as they played some neat and controlled football.

Sammy Igoe tried his luck from distance after being sent clear by Smith but all he got was a corner off a Huddersfield defender. Fallon leapt to meet Smith's corner kick but again there was not eniugh power to trouble the keeper.

On the half-hour mark Town put together a neat passing move involving several players that finished with Fallon striking a shot against a defender as the Huddersfield defence was opened up.

A cross from David Duke almost caught out Rachubka in the Huddersfield goal and he was glad to palm it over his bar. Sadly another corner was wasted by Town as Huddersfield easily cleared the danger.

Just as the half was coming to an end, and with the Town fans looking forward to the chance of snatching one last away win this season, the referee handed Huddersfield the initiative in a crazy 90 seconds.

David Duke was very unfortunate to be shown a second yellow for what seemed a rather inocuous challenge again on the theatrical Brandon. Then barely a minute later we saw Rory Fallon's high kick on Mirfin earn the Swindon striker a straight red. Fallon's challenge was rather reckless but the most we expected was a yellow. Andy King was clearly incensed by the two decisions and had now been given a rather difficult half-time headache to sort out.

The second half saw Roberts and Smith replaced by youngsters Caton and Wells. For Wells it was a rather unfortunate way to make his first team debut having to try and keep Huddersfield at bay in a nine man team.

Andy Caton was left up front as a lone striker with four in defence and three in midfield as Town set about holding on to a 0-0 draw. Things were going according to plan as they frustrated the Huddersfield players and fans and even came close to snatching the lead when they won a corner.

The match was now over as a spectacle for the 300 Town fans who had made the trip as they watched their team fight a desperate rearguard action as Huddersfield enjoyed most of the possession. But Rhys Evans was not having too much to do as Huddersfield struggled to test him.

Town could only keep Huddersfield out for 17 second half minutes, and after striking a post they finally found the back of the net from a fine turn and strike by Abbott. Rhys Evans did superbly well to get a hand on the strike but it found its way into his net off the post.

Huddersfield should have gone on to punish the nine men of Swindon, but they wasted chance after chance and Swindon always looked like they might get some joy from the runs of Caton.

Jerel Ifil went on a long forward run but left his team in trouble when he lost possession. Abbott weaved his way towards the Town goal, but thankfully for Ifil his shot was blocked and the ball was gathered by Evans.

Caton had worked tirelessly as the single striker and on 74 minutes he was replaced by another youth team player, Ashan Holgate. Holgate almost made an instant impact on his debut, but a dubious flag from the asssistant put a stop to his progress.

A tired looking Town had put up a brave fight but they were beaten again in the 79th minute when the unsighted Evans was had no chance of reacting when Booth's strike came through a crowd of players.

The referee was to anger the Town players and fans yet again in the 81st minute when the ball appeared to be clearly out of play before being crossed for Abbott to volley home his second of the game.

Town's heads had clearly dropped after the third goal had gone in, and they were dealt another cruel blow when the veteran Rob Edwards placed his shot past Evans just a couple of minutes after coming on as a sub to make it 4-0.

Huddersfield threatened to strike a fifth before the referee blew for time but the hard working Town players managed to hold out and keep the score at four.

Next week could see another strange looking Town line up as Andy King struggles to find enough bodies to make up a 16 man squad. We could see him dipping into the youth side again with Duke and Fallon facing suspensions and several first teamers injured.

Rumour has it that Sam Parkin is determined to play a part in the final game whether he's fit or not. Possibly his final appearance for Town?

Town team: Evans, Duke, Ifil, Heywood, Nicholas, Igoe, Lapham, Smith(Wells-46, Pook, Roberts(Caton-46)(Holgate-74), Fallon

Unused Subs: Book, Reeves