It's hard when you play a side from the division below

Last updated : 03 October 2002 By Tony Scholes

Huddersfield have been having a bad time recently but made life difficult for us at times and their boss Mick Wadsworth was clearly happier with their performance than he had been in recent league games.

Despite the defeat Wadsworth was full of praise for his players after the game and said,

"I’m pleased with the performance it was fantastic. I thought the boys were awesome in every sense. don’t know if there is a curse on the ground or not , it’s just unbelievable that we can make so many great chances and play such good football and not come out with anything – it’s amazing really.

"The last three games we haven’t been so clever and I’m the first to admit that because I’ve been as disappointed as anyone has, but that is back to what we were playing like in the Barnsley game and before that. We’ve had some marvellous footballing performances.

"It’s amazing when people say ‘Why are you playing that way?’ when a First Division club have come here and changed their way of playing against us. They’ve played 4-3-3 to match us up and we actually started 4-4-2 but it did us, because I believed we could be better than they were and I believe we were – I thought we were terrific."

So Wadsworth was ecstatic never mind happy but what about Stan,

"I’m delighted to be in the next round and I thought Marlon made some brilliant saves. To be fair I thought we had enough chances to have put the game way, way beyond what happened in the last ten minutes with the pressure they put on us. But we stuck at it and got a good result.

"We have come away and it is always hard when you play a side from the division below. If Huddersfield play like that in every game I’m sure they won’t be near the bottom of the league for long. Credit to them they battled really well and made it tough.

"We had a lot of chances but we kept a clean sheet and the run is still intact and we are through. The players worked extremely hard and I thought we shaded it."

Having played Steve Davis in midfield Stan then spoke about his skipper,

"Credit to the skipper he was very good. I have contemplated playing him there before and he did very well. He can pass the ball, he’s strong in the air and he’s a leader. I’ve had it in my mind for a while because Coxy and Arthur can handle it in the middle.

"People paid a lot of money for Sean Gregan in the Premiership and I don’t see much difference between him and the skipper. He was outstanding tonight and protected the two centre halves, he gets up really well.

"As well as Coxy and Arthur who can handle the situation we have Mark McGregor who can play there."

Pride returns to soften exit blow

Mel Booth (Huddersfield Examiner)

Town left the field to a deserved standing ovation after restoring pride and hope for the rest of the season.

They need goals, of course, and that problem has still to be addressed, but the performance last night over 120 entertaining minutes and a stirring finale offered more than a Cup full of encouragement.

Town went toe-to-toe with visitors from a higher division, created more than enough chances to have won the game and fell only to a piece of Mediterranean magic from Dimi Papadopoulos with 13 minutes of extra-time on the clock.

It was a massive disappointment to the 3,591 Town fans who turned up, but the vast majority went away heartened that Mick Wadsworth's side might be able to turn this sort of form into goals and points for a Second Division revival.

It was streets better from Town than has been witnessed in recent dull and passionless displays.

With Dwayne Mattis, Martin Smith and Simon Baldry restored to the starting line-up and Danny Schofield plying his trickery as the central striker, there was more pace and tempo about Town's play and it ought to have brought reward.

They didn't have it all their own way - Scott Bevan making three breathtaking saves to deny Steve Davis, Gareth Taylor and Graham Branch, while Smith made an early clearance from the line to foil Taylor's goalbound header.

But Town's determination, drive and enterprise forced Burnley into more than one reshuffle and when it came to the distribution of luck, the battling Bevan and his colleagues could claim to have been ignored by the Lady of good fortune.

While fans will debate the chances which were missed, perhaps the key moment for Town came 12 minutes from time when referee Graham Laws failed to act as Ian Cox hauled down substitute John Thorrington just outside the box.

Thorrington had robbed the defender near the centre circle and was seizing onto a clear goalscoring opportunity, but Laws - trailing 25 yards behind - did not even signal a free-kick.

As a result, Town did not get chance to score from a dangerous position, Stan Ternent's side were not reduced to 10 men and what should have been a critical incident was left unpunished to provide a painful epitaph to another Worthington Cup attempt.

The frustration was all the more heartfelt because no-one in a blue and white shirt played badly and everyone worked their socks off.

That's why the fans stood and applauded at the end - because the players showed it mattered.

If only Stead's early half volley or Danny Schofield's snap shot had gone in to provide Town with the confidence of a lead, although both those players will rue the 68th minute.

Firstly, Stead was robbed as he tried to take the ball around Beresford and, from the follow-up, Schofield's weakly-hit shot was scrambled from the line by the covering Mark McGregor.

In extra-time, Smith had a fierce drive bounce off the keeper while Burnley's greatest escape came six minutes from the end.

Nat Brown, looking determined as he pushed forward, thumped a 25-yard drive against a post and, from the rebound, Stead was somehow denied by Beresford.

Late on, with Burnley defending desperately, Schofield was similarly unlucky from close range before Thorrington blazed the follow-up over the bar.

Chairman David Taylor slammed his programme to the ground in frustration and everyone knew how he felt.

A place in Saturday's third round draw would have boosted the coffers, whereas a larger than expected electricity bill merely dented them.

At least Town provided a shining beacon for the matches to come.