After 33 minutes of this Roses clash, it appeared that this game could go the same way as the Port Vale (0-3) home match just before New Year. Oldham started the brighter, and with their manager's confidence ringing in their ears Ronnie Moore's side came fast out of the blocks against Town.

Moore said before that match that his Lancashire outfit side could beat Town, and they looked good measure for their lead. Luke Beckett the former Town loan striker was causing the Terriers all kinds of problems and it was his flicked header which found Chris Porter for the game's opener on 13 minutes.

20 minutes later and the provider of Oldham's first goal turned into goalscorer of their second goal, as the visitors took command of the game. A free-kick caused Town problems and a knock down was pounced on by Beckett who prodded home.

It looked like Town would need a saviour team talk from manager Peter Jackson at 2-0 down, but with seconds remaining of the half, Town was handed a late life line. Danny Schofield's tricky caused Athletic problems down the right and his cross was turned into his own net by Oldham defender Guy Branston.

That seemed to pump Town into life for the second half. After a tepid first half performance in which winger Dan Smith had the only decent Town effort (a freek kick which the Oldham 'keeper did well to hold), Town went on the charge straight from the re-start.

A baron spell by leading scorer Pawel Abbott was ended on 47 minutes. Abbott headed home his first league goal since the 2-2 draw at Milton Keynes Dons on December 6th, 2005, from a Town corner and seconds later saw his 20 yard drive tipped round the post for a corner.

It seemed to pump Town up even more and it was no surprise when the Terriers took the lead. On loan striker David Graham scored what was Town's winner on 58 minutes. Graham hit a sweet shot from the edge of the area into the left-hand side of Chris Day's goal, to delight the 11,000 home supporters in a crowd of just under 13,000.

Graham was substituted to a standing ovation on 77 minutes as Jackson replaced him with Gary Taylor-Fletcher. But Town fans heart missed a beat in injury time. Phil Senior made a wonderful save, but the ball ran nicely to Chris Hall, but he blazed over from just yards out.

Teams:

Huddersfield: Senior, Holdsworth, Nathan Clarke, McIntosh, Adams, Schofield, Tom Clarke (Hudson 45), Worthington, Smith, Abbott, Graham (Taylor-Fletcher 77), Hudson (Mirfin 70). Subs Not Used: McAliskey, Eastwood

Goals: Branston 45 (og), Abbott 48, Graham 59

Oldham: Day, Forbes, Swailes, Branston, Edwards, Warne (Chris Hall 76), Butcher, Wellens, Eyres (Stam 76), Porter, Beckett. Subs Not Used: Cronin, Hughes, Grant

Booked: Swailes

Goals: Porter 13, Beckett 33

Stats:

Ball Possession: Town: 48%, Oldham: 52%
Shots: Town: 11, Oldham: 12
Shots on target: Town: 7, Oldham: 9
Corners: Town: 11, Oldham: 7
Yellow Cards: Town: 0, Oldham: 1
Red Cards: Town 0, Oldham: 0
Attendance: 12,973
Referee: Mr T. Leake

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Due to first choice goalkeeper Paul Rachbuka's suspension back up 'keeper Phil Senior will start the weekend's game against Oldham Athletic at the Galpharm Stadium. That means a place on the bench for academy 'keeper Simon Eastwood

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Lee Fowler has left Huddersfield Town and is set to sign a permanent deal with Nationwide Conference side Scarborough. Fowler who was on loan at Boro and has scored three times in 11 appearances will be best remembered by Town for scoring the winning penalty in Cardiff to send the Terriers up against Mansfield Town.

Fowler who joined the Terriers from Coventry City has featured for his Welsh national side at under 21 level, but he has never reached his potential for Town and will not be regarded as one of the best signing's made by manager Peter Jackson.

Fowler had joined the Seadogs on loan on November 11, 2005.

Town manager Peter Jackson confirmed that Fowler, who struggled to ever settle into the Town side, and always had his discipline problems left the club today, and is on the verge of signing for the seaside club.

thisisthebarmyarmy.co.uk would like to wish Lee all the best in the future

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Young defender John McCombe has joined former Town defender Anthony Lloyd at Torquay United. Although the Gulls have just departed company with manager Leroy Rosenior, after a tough season for the Devon side, McCombe has agreed to join the League Two side on a month's loan

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Peter Jackson is taking a two-week look at former Darlington and Southampton left-sided player Jason St Juste. St Juste is versatile and can play in midfield and defence, and Town boss Peter Jackson has said that he has tracked the 20 year old for a couple of years.

Jackson who will assess the young player in training is attracted to his skill and natural quick pace. St Juste impressed at Darlington but had found breaking into the upper ranks at Southampton difficult.

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Brentford captain Ricky Newman has seen the FA rescind the red card he was shown during Town's 2-0 defeat at Griffin Park last weekend. Newman was sent off after just 17 minutes of the firey clash for a challenge that left Town midfielder Chris Brandon with a deep gash that has required 10 stitches to repair

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This Saturday's Roses clash with Oldham Athletic at the Galpharm Stadium is a premium match. That means that the match will incur the category A pricing.

Andy Booth and Chris Brandon are both set to be missing from the match but new loan signing David Graham could feature in the match. Pawel Abbott will be back after suspension and will go straight back into attack, with either Gary Taylor-Fletcher or Graham

Jackson tracked Graham whilst he was at Plainmoor but was unsuccessful. Graham who helped Wigan's push to the Premiership last season but has struggled for form and goals since his time at Wednesday.

Jackson indicated that Graham will start the match on Saturday at home against Oldham and is likely to partner Pawel Abbott who will return from his one match suspension.

Jackson said of the Scottish born player who cost Wigan £215,000 and Sheffield Wednesday £250,000 in August 2005 "He will hopefully be a key part of our big push for promotion for the rest of the season and I am confident he will do that."

Graham was a youth international with Glasgow Rangers and has also featured for Dunfermline and Inverness Caledonian Thistle before moving to the South Coast with Torquay in March 2001. In 152 league appearances and a further 66 from the bench he has scored 54 goals.

His last goal was the winning goal for the Owls in a 2-1 victory over Derby County at Hillsborough in November 2005. He has scored a further two times this season including a goal against West Ham United in the League Cup. He played against Town in the 2003/2004 season. Town won both matches against Torquay United 1-0, and in the match at Plainmoor he was booked

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Town's skillful midfielder Chris Brandon revealed his upset at the challenge of Brentford captain Ricky Newman. Town who was expecting a tricky and hard game, like always , at Griffin Park found Brentford to be totally devoid of playing fair football.

With just 17 minutes gone Newman foot badly caught Brandon, causing a huge cut to the side of Brandon's face, which needed 10 stitches in it. The player has said himself that he hopes the FA does something about this, as he felt if it had been his face and not the side of his head he "could have lost an eye".

Jackson who believes video evidence is inconclusive, admits that his player is angry about the challenge, with Brandon also believing that he was caught prior to the injury with an elbow.

Brentford manager Martin Allen, has said that his club will be appealing against the red card as he does not feel that his player did anything wrong. But the referee Keith Stroud, is adamant he made the right decision calling it a violent challenge and he correctly sent Newman off for violent conduct

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After his red card in the early stages of the second half of Saturday's disappointing 2-0 defeat at Brentford, first choice goalkeeper Paul Rachubka will be missing for the home game this Saturday with Oldham Athletic.

That means that Phil Senior, who replaced Rachubka with the score at 1-0 to the Bees will start in the Roses battle

Mendes who will never feature for Town again was said to have returned to the Terriers from Northampton to assess his future and with Town down to bare bones in the striker department for the visit to Griffin Park, it would seem that Peter Jackson has told him, he still does not feature in his plans.

Mendes who featured 18 times for the Cobblers scoring 4 times, will join Grimsby until the end of the season with a view to a permanent deal. His deal with Town runs out at the end of the season and he will not be given the chance of a new contract

Also Martin McIntosh (groin) and Andy Booth (groin) will both be missing for the tough test. Both had to be brought off during last weekend's victory and will not be passed fit for the Griffin Park match.

That means that Peter Jackson is likely to play Gary Taylor-Fletcher and either Danny Schofield or John McAliskey in the strikers positions. Should it be Schofield on loan left sided player Dan Smith is likely to start the match in the position Schofield vacates

Tom Clarke with his first goal for the club opened the scoring on 9 minutes and he featured highly throughout the match in a wonderful performance from the 18 year old. Clarke set up numerous chances for other players.

Despite the Terriers looking for the second goal Paul Rachbuka had to be clever on a couple of occasion's to prevent Pool equalising.

Town made sure of the points on 73 minutes. Jon Worthington won a penalty for the Terriers and although Danny Schofield saw that saved he converted the follow-up to ensure that Town would win for the first time since the 2-1 victory over Nottingham Forest at the Galpharm Stadium on November 26 2005

Smith will join the Terriers for one month initally and should feature against Blackpool on Saturday. Smith who has featured for Sunderland twice this season and can play either at left-back or left wing.

Jackson who has been void of cover in that area since the injury of Tony Carss is delighted to have confirmed the deal today.

Jackson however did not capture the signing of James Hayter, The Bournemouth striker who has always performed well against Town is out of contract in the summer but indicated that he did not want to join the Terriers.

It would appear that Town are no longer interested in joining the race to sign Blackburn Rovers striker Matt Jansen. The interest in the former England man is hotting up with Manchester City, and Wigan adding their interest to Everton, Bolton and Preston.

Meanwhile former Town target central defender Ben Futcher has left Boston United to join League Two promotion hopefuls Grimsby Town. The Terriers tracked Futcher whilst he was at Lincoln City.

Former Town captain Efe Sodje has left Yeovil and joined League One promotion chasers Southend on loan. Sodje is then set to seal a 18 month contract with the Essex side later this month

Town played a mix of academy players and first team fringe players for the match, but the average age of the team was just 21. David Mirfin captained the side, but it was Phil Senior who caught the eye with a number of impressive saves, during a first half in which Bradford almost added to their one goal

He was disappointed with the second half though in which Town failed to play any coherent football. Jackson has highlighted that he is concerned with the form of Pawel Abbott, and indicated a chance at Glanford Park that 3 months a go the Polish striker would have scored from, but Jackson feels he has options with all his players and feels that his decision to rest goalkeeper Paul Rachbuka then start him tonight was justified

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It might by eight games in the league since Town tasted victory, but for the third consecutive away league match, Town stole a point from the game in second half injury time.

Gary Taylor-Fletcher did it twice at Rotherham United and Barnsley over the Christmas holidays and almost at Chelsea on Saturday in the FA Cup, but this time it was big Scottish defender Martin McIntosh who won a point for Peter Jackson's side.

Although results may not be going for the Terriers and they are experiencing a torrid time in the league, they have a never say die attitude which at the moment is keeping them up with the leading teams in League One. The spirit of the club is so evident that the Chelsea manager commented on it after the FA Cup match at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

Town twice had to come from behind with late goals in each half. After old advisory Peter Beagrie had given the home side the lead on 17 minutes, Danny Schofield equalised for the Terriers on 44 minutes with a fine strike. After a period of sustained pressure from the home side Andy Keogh (70) looked like he had given his side the lead and a double over Huddersfield Town.

But with time running out a pinpoint cross from Michael Collins was met by a powerful header from McIntosh who sealed a point for the travelling army.

It is the tenth time the Terriers have scored in the final 10 minutes of a match this season gaining 10 points on the way.

Jackson made two changes to the starting line-up from the weekend. Paul Rachbuka was back in the goal with Phil Senior benched - make of that what you wish! - and Adnan Ahmed was benched with Tom Clarke favoured in midfield. Andy Booth was still missing with his groin injury.

Town desperately need a result on Saturday from the home game with Blackpool (who beat Oldham at home this evening) and the only kind of 'result' that should do for Town is a victory and three points. Town are still in touch with the leaders but they had now played two more games than Brentford (third, same points) and Colchester United (fifth, one less point), and one more than Swansea who following a Leon Knight hat-trick go top from Southend United. Swansea have played 26 matches, Southend 27 the same as the Terriers.

Jackson needs to sign a player with pure quality and width, an out and out winger who will supply crosses into the box. If rumours are correct Town are tracking Yeovil Town's Welsh born winger Kevin Gall - a former Bristol Rovers player. But with Jackson checking on striker Matt Jansen, you wonder if Town need another striker? With the number on the book's that is very doubtful!

Teams:

Scunthorpe Evans, Crosby, Hinds, Byrne, Rose, Taylor, Baraclough (Sparrow 77), Beagrie, Sharp (Torpey 77), Keogh, MacKenzie (Goodwin 59). Subs Not Used: Musselwhite, Butler.

Goals: Beagrie 17, Keogh 70.

Huddersfield Rachubka, Hudson (McAliskey 78), Holdsworth, Adams (Mirfin 60), Nathan Clarke, Brandon (Collins 78), McIntosh, Tom Clarke, Schofield, Taylor-Fletcher, Abbott. Subs Not Used: Senior, Ahmed.

Booked: Hudson, Brandon, Abbott.

Goals: Schofield 44, McIntosh 90

Stats:

Ball Possession: Town: 47%, Scunthorpe: 53%
Shots: Town: 10, Scunthorpe: 16
Shots on target: Town: 6, Scunthorpe: 4
Corners: Town: 5, Scunthorpe: 11
Yellow Cards: Town: 3, Scunthorpe: 0
Red Cards: Town 0, Scunthorpe: 0
Attendance: 4,450
Referee: Mr P. Robinson

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Manager Peter Jackson has today admitted that he has made an approach to Blackburn Rovers over their want-away striker Matt Jansen. Jackson has stated that he has had a conversion with Blackburn Rovers manager Mark Hughes, over bringing Jansen to Town.

Jansen however will be on big wages is also been tracked by Bolton, Everton and Preston North End

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Town boss Peter Jackson has told his players he wants their best irrespective of what team Chelsea field against Town tomorrow afternoon. Town's form since the draw as been no wins in seven matches, whilst Chelsea have won their last six league matches at Stamford Bridge.

But Town will be without captain Jon Worthington who is suspended for the game, so one of the returning midfielders - either Chris Brandon or Mark Hudson will fill his place.

Town are sweating on the fitness of striker Andy Booth who is struggling with a groin injury, and his presence and experience will be vital for Jackson's side to pull off what would be the greatest of giant cup killings.

Once former Town youth player Damien Duff will feature for the Blues on Saturday against the Terriers. Chelsea however look set to rest a number of players including England duo Frank Lampard and John Terry but bring in England hopeful Joe Cole.

Carlton Cole will also make his first Chelsea start whilst goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini will start - he was in the goal when Town won 1-0 in the League Cup in 1999. Recent big signing Maniche will be handed his Blues debut

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He scored plenty of goals for the Terriers whilst on loan to the club from Chelsea but after falling out with Brighton manager Mark McGhee Leon Knight (23) has signed a £125,000 deal with League One side Swansea City.

Town will face Knight in February when the Terriers travel to the Liberty Stadium for a key match. Swans boss Kenny Jackett was delighted to get the "exceptionally talented goalscorer". Knight joined Brighton from Chelsea in August 2003 for £100,000 scored their winning goal in the Brighton's play off victory in 2004.

Knight will come in to fill the void left by Lee Trundle's exit, although Trundle is widely tipped to be leaving the Liberty Stadium.

Swansea had also tracked, two that should be tracked by Peter Jackson Rochdale's Grant Holt and Swindon's Rory Fallen

Lloyd who played a part in the Terriers promotion season has found first team football since hard to come by with Town boss Peter Jackson stating that he made the step up the league more difficult than his fellow younger players.

Lloyd who was born in the South West, signed a deal to the end of the season with United

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Town are reported to be tracking Blackburn Rovers striker Matt Jansen, has Peter Jackson looks to add to the Galpharm squad for the final stage of the season. Jansen who has only started one match this season for the Premiership side says that he needs a move to play first team football.

Jackson is reported to have confirmed his interest in the player. Jansen who played for England under-21 joined the Ewood Park side in 1999 for £4 million, but his form since 2002 has suffered thanks to a life threatening accident he had whilst riding a motorbike.

Such was Jansen's form he narrowly missed out on the full England squad for the 2002 World Cup and he is still only 28 so he will have a lot to offer.

Jansen, if he choose to join Town, would likely join on loan

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Town have designed a special hybrid of the white 'away' strip for Saturday's visit to England's top domestic side Chelsea. Chelsea who are running away with the Premiership title again this season are host to Town in the FA Cup Third Round.

The Terriers who will be taking a sell out allocation of just over 6,000 supporters will see Town wear the white strip for only the second time this season - the first was at Southend United earlier in the season.

The strip with have the match embodied into it, along with the competition and the venue.

Town will wear the home strip shorts (white with blue flashes), whilst the away socks (blue with white rims) will be worn

Christmas and New Year as been far from great for Town with just three goals from the four matches, which as seen them drop to fifth in the table and looking devoid of goals and confidence.

It is now eight league matches since Town tasted success, and how the last 10 minutes at Milton Keynes Dons (2-2) has massively effected the players confidence since the beginning of December.

Manager Peter Jackson made two changes to the starting line-up for the visit of Ronnie Jepson's Gillingham - who still have to win away from home this season. Pawel Abbott regained his starting position, pushing Gary Taylor-Fletcher to right wing in place of suspended Chris Brandon. Goalkeeper Phil Senior replaced Paul Rachbuka in the goal for Town, after the American had conceded six goals in the last three matches.

Rocket Ronnie Jepson was without six players as his Kent side travelled the long journey North to the Galpharm Stadium and it will be those supporters who will be the happier after seeing this 0-0 draw. The Gills are one of the form teams of the division picking up 3 victories during December and the festive period.

Town struggled throughout the match to have any consistency in attack and never really looked like scoring. Although the visitors never looked like breaking the deadlock either they did have one or two counter-attacking breaks and the disappointing boo's that rung around the stadium on the final whistle, may in some quarters be deemed acceptable. With Town needing one or two fresh faces to freshen the squad up, supporters will be hoping for the board's backing.

But with "difficult and unpopular decisions" coming from the mouth of Chairman Ken Davy, it is doubtful whether those fresh faces will come and perhaps Town will see a number of their better faces leaving. Davy bankrolls the giants and brings in big named players, despite small attendance's at Super League matches and it is disappointing that through these comments, he intends to cash-in on the Terriers.

Southend United has gone back on top of the table after draws for both Swansea City and Brentford and with Colchester's victory over Nottingham Forest Town slip to their lowest league position August 2005. Plus the Terriers have played a game more than most of their nearest rivals.

The League table looked so rosy when the draw for the third round of the FA Cup was drawn, but now the match is upon the Terriers the league placing and outlook for the Terriers looks so much more bleaker. Town are just 10 points from Yeovil Town in 14th position but three from the top, so it is within their hands to improve, but if they cannot do that 14th position may not look that far away.

Stats:

Ball Possession: Town: 55%, Gillingham: 45%
Shots: Town: 5, Gillingham: 2
Shots on target: Town: 7, Gillingham: 6
Corners: Town: 2, Gillingham: 1
Yellow Cards: Town: 0, Gillingham: 2
Red Cards: Town 0, Gillingham 0
Attendance: 11,483

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December 2005 news archived
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Happy New Year from thisisthebarmyarmy.co.uk