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A bad tempered game ended with Town taking their second home win on the trot, keeping their undefeated 2005 home record intact against a Swansea team which lacked discipline and was ultimately made to pay. Booth, Abbott and Schofield were on target for Town, with walking showboat Lee Trundle scoring the visitors only goal from the spot. It was a confident performance by the Terriers which deserved no less than three points.

Jackson's men lined up with one change to the starting line-up from the midweek win against Bristol, Andy Holdsworth replacing the injured Mirfin at right-back. Abbott started in attack looking for his 3rd goal in as many games.

The first opportunity of the game fell to Town's Nathan Clarke, who found himself in unfamiliar terroritory in the opposition's box. Schofield had won a corner on the left flank, which was cleared to the edge of the area by the defence. The clearance only fell as far as Worthington, and his scuffed shot was deftly touched by Clarke, somewhat unluckily, onto the post. The rebound fell to Clarke, but he was only able to shoot over under pressure from the Swans defence. This was followed by a half chance for McIntosh 3 minutes later, but his goalward header was easily saved by keeper Willy Gueret.

Within 14 minutes, the first of many scuffles had broken out after a head injury to Booth. On pulling himself to his feet, Booth found himself face to face with an angry Kevin Austin. The referee, aided by players from both sides, quickly seperated those involved. A minute later, a Swansea freekick after a Hudson foul was struck by Lee Trundle. Paul Rachubka was only able to parry the ball back out as he dived to his left. Iriekpen of Swansea was the first to react, only to see his powerful shot saved miraculously at point-blank range by a recovering Rachubka.

As the tackles began to fly, Town were to become more dominant, and on 22 minutes neat play in the box saw a Schofield backheel turned around for a corner. The resulting set-piece, taken by the ex-Brodsworth man, found it's way onto the forehead of Booth, who saw his header expertly saved by Gueret. The pressure on the Swans' defence was mounting, and three minutes later Town's dominance paid off. An Adams freekick was cleared to Brandon, who coolly played a through ball towards Schofield. Shchofield's cross could only be punched by the keeper onto the head of Booth, who from 2 yards out made no mistake.

Swansea looked to mount an immediate fightback, with Alan Tate wasting an opportunity to score. Unfortunately, just a minute later, some deft skill by Trundle saw him brought down by Nathan Clarke. Trundle placed the penalty into the bottom right of the goal, sending Rabs' the wrong way. The game became end to end for the next 10 minutes of the half, with Booth wasting a chance for the Terriers.

Thankfully, on 40 minutes polish striker Abbott restored Town's deserved lead, after good a interchange on the wing gave Schofield the opportunity to cross towards Booth. The cross was intercepted and cleared to Abbott, who from 8 yards, controlled and volleyed past the flailing arms of Gueret. Shortly after, it seemed Abbott was through on goal, only for him to be clumsily fouled 20 yards out by the last defender. Cries of injustice rang out from the terraces as the referee did not produce a card. The resulting freekick was deflected away by the wall.

Moments later, a physical battle between Adams and Trundle left Trundle in a heap on the ground. As a scuffle broke out, every player on the pitch came rushing in. Three yellow cards were given, to Trundle, Adams and former Torquay striker Akinfenwa, for their parts in the fighting.

Half Time
Huddersfield Town 2 - 1 Swansea City

The first chances after the interval fell the way of the Welsh outfit, first for Akinfenwa who fashoined an opportunity for himself, and then in the form of a counter attack which culminated in substitute Ijah Anderson shooting wide. After 66 minutes, tempers finally reached boiling point as Worthington took a dangerous elbow to the head from Kristian O'Leary, who was rightly shown a straight red card.

Town now really had the chance to take control. They began to put impressive passing moves together, and showed real confidence when in possession of the ball. It was this passing which led to an audacious effort by Abbott from a long way out. It found the net, but only the roof of the net. It only took four more minutes for Swansea's defence to buckle under Town pressure. With 77 minutes gone, more passing between Schofield, Hudson, Worthington and the impressive Holdsworth created space for Schofield to curl in a shot. The shot, which was on target, took a wicked deflection and left the stranded keeper with no chance. Holdsworth would have a chance himself moments later, but his long range effort whistled past the wrong side of the left hand upright.

Gary Taylor-Fletcher, who had been introduced in place of Booth after the first goal, then had a great chance to get his first goal in a Town shirt. a 1-2 with Abbott set Taylor-Fletcher through on goal, but his low placed shot rolled past the post. Brandon followed with another glorious chance, but after running three quarters of the length of the pitch, his tired legs could not get enough accuracy on the shot which drubbled wide.

That wasn't the last of the action, as fans were preparing to leave, Swansea were unnecessarily reduced to 9 mean following Izzy Iriekpen being dismissed for a mixture of dissent and foul play.

Full Time
Huddersfield Town 3 - 1 Swansea City

Another convincing performance by Town, who outplayed their somewhat dirty opponents. The foul count at the end of the game showed Swansea to have committed twice as many as Town, and that Town also managed to fashion 20 attempts at goal, compared with Swansea's 7.

The man of the match would have to be either McIntosh, for reading every attack thrown his way and keeping both Lee Trundle and Adebayo Akinfenwa at bay, Nat Clarke for the same reasons, or Andy Holdsworth, for being superb getting forwards. Out of the three contenders i'd give it to McIntosh.


Huddersfield Town
P Rachubka, D Adams, N Clarke, M McIntosh, A Holdsworth, D Schofield, M Hudson (82 T Carss) , J Worthington (90 M Collins) , C Brandon, A Booth (77 G Taylor-Fletcher) , P Abbott
Subs: P Senior, T Carss, T Clarke, G Taylor-Fletcher, M Collins

Swansea
W Gueret, S Ricketts, K Austin, I Iriekpen, A Tate, M Goodfellow (45 I Anderson) , K O'Leary, R Martinez (85 O Tudor Jones) , A Forbes (38 L Britton) , L Trundle, A Akinfenwa
Subs: B Murphy, L Britton, P Connor, I Anderson, O Tudor Jones


Ref: M Messias
Att: 10304