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Town climbed to the top of the league today with a comprehensive victory against a Walsall side who's manager had praised Town as being the "best in the league" following the victory against local rivals Bradford five days ago. Despite looking a little shaky early in the second half, the result was never in any real doubt following Pawel Abbott's goal towards the end of the first half, after Andy Booth's 100th goal for the club had put Town ahead before Paul Smith had equalised for the visitors. Abbott would add a second late on in the game to seal the result, meaning that Town were to leapfrog Southend United, who lost 2-0 away at Doncaster, to the top spot.

Peter Jackson made two changes to the starting line-up, a fully fit Danny Schofield returning from a groin injury in place of the injured Chris Brandon, who is sidelined with a hamstring problem. Pawel Abbott returned in attack in place of Taylor-Fletcher following a virus last week.

Town flew out of the blocks, and in the first minute a series of ten or more passes saw Tony Carss win a throw-in. From the resulting play, Worthington collected and controlled the ball on the edge of the area, and then hit a 20 yard half volley which flew past the outstretched dive of Ruddy only to cannon away off the crossbar. Town continued the early pressure, and a Carss corner was headed out towards Worthington who, in almost identical fashion, controlled and struck a left-footed volley from outside the area. Unfortunately the ball passed a few inches over the bar.

Town had set their stall out to attack, and after a close call involving a Walsall defender nearly heading past his own keeper, Town would take the lead. After 14 minutes of play, a long ball found Pawel Abbott marked by two defenders. The Polish striker did brilliantly to control and flick the ball into the path of the onrushing Booth, who made no mistake in slotting the ball home from 12 yards. Every Town fan rose to celebrate Booth's 100th goal for the club.

It took another 15 minutes for the next action to take place, when Jorge Leitao found himself in space past Danny Adams and shot just wide with a tame effort. Walsall continued their own spell of pressure and won a somewhat soft freekick when Ismael fell theatrically to the ground uner a challenge from Holdsworth. The resulting freekick was headed past Paul Rachubka by Paul Smith to level the score.

Thankfully, it didn't last long, only three minutes to be precise. A hopeful ball picked out Danny Schofield, who's quick feet took him past the left-back and into the area toward the byline. Schofield coolly slotted the ball across the 6-yard area for Pawel Abbott to score one of the easiest goals he ever will. Schofield was at the centre of the action again on 42 minutes. The tricky winger collected the ball around 20 yards out and drove forwards to the byline. Just as it appeared that he had run the ball out of play, Schofield tried an audacious lob from the most acute of angles, which keeper Ruddy did well to parry away.

Half Time
Huddersfield Town 2 - 1 Walsall

Town had played well from front to back in the first half, and were unfortunate to be only one goal in front. Pedantic refereeing had unfortunately slowed down the play in many instances, and inconsistent refereeing had meant that Nat Clarke had ended up booked for a rash challenge despite an equally bad challenge by a Walsall player going unpunished.

The first action of the second half came in the shape of a counter attack after Rachubka had cleared quickly to Abbott. Abbott managed to pick out Schofield who was denied an opportunity by a last ditch tackle by Westwood who had tracked back.

The game became lacklustre with neither team trying to force the issue. Town's passing game that had been implemented to great success in the first half disappeared for a while, but thankfully Walsall could not capitalise. On 70 minutes, the crowd were startled back to life by Andy Booth, who rose head and shoulders above the rest to power a Tony Carss corner onto the post.

Heads began to look toward the scoreboard as the latest scores update showed Doncaster winning 1-0. The crowd became noisier, and the players responded on the picth sparking another period of Town pressure. The Walsall defence wilted for a third time on 78 minutes when Abbott grabbed his second of the game. A low cross picked out Abbott in the middle of the area, and he made no mistake in firing past the helpless Ruddy.

Full Time
Huddersfield Town 3 - 1 Walsall

Another great performance and a nice birthday present for Sean, with Town showing determination throughout. Hopefully we can continue this form away at Saltergate next week. My man of the match would have to be David Mirfin, solid at the back and looked dangerous whenever he had a chance to get forward.


Huddersfield Town
P Rachubka, A Holdsworth, N Clarke, D Mirfin, D Adams, D Schofield (90 M Young) , J Worthington, M Hudson (73 M Collins) , T Carss, A Booth (81 G Taylor-Fletcher) , P Abbott
Subs: P Senior, G Taylor-Fletcher, T Clarke, M Collins, M Young

Walsall
J Ruddy, C Pead, C Westwood, J Bennett, D Fox, J Leitao, M Kinsella (70 D McDermott) , P Smith, J Broad (57 K Taylor) , M Fryatt (42 R Larrosa) , I Demontagnac
Subs: R Gilmartin, I Roper, K Taylor, R Larrosa, D McDermott


Ref: T Kettle
Att: 11642