Sheffield Wednesday 1, Huddersfield Town 0

Aug 23 2004 By The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Wednesday looked decidedly shaky when Town put them under pressure and they almost cracked as early as the third minute.

Nathan Clarke's long throw was allowed to bounce in the box and Junior Mendes peeled away to plant a right-foot shot against the inside of keeper David Lucas's lefthand post.

Town's fans thought it was in as the ball bounced across the face of goal, but Guy Branston booted it clear and Wednesday were off the hook if not out from under the cosh.

After Tony Carss' free-kick was deflected into the side netting and he fired another just over the top, chances were created for Andy Holdsworth, Andy Booth and Chris Brandon - all of which were fired straight at the grateful keeper.

Booth's volley, in fact, would have gone in if he'd fluffed it, but he caught it flush into the keeper's chest.

While ex-Town man Chris Marsden caught the eye with his clever finding of space and simple passing, there was nothing between the teams in the second half - Jackson sending on Pawel Abbott and Danny Schofield to try and rescue something from the game in the final 20 minutes.

Abbott's first touches, in fact, resulted in shots by Booth and Carss being blocked, while the former latched onto a bad backpass only to see his shot blocked wide.

It was that sort of day.

Town need to cut out silly mistakes at the back and, obviously, start to cash in on the chances being created.

Interestingly, they've still got one more point now than they had at the same stage last season. All that's needed now is for someone to take up the Jon Stead mantle and hit the goal trail.