Port Vale 0, Huddersfield Town 3

Sep 13 2004 By The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

PAWEL ABBOTT wasn't even born the last time Town scored seven goals without reply in successive games.

That was 22 years ago when Oxford and Orient were put to the sword 2-0 and 6-0 respectively by Mick Buxton's promotion-winning heroes.

It is certainly way too early to talk about possible promotion this season, but Peter Jackson and his players have now announced their arrival as Coca-Cola League I challengers in emphatic fashion.

A total of 1,007 Town fans witnessed another highly polished performance at Vale Park which was capped by a brilliant hat trick from Abbott - the first by a Town player since Andy Booth notched three at Northampton in October 2001.

Coldly clinical in his finishing, Abbott struck on 62, 67 and 75 minutes to smash Vale's 100% home record and reward build-up play of the purest quality.

For those 13 minutes in particular, Town were fluently dominant and hardly gave shell-shocked Vale a kick.

Just like the opening half hour in the 4-0 win against Hull, the passing, movement and ingenuity in Town's play was a joy to watch and sent a powerful message to the rest of the division.

Many fans thought Town's brand of play might be more suited to this level rather than the last and, in 180 minutes since the bad day at Belle Vue, Town have done everything possible to prove the theory.

While Abbott deserves the headlines for a top-notch display, it was a team effort which sank Martin Foyle's men and lifted Town back into the play-off placings.

Highly-rated Steve Brooker and partner Billy Paynter were rarely given a sniff of goal as Vale drew a blank in front of their home fans for the first time in 33 League games (it would have been a new club record).