Huddersfield Town 2, Colchester Utd 2

Apr 18 2005 By The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

MAN OF THE MATCH: Tom Clarke

THE teenager was outstanding in the centre of defence and had he and brother Nathan not been forced off through hamstring and facial injuries respectively, Town would probably have held out to win.

HOW THEY RATED:

Paul Rachubka Arguably at fault for both Colchester goals, certainly the second, and will want to forget this match. Rating: 5/10.

David Mirfin Did little wrong at either right-back or centre-back, where he moved when Tom Clarke went off with his hamstring problem. Rating: 7/10.

Nathan Clarke Another confident display and formed a fine partnership with his younger brother. His injury was a blow. Rating: 8/10.

Tom Clarke A top-class show against awkward opponents in Halford and Keith. Hopefully he'll recover quickly. Rating:7/10.

Danny Adams A mixed afternoon. Caught out for Colchester's first but also made some telling interventions Rating: 6/10.

Chris Brandon Workrate was excellent and his battle with Gavin Johnson provided an interesting sub-plot. Rating:7/10.

Lee Fowler Big chance in Jon Worthington's absence, but a disappointing display. For every good ball, played a bad one. Rating: 6/10.

Adnan Ahmed Full of running and wasn't scared of getting stuck in as he celebrated his new two-year contract with Town. Rating:7/10.

Danny Schofield Put his goal away with power and accuracy, but otherwise had a pretty quiet afternoon out on the left. Rating: 7/10.

Andy Booth A willing worker whose neat flicked header set up Schofield's goal. Stood in at centre-back in the closing stages. Rating: 7/10.

Pawel Abbott Showed great awareness to fire home the free-kick which put Town level and set up the second goal too. Rating: 7/10.

TURNING POINT: THE 68th-minute departure of Tom Clarke through injury.

The talented teenager suffered the hamstring strain in making yet another fine tackle, this time on Marino Keith, and with both Clarkes playing well in the centre of defence, Town looked more than capable of holding out.

Even with Nathan still on the field, they might have done so, but they also lost him.

SPOTLIGHT ON THE REF: DID little to endear himself to Colchester, who argued to a man that Pawel Abbott's free-kick was taken too quickly, but Andy Woolmer showed no hesitation in awarding the goal.

Kept control, and kept bookings to a minimum, with only Colchester duo Halford (dissent) carded.

Lost his assistant Alan Parker with a pulled muscle in stoppage time. Fourth official Tony McGee took over.

COLCHESTER UNITED: 4-4-2: Davison, Stockley (Williams, 83mins), Baldwin, Chilvers, White (Goodfellow, 72), Garcia (Jarvis, 72), Danns, Watson, Johnson, Halford, Keith. Subs not used: Elokobi, Gerken (gkp).