Huddersfield Town 1, Scunthorpe 4

Sep 3 2005 By Mel Booth, The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

SHELL-SHOCKED Town were dumped off the top in their second worst defeat ever at the stadium.

It was supposed to be Town's night to celebrate the League I leadership and Peter Jackson's Manager of the Month Award in style, but Scunthorpe had clearly not read the script.

Lifted by Peter Beagrie's early penalty from a shocking decision by abysmal referee Carl Boyeson, Brian Laws' side powered to the top themselves on the back of an Andy Keogh double and Matt Sparrow's cleverly-placed header.

It was hard to stomach for Town - who replied through a Pawel Abbott penalty to briefly lift hopes - and only Port Vale's 4-0 win on the final day of the `Great Escape' season ranks worse since the Galpharm (formerly the McAlpine) flung open its doors in 1994.

Scunthorpe, to be fair, thoroughly deserved their first win in Huddersfield for 43 years, even though Town had the bulk of possession and very little luck.

The visitors kept two tight banks of four defensively and then terrified Town on the break with the pace of Keogh and Billy Sharp frightening when allied to the trickery of wingman Cleveland Taylor.

Not only that, but every time Town got possession they were closed down quickly in every area of the pitch.

It was a tactic which forced mistakes in the normally smooth attacking formula which Town adopt at home and, as a result, they struggled to get the dangerous Danny Schofield into the fray.