Colchester 1, Huddersfield Town 1

Sep 26 2005 By Mel Booth, The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

TO win at home and draw away is a solid base for any promotion push - but Town will rarely have to work harder for a point than this.

Murdered for the first half hour by a strong, sharp and inventive Colchester unit, they had goalkeeper Paul Rachubka to thank for even having a chance.

Life was made even harder, too, when they fell behind to George Elokobi's first League goal just four minutes into the second half - but then Town finally got their act together.

Showing all the character which has underpinned their excellent start to the campaign, Town dug in to grab a tremendous breakaway equaliser through fired-up substitute Gary Taylor-Fletcher.

The 24-year-old had been on the pitch only eight minutes as replacement for out-of-touch leading scorer Pawel Abbott when Tom Clarke and Tony Carss both did well to fashion the opening.

It was a borderline decision whether Fletch was onside or not, but there was no question about the quality of his finish.

Racing away from defender Garry Richards, the ex-Lincoln man drew keeper Aidan Davison into making an early dive and, after slipping the ball wide to the left, he scored with an angled left-foot shot which beat the covering clearance from behind the line of ex-Dulwich Hamlet defender Elokobi.

It was a piece of inspiration which prompted Jackson's side to have much the better of the final 25 minutes and, indeed, go closest to winning the game when Andy Booth's 79th-minute header from a Danny Schofield corner crashed out off the bar.

That would have been rough justice on Colchester, however, who showed significant aerial threat from Chris Iwelumo and blistering pace from Tottenham loanee Mark Yeates and lively frontman Gareth Williams.

They were far too hot to handle in the opening period when Jackson's side, looking ponderous and prone to silly mistakes in the aftermath of their fine Carling Cup effort at Blackburn, were fortunate to stay on level terms.

Yeates had already served notice of his speed when Iwelumo pounced on an error by Schofield to send him bursting through the middle of a static defence with seven minutes gone, but Rachubka came to the rescue in magnificent style when blocking with a foot.

Three minutes later, Tom Clarke gave the ball away for Yeates to test Rachubka with another fierce drive and, on 15 minutes, Town somehow survived three great chances in the space of a few seconds.