Bristol City 2, Huddersfield Town 0

Dec 12 2005 By Mel Booth, The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Man of the Match: Nathan Clarke

Yet another commanding display by Town's consistent 22-year-old.

Stood up well to the physical approach of Steve Brooker and dealt ably with the skills of Marcus Stewart.

Turning point:

In the 12th minute, when Andy Booth headed goalwards from Andy Holdsworth's cross only for Bristol's Brazilian-born goalkeeper Adriano Basso to stretch out an arm and tip the ball away for a corner. An equaliser at that early stage might well have blasted away the home confidence created by Scott Murray's strike.

How they rated:

Paul Rachubka Wrongfooted by a deflection for Bristol's early opener, and left cruelly exposed for the clinching second. Rating: 6/10

Andy Holdsworth Worked as hard as ever to stem the home attacks, and also caused problems for the home side with his forward play. Rating: 7/10

Danny Adams Had his hands full against the raiding Reds before being forced off on 68 minutes with a thigh strain. Rating: 6/10

Mark Hudson Workrate was decent but struggled to get a grip in the centre. Not one of his best performances. Rating: 6/10

Nathan Clarke The pick of Town's back four. Made some telling tackles and got in a crucial block to thwart Marcus Stewart. Rating: 7/10

Tom Clarke Called up in place of the suspended David Mirfin and battled gamely against Stewart and Steve Brooker. Rating: 6/10

Jon Worthington Will have been disappointed not to make more of the scoring chances which came his way. Rating: 6/10

Gary T-Fletcher Worked hard but struggled to produce the telling ball to help cut open the City defence. Came off on 64 minutes Rating: 6/10

Pawel Abbott Looked the likeliest of the Town attackers to score before being taken off in the 75th minute. Rating: 6/10

Andy Booth His presence kept Bristol's defenders on their toes and was unlucky not to score with an early header. Rating: 6/10

Danny Schofield Back from his one-match ban to replace Chris Brandon but not as effective on the left as he can be. Rating: 6/10

Town subs: Carss (for Taylor-Fletcher, 64mins), Ahmed (for Adams, 68), McAliskey (for Abbott, 75). Not used: McCombe, Senior.

Spotlight on the ref:

Hertfordshire's Mick Russell certainly let the match flow, a little too much in the first half, when Steve Brooker was allowed to trample all over Tom Clarke.

The home defenders were able to get away with quite a bit of pushing and shoving, but on balance, a decent show, and only one Town caution (Taylor-Fletcher).

Bristol City: Basso, Orr, Heywood, Carey, Woodman, Murray, Noble, Russell, Cotterill, Brooker, Stewart. Subs (not used): Phillips, J Smith, G Smith, Golbourne, Savage.