Huddersfield Town 2, Swansea City 2

Feb 25 2006 By The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

TOWN'S Celtic crusaders struck to stun Swansea and keep hopes of automatic promotion from League I well and truly alive.

Scottish duo Martin McIntosh and David Graham silenced Welsh voices by scoring the late goals which completed a stirring comeback in front of the Sky cameras at the smart new Liberty Stadium.

Even a point had looked highly unlikely when, with Town trailing 2-0 after a lifeless first-half display, Chris Brandon tossed away a potential lifeline with a 48th-minute penalty miss.

So to finish the match looking the more likely of the two sides to win was testament to Town's second-half improvement.

Manager Peter Jackson's response to goals by Lee Trundle, after 19 minutes, and Leon Britton, after 44, was to give his players the old `hairdryer' treatment at half-time, and throw on Andy Holdsworth and Danny Schofield for Gary Taylor-Fletcher and Michael Collins.

Town began the second period as shakily as they had finished the first, with Phil Senior adding to a string of good saves before the break by denying the rampaging Britton as he broke through less than 60 seconds after the restart.

Just for good measure, he also blocked Sam Ricketts' follow-up, and there's little doubt that had Swansea scored a third at that stage, it would have been curtains for a comeback.

It seemed as though it was going to be one of those nights when Brandon fired his spot kick against the underside of the bar (referee Mark Halsey, having upset home supporters by ruling that Graham had been felled by goalkeeper Willie Gueret inside rather than just out of the penalty area, then waved away Town's claims that the ball had crossed the line before being cleared).

But the visitors stuck doggedly to their task while Swansea seemed to go off the boil, and the breakthrough came after 70 minutes.