Huddersfield Town 3, Rotherham United 0

Aug 9 2006 By The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

GARY TAYLOR-FLETCHER unleashed a double-barrelled strike to put the gloss on an encouraging Town win and enter the record books.

His sizzling 78th-minute goal, driven across Neil Cutler and into the corner of the net to the goalkeeper's right, was Town's third of the night, the 63rd of the evening, and the 500,000th in league football.

The 499,999 previous efforts, 14,532 of them in the Premiership, go right back to 1888, and there can't have been many so cleanly struck as the one which will rekindle debates over the best one ever scored at the Galpharm (remember Tony Carss' volley against Torquay in 2003-04?).

Cutler was left clutching thin air as Fletch rasped home with his right foot from the angle of the area after Rotherham left-back Paul Hurst had cleared a Chris Brandon cross intended for Pawel Abbott.

And Millers manager Alan Knill was left complaining about two earlier decisions by Yorkshire referee Paul Robinson, both of which led to goals for Peter Jackson's side.

First, on 35 minutes, Hurst was ruled to have tugged at Abbott just inside the area, leaving Luke Beckett to confidently slot home the penalty for his first goal since signing from Sheffield United.

Then, 17 seconds into first-half stoppage time, Abbott, who was in for the injured Andy Booth, got in on the act when he stretched in front of centre-back Pablo Mills to steer home a Danny Adams free-kick.

A goal at that stage was a big psychological blow for the Millers, but the side who must claw back a minus 10 points deficit imposed for going into administration are nothing if not fighters.