Match report: Town 3 - 2 Crewe

Nov 3 2008 by Mel Booth, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

It worked, but only after Donaldson had twice gone close for Crewe, wasting a 76th-minute break when he had colleagues free in the box and then on 80, when Clarke’s diving intervention was just enough to put him off.

Clarke got a cut above the eye for his troubles, but he was back in the action by the time Parker weaved his magic to slot his first competitive goal since Blackpool’s play-off final victory against Yeovil in May 2007.

Even his dismissal for what appeared next to nothing – he was trying to pull out of contact as Julian Baudet went high into a challenge – failed to take the gloss off the victory for Parker, even though he knew Town had made very heavy weather of it.

Against better teams – like Leeds, for instance, in a fortnight – Town will get punished severely if they reproduce the sloppy spells which allowed Crewe back into a match which they should never have had a sniff of contesting.