Pre-season match report: Morecambe 0 - 3 Huddersfield Town

Jul 20 2009 by Mel Booth, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

IT’S already time to learn the words of the new Town song.

This won’t take long and you won’t need a download or a song sheet to get it right.

Just a mastery of these three words: “Theo, Theo, Theo!”

The chorus echoed around Christie Park as strike signing Theo Robinson recorded his second successive hat trick to complete a 3-0 scoreline in an impressive friendly victory against League II Morecambe.

The 20-year-old marksman gave Lee Clark’s side the ideal start with his opener on one minute and 54 seconds, pounced to extend the lead two minutes before the break and then rounded things off nine minutes into the second half.

Along the way, he showed plenty of pace, power and tenacity, a penchant for being in the right place at the right time and then a coolness which, with only a well-placed keeper to beat, allowed him to angle a low drive which went in off the righthand upright.

With each goal came a bright smile of enjoyment and, after the hat trick, he collected the ball from the back of the net, kissed it and ran in front of a delighted travelling throng who were only too willing to confirm the new club anthem in raucous fashion.

The display, however, was far from all about Robinson – encouraging as his energetic and lethal contribution was.

With Peter Clarke strong, aggressive and dominating at the back, Town put a stranglehold on possession which left Morecambe chasing shadows at times and resulted in a totally one-sided contest.

And even when Clark made seven substitutions in the second half and changed formation from 4-4-2 to 4-3-3, his players continued to boss the match with quickness of thought, lively link-up play and plenty of ingenuity in all areas of the pitch.

It was a treat for the 429 travelling fans in a crowd of 1,018 and could not have been a better build-up performance for tomorrow night’s big Galpharm friendly against Championship Newcastle United, who scored a 7-2 win at Darlington to oil the wheels of their own pre-season schedule.

Town could have scored several more goals as the partnership between Robinson and Robbie Simpson – tried for the first time – looked highly promising around the skills of a ubiquitous Gary Roberts.

He gave Morecambe – with ex-Town men Danny Adams and trialist Mark Hudson in their ranks – all sorts of problems, allowed Robbie Williams to join the promptings of James Berrett and Jim Goodwin and also created plenty of space for Lionel Ainsworth on the opposite flank.

Simpson and Roberts created the chance for Robinson’s opener, curled past keeper Barry Roche after a ricochet off defender David Artell, and the former Watford striker showed his eagerness with a couple of other decent efforts.