Match report: Millwall FC 3 - 1 Huddersfield Town

Sep 21 2009 by Dougie Thomson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

SO WHAT happened to the real Huddersfield Town?

Lee Clark’s side were a pale shadow of their previous selves as they were swept aside in the heat of South London.

Town weren’t so much mauled by the Lions as ripped apart, and the vociferous home fans in an 8,502 crowd certainly enjoyed the feast.

This was something of a makeshift Millwall side, with manager Kenny Jackett missing his entire first-choice defence, plus a string of other players, through injury.

But they made light of the absentees as, aiming to hit back after three defeats in a row on the road, they never allowed Town a sniff of success.

It wasn’t until the 86th minute that Jordan Rhodes went clear at the top of the club goal chart by netting his eighth goal of the season with a neat shot from the edge of the penalty area.

But after what had gone before, it was scant consolation for Clark, who went into the match minus seven-goal striker Theo Robinson (ankle) and midfielder Antony Kay (illness).

The boss opted to hand Robbie Simpson only a second league start alongside Rhodes and pair Michael Collins with Danny Drinkwater in central midfield.

To borrow a rugby league phrase, that should have given Town plenty of go-forward, but Jackett’s switch to a 4-3-3 formation worked wonders for Millwall.

Hungry trio Jimmy Abdou, Ali Fuseini and Chris Hackett bossed things in the middle, with the latter posing constant danger from the right flank.

Indeed the former Oxford player, who was a county junior sprint champion, set the tone for what was a distinctly uncomfortable afternoon for Town’s 543 followers by flashing in a shot after just 22 seconds.

Alex Smithies was equal to that effort, and also made a fine save to deny left-back Andy Frampton in the third minute, but could do little to prevent Millwall’s 12th-minute opener.

Hackett had earlier shot across the face of the Town goal and wide, but this time, made no mistake after playing a neat one-two with striker Neil Harris, whose neat through ball had centre-back Andy Butler scrambling.