Huddersfield Town 1, Scunthorpe 4

Sep 3 2005 By Mel Booth, The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

There was plenty of hard graft and some attractive sequences of passing, but Jackson's side just couldn't find their cutting edge in front of a crowd of 14,112 including 1,568 delighted followers from Glanford Park.

You got the impression it wasn't going to be Town's night from the moment Boyeson pointed to the spot when Paul Rachubka slid out to push the ball away from Sharp with only five minutes and 33 seconds on the clock.

It just didn't look like a penalty (a view supported by the video evidence) but Boyeson stuck by his decision after consulting the nearest assistant, who also had a nightmare match.

Beagrie's successful kick was followed by numerous bad decisions which infuriated Town and their fans and Scunthorpe's neat play on the counter attack did little to lessen the blood pressure.

Sharp saw one effort blocked superbly by Jon Worthington and another flash across the face of goal, but it seemed Town would go into the break just 1-0 down and with a chance to regroup for the second half.

Unfortunately, in the second of three minutes of added time, Tom Clarke made a hash of a half-volleyed clearance and Keogh burst away to double the Scunthorpe advantage.

It was clear Town would need to hit back quickly in the second half and they had the perfect opportunity when Paul Musselwhite - one of several players to slip quite often on the wet surface - spilled a low drive from Abbott to leave Gary Taylor-Fletcher with the goal at his mercy.

The hat trick hero from the Carling Cup, however, fired the rebound over the bar when it was easier to score and it took Town another 18 minutes to finally make that vital breakthrough.