Chelsea 2, Huddersfield Town 1

Jan 9 2006 By Mel Booth, The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Man of the Match: Nathan Clarke

Only just shaded the award from colleague Andy Holdsworth, who was also superb. Both proved they would not be out of place on the higher stage. Excellent.

Turning Point:

Town were second best in the first half as Chelsea dominated the centre of midfield, but defender Tom Clarke changed all that when he replaced Adnan Ahmed at half time and did a superb job in curbing the influence of Joe Cole and impressive Lassana Diarra. At 17, Clarke shone on the big stage. Tremendous show

How they rated:

Phil Senior He and Clarke hesitated for the first goal but Phil made smart stops from C Cole and Duff as the defence did well overall Rating: 7/10

Andy Holdsworth Had an excellent match and was a very strong contender for the top mark with some superb tackling and covering Rating: 8/10

Danny Adams Up against the pace of Duff and Wright-Phillips he never let Town down and a couple of quick tackles were top class Rating: 8/10

Martin McIntosh Very solid display and unlucky his early block fell to C Cole to score. Tackled, headed and covered with authority Rating: 8/10

Nathan Clarke Skipper for the day and produced another class display. His long throw also caused Chelsea some real headaches Rating: 8/10

Danny Schofield Failed to find his usual clever form and lost the ball too often in a first half when Chelsea took midfield by storm Rating: 5/10

Adnan Ahmed Never really got into the game like he can as Diarra and J Cole dominated the first half and was taken off Rating: 5/10

Mark Hudson Did his best to get Town going in the first half with some crunching tackles and took a boot to the head clearing a corner Rating: 6/10

Chris Brandon Had a running battle with Johnson and caused problems for Chelsea with his pace and his busy workrate Rating: 7/10

Gary T-Fletcher Missed a great chance after one minute but made amends with a 10th goal of the season to level things up Rating: 7/10

Pawel Abbott Better in the second half than the first. Got little joy out of Huth or Carvalho but had a couple of half chances Rating: 5/10

Spotlight on the ref:

Alan Wiley from Stoke is on the Premiership list and had a pretty sound game, letting play flow as often as possible, and it was only late on that he cautioned Chris Brandon for a trip on Joe Cole and showed a yellow card to Carlton Cole for persistent infringement. Allowed the players to get stuck in but always had control

Chelsea: Cudicini, Johnson, Carvalho, Huth, Bridge (Del Horno 77), Wright-Phillips (Ferreira 77), J Cole, Gudjohnsen, Duff (Robben 72), Diarra, C Cole. Subs not used: Pidgeley (Gkp), Morais.