For seven glorious minutes, Town live the FA Cup dream

Jan 9 2006 By The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

SEVEN minutes of Heaven.

That was all it needed to spark the wildest party seen in west London for years.

Not that it needed anything to create a celebratory spirit in Chelsea's famous Shed end.

Huddersfield Town's Barmy Army had already seen to that!

More than 6,200 fans - men, women and children - had turned a corner of SW6 into a chunk of HD1 for an FA Cup milestone.

Stamford Bridge had been the scene of Town's greatest FA Cup triumph way back in 1922, when a solitary goal from Billy Smith saw Town take the famous trophy from Preston North End.

At precisely 4.30pm on Saturday, Gary Taylor-Fletcher struck a goal to leave the Town fans dreaming of another historic achievement.

Taylor-Fletcher's goal put Town level at 1-1 with the multi-millionaires from the Kings Road, level with the team that boasted a 100% home record, level with the Premiership champions elect.

"Seven minutes of heaven" was how Paul Hinchliffe, of Honley, described what happened.

"Unbelievable.

"Those seven minutes of heaven, until Gudjohnsen scored the winner, were just brilliant.

"It had been a great day up to then; then it became fantastic.

"The first half Town had been a little bit poor, but in the second half we were superb and had a go.

"The atmosphere was simply amazing".

Wayne Ashwell, of Moldgreen - hoarse from singing his heart out for the lads - agreed.

"I'm so proud of what they've done.

"The second half was fantastic and we had Chelsea rattled.

"We did as much as we could and we were so close to getting them back to the Galpharm".