The crowd helped us big style!

Jan 7 2008 by Mel Booth, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

ROBBIE WILLIAMS came out of the FA Cup victory with a heartfelt plea: “Let’s turn this form into a great league run – starting against Gillingham.”

The 23-year-old left-back was forced off at half-time suffering a hamstring twinge but there was still no wiping the smile from his face after the victory.

“It was a great win for everybody,” said Williams, who made only his seventh start for the club.

“We went into it as the underdogs but we were confident and ready for the challenge, and I think that showed in the way we played.

“All of us knew Birmingham would be good on the ball, that they’d get it down and try to pass it, so we had to really compete, and I think we did that particularly well.”

Of the goals, Williams explained: “The first one, coming so early, was a big boost for us all.

“It was a good build-up with Chris Brandon and Danny Schofield and when Maik Taylor spilled the ball, Luke was where you would expect him to be to tap it in.

“Unfortunately I couldn’t come out for the second half because of a tight hamstring, but we dug in again and got a great winner.

“It was a superb ball down the line by Schoey for Luke and a fantastic ball to the back stick where Brando finished it really well.”

Williams said the crowd – more than 11,000 from Town in a total of 13,410 – played their part in what was a first FA Cup win over top-flight opposition for the club since QPR were beaten at Leeds Road back in 1984 (the year Williams was born).

“To see more than 13,000 was brilliant and it made a massive difference when they were behind us,” he said.

“It boosted everyone’s confidence, it really got the adrenaline flowing and the crowd helped us big time, I can’t stress that enough.

“What we need now is for them to turn out again against Gillingham on Saturday and help us get some more league points on the board.

“We know we’ve let ourselves down in the league over the past couple of weeks, but there is still a long way to go and, hopefully, with the fans behind us we can climb the league and get to where we really belong.”

Entry to the Gillingham game is just £5 (pay at the gate) under the club’s sponsored ‘Watch Footy for a Fiver’ scheme to mark the first home league match of centenary year.