Huddersfield Town's League Cup history

Jun 15 2009 By Doug Thomson

IT was hardly a thriller at the Villa, but it remains a milestone match in Town’s history.

In Florida back on Wednesday, October 12, 1960, NASA scientists dispatched three mice in a rocket in what they described as "a small forerunner of a model of a man-in-space capsule".

In Scarborough, new foreign secretary the Earl of Home told the Tory conference: "So long as the communists act on the doctrines of Stalin, with force as a legitimate instrument of foreign policy, they must be militarily contained."

In Huddersfield, local firm Molletts, of John William Street, slashed the price of the Kelvinator fridge by a tenner to £59 (in old money).

And in Birmingham, Town’s first-ever League Cup tie resulted in a 4-1 second-round defeat by an Aston Villa side who went on to win the trophy.

As the competition approaches its 50th birthday and Town wait to learn next season’s first-round opponents – the draw is at 9.30 tomorrow morning – it’s intriguing to look back to that meeting with Joe Mercer’s Villa, which attracted 17,057.

And it’s amazing to think Town midfielder Peter Dinsdale was unavailable because of national service commitments with the Army which limited him to Saturday football only!

While striker Derek Stokes was given leave by the RAF to play,

Boss Eddie Boot was also without Ray Wilson (back), Bill McGarry (broken jaw), Kevin McHale (thigh) and Mike O’Grady (knee).

And the signing of winger Johnny McCann from Bristol City had not been made in time for him to figure.

As a result Town, who were 18th in Division II (now the Championship) going into the game, handed outings to Bob Parker, Wilson’s left-back understudy, midfielder Gordon Low, who had been brought South from Aberdeen at the same time as Denis Law, and John Milner.