THERE were smiles and tears as an era ended.
Ten years ago today, 16,195 people packed into Huddersfield Town's Leeds Road ground to see their heroes play there for the very last time.
Many stood in the spot they had made their own over many, many years.
And they enjoyed a 2-1 victory over Blackpool which will go down in the record books and the memory banks.
The crowd - paying gate receipts of £75,000 - was on a high from well before kick-off.
And when referee Mr Mike Peck finally blew his whistle to end the game and Town's 86-year link with the famous old ground, the tears flowed.
The fans swarmed on to the turf in their hundreds, not only to show their support to Town's players but also to remember for that one last time.
Long after the game ended, fans in blue and white stripes sat and stood alone with their thoughts.
The Cowshed was finally silenced; the regulars on the East Terrace had shared a laugh and a joke for one final day.
Many had struggled to come to terms with the fact that they would never stand on those terraces again.
The bright new future of football was growing daily against the Kilner Bank and the skyline just a few hundred yards away.
The game itself had attracted Town's biggest league crowd for 10 years.
Six days earlier those same supporters had made the journey down to London to see Town in action at Wembley in the Autoglass Trophy.
There they endured the heartbreak of a penalty shootout defeat at the hands of Swansea City.
But back at Leeds Road, against Blackpool, it was business as normal for Neil Warnock's men.
Fittingly, it was a Huddersfield-born player, Simon Baldry, who gave Town the lead in the match.
And by another strange quirk, another Huddersfield-born player was the next to score.
Andy Watson - playing in the colours of Blackpool - equalised for the Tangerines.
But fortune was on Town's side and the historic last first-team goal at Leeds Road came for the blue and whites.
Phil Starbuck struck in the 61st minute at the Dalton Bank end, firing home what proved to be the winner through a sea of legs.
The celebrations started then. They were to last until long after that final whistle.
But there were still a few more Leeds Road days to savour.
Hundreds of fans turned up two weeks later to try to grab a piece of history.
They were at an auction of Leeds Road memorabilia, when everything from the club sign to the boardroom toilet seat went under the hammer.
Eddisons, the Huddersfield surveyors and valuers, sold off hundreds of lots for a total of £8,655.
And it meant that many fans went home with tangible memories of what had been a huge part of their lives.
* The Leeds Road pitch was cut up and sold in small pieces to fans
* A plaque in the Leeds Road retail park now marks the centre spot of the old ground
* Town fans turned up weeks after the final game to watch the demolition
* Demolition men insisted the old main stand was haunted
* Many soccer clubs around the country got items from the ground, including stand seats
