NOW that’s more like it!

After suffering a morale-sapping 33-20 National League II North defeat at new boys Bromsgrove nine days ago, Huddersfield came up with the perfect response to beat second-placed Westoe 26-15 in a full-blooded Lockwood Park encounter.

And there was no fluke whatsoever about this excellent success for coach Dan Hyde and his boys.

In fact, had the final margin of victory been greater, no-one from Westoe could really have complained, with their hosts dominant from start to finish in almost every facet of the play.

The forwards laid a magnificent foundation, with captain Nick Sharpe and young No7 Ben Hoyle to the fore, while the backs made sure they profited from the hard work down the middle, orchestrated inevitably by inspirational fly-half Chris Johnson.

Yet again, Johnson was at the heart of so much of what was good about his team’s performance, pulling the strings at will to keep his side on the front foot and chipping in with one try, one conversion, two penalties and one drop goal for good measure.

But the No10 also showed he’s more than willing to get his hands dirty when it comes to the defensive duties, producing a couple of telling efforts early in the second half when Huddersfield were reduced to 14 men as a result of Sharpe’s sin-binning, with the skipper paying the price for his side conceding a flurry of penalties and referee Graham Dickens finally losing patience after the No8’s misdemeanour.

It was also at that stage that Hoyle – Hyde’s man-of-the-match for the afternoon – was forced to withdraw from the contest with an ankle injury.

At that particular point it looked as if Westoe may be about to take full advantage.

Yet despite applying a heap of pressure on the Huddersfield line between the 45th and 55th minute when Sharpe was forced to play the role of reluctant spectator, the side from the north east were unable to make a telling breakthrough and turn the tide in their favour.

Within a minute of Sharpe’s return from the sin-bin, Johnson had banged over a penalty, and normal service had been resumed.

That Johnson strike helped nudge his side 14-3 ahead and build on a rock-solid opening 40 minutes, when an eight-point interval advantage was the least their efforts deserved.

Despite having the lion’s share of the early possession and territory, it wasn’t until the 16th minute that Huddersfield drew first blood when the alert Johnson intercepting a loose ball on halfway and had just enough pace to beat full-back Graham Haswell to the tryline.

Johnson failed to add the touchline conversion after having been surprisingly off target with a first penalty attempt three minutes earlier, but he was soon making amends to bang over a three-pointer midway through the half before slotting over a drop goal three minutes before the break to make it 11-0.

Ollie Stedman reduced the deficit with a penalty of his own on the stroke of half-time and then Westoe had that promising patch at the start of the second period.

Yet once Johnson had calmed any fresh Huddersfield nerves with his 56th-minute kick, there was only going to be one winner.

After an hour, the Yorkshiremen struck for a second time when Adam Ryder’s blockbusting run set up the position for Michael Clark to score with ease in the corner for Johnson to add the extras.

Although Westoe finally broke their try duck three minutes later with a Tommy Banks’ effort, that simply put extra fire in their hosts’ bellies, and in no time at all Joel Hinchcliffe was taking a quick tap penalty to catch the visitors on the back foot and helped create the overlap for Adam Sutcliffe to take full advantage.

Johnson may have missed the conversion attempt this time and Westoe had the final say when Haydn Richards charged over from 10m for a try, converted by Michael Booth, on the final play of the game.

But this failed to spoil what had been an excellent day for Huddersfield – and the dream response!

Huddersfield: Andrews; Ryder, Clark, Owen, Sutcliffe; Johnson, Hinchcliffe; Battye, Entressengle, Stringwell, Hinchliff, Rhodes, Lewis, Hoyle, Sharpe. Replacements: Lancaster, Davies, Dempsey, Duffy.

Tries: Johnson (16), Clark (60), Sutcliffe (68).

Conversions: Johnson 1 from 3.

Penalties: Johnson 2 from 4.

Drop goals: Johnson 1 from 1.

Westoe: G Haswell; Kerr, Clark, Banks, Rundle; D Haswell, Judson; Richards, Kirkley, Elliott, Younghusband, Murray, Frankland, Maw, Stedman. Replacements: Whitley, Bentham, McKenzie, Booth, Nesbit.

Tries: Banks (65), Richards (79).

Conversions: Booth 1 from 2.

Penalties: Stedman 1 from 2.

Half-time: 11-3.

Referee: Graham Dickens (Derby).