POLICE have named the three Huddersfield men killed in a horror crash.

Paul McKenzie, 22, from Reed Street in Marsh, Ross Neill, 25, of Lord Street in Slaithwaite, and Carl Rawlinson, 25, from Huddersfield, all died in the smash at Scouthead, near Delph early yesterday.

All three were keen amateur footballers.

Paul and Ross played for Marsden while Carl played for Hade Edge in the Huddersfield District League.

Both clubs called off their matches today as a mark of respect. Hade Edge club secretary Edward Dalton said everyone was shocked.

He added: "Carl was a great lad. He really was spot on.

"He was very dedicated to his football and always came to training.

"He was a very popular lad and was very bubbly.

"There's just a strange sense of shock at the moment."

The tragedy, near Oldham, left two other men from the Huddersfield area critically ill.

They are a 25-year-old from Marsden and a Slaithwaite man aged 21.

All five were in a Peugeot 106 car which hit a bus head-on at a notorious accident blackspot.

The smash happened on the A62 Huddersfield Road at 1am yesterday.

The small hatchback car was travelling towards Huddersfield. It was in a smash with a single- decker bus on a bend.

The bus driver was shocked and suffered cuts and bruises.

It was sleeting at the time and driving conditions are thought to have been poor. The car had just gone over the brow of a hill when the crash happened on a left-hand bend.

A woman who lives near the crash scene said: "There have always been accidents here.

"Traffic comes past at 60mph or 70mph.

"There was someone killed on the corner here only a couple of years ago. There have been other deaths as well.

"Unfortunately this road is well known for it. Sometimes in the summer there can be accidents every week.

"Every time you drive to that corner you take your life in your hands."

Emergency crews were faced with a scene of utter devastation.

The three men were declared dead at the scene.

The two injured men had to be cut free and were taken to the Royal Oldham Hospital.

They were said to be in a serious but stable condition today.