RESPECT the opposition, but don’t be overawed by them.
That’s the advice from Gerry Murphy as Town begin the countdown to their 56th league showdown with Leeds United at the Galpharm on Saturday.
The popular Dubliner won’t be at the helm this time, but he’ll be as desperate as ever to see the Elland Road side beaten for the 24th time when West Yorkshire rivalries are resumed in the noon League I showdown.
Sweet derby victories have been the highlights of now retired Murphy’s spells as caretaker manager.
Thanks to the 1-0 success in last season’s home clash and the dramatic 2-1 win at Leeds in November, Town are chasing what would be a memorable hat trick, and their first double over their arch-rivals since 1930-31, when both clubs were in the top flight.
There were 16,413 at last season’s Galpharm game, when a 4-0 defeat at Elland Road in December 2007 (the club’s 17th league loss to Leeds) was avenged, and given the number of centenary season-ticket holders, Town expect en even bigger turn-out this time.
Current manager Lee Clark would surely be delighted to repeat last season’s scoreline against Simon Grayson’s side, who host Millwall tonight.
And Murphy says neither the players nor the fans will need any extra motivation.
“As professionals involved in football, you want to win every match, but for the fans, this is the extra-special game, and it’s good to tap into that feeling,” said Murphy.
“If you can get a win over Leeds, supporters will forgive a lot of other things, and both the times we’ve played them when I’ve been in charge, I knew that a win would give the whole club a massive lift.
“We’d had a tough time last season, leading to the departure of Andy Ritchie, and I was desperate to give our loyal supporters something to cheer.
“This time, we’d also been through the mill a bit, with Stan Ternent having recently left, and myself and Graham Mitchell knew a victory could re-light the season.
“On both occasions, our approach was to treat the games as cup finals, and tell the players to think of the games as one-off winner-takes-all affairs.
“We knew we could match them physically and in terms of playing football, and that the outcome could well be down to pure hunger and desire to win.
“The other crucial factor was to instil self-belief in the players, prepare properly and stick to the gameplan set down, whatever happened.
“We had worked on ways of stopping them and stamping our own authority on the game, and it’s crucial to win that particular battle.
“You can’t afford to be intimidated or to panic if something goes wrong, such as the game at Elland Road when they took the lead early on (through Robert Snodgrass after just four minutes).
“We got the message out to the lads to continue their passing game, playing it out from the back and through midfield and using our wing-backs as outlets.
“At half-time, we were able to reinforce this, and also emphasise the need to remain totally switched on all the way through.”
Town certainly achieved that, with Joe Skarz scoring right at the start of the second period before Michael Collins grabbed a stoppage-time winner.
Andy Holdsworth scored the winner in last season’s Galpharm game, and the fact that all three were homegrown products was particularly pleasing for academy guru Murphy, now retired from his role as director of football development after his third stint as caretaker boss ended with Clark’s appointment in December.
“The main part of my role at the club has always been to look after the youngsters, and when you get them at the age of eight or nine, and see them develop both as people and players, it’s very, satisfying,” added Murphy.
