IAN GREAVES watched Town fall to a late goal at Millwall – then challenged his players to make sure it was their last defeat of the season.

With nine games remaining, the Terriers were five points clear of Sheffield United at the top of the Second Division.

And the manager was in no mood to press the panic button.

“Many of my players still aren’t shaving, but they are playing like men,” said Greaves. “I believe in them, and they believe in themselves.

“Before this match we had a run of nine without defeat in which we collected 16 points, so there really is no need to worry unduly.”

Town went into action in South London having beaten Oxford 1-0 at Leeds Road through Colin Dobson’s penalty the previous Tuesday.

They tuned up for Millwall with a three-day stay at Brighton, where midfielder Steve Smith had treatment on a calf injury at the Goldstone Ground.

It did the trick, with Town unchanged for the seventh match running.

The Den was notorious for it’s partisan atmosphere, and the Town team coach had a police escort for the final stage of the journey from the South coast.

There were 11,982 in the ground, plus London Weekend Television’s ‘Big Match’ cameras (short highlights were shown by Yorkshire TV the following day).

They saw a rough, tough clash in which the accent was on destructive rather than constructive play.

“The number of clear-cut penetrations by either side could be counted on one hand,” wrote Examiner reporter Alan Driscoll.

“Similarly, the number of times goalkeepers had to save shots could be counted on one hand.

“An early goal might have made all the difference to this clash.

“But with neither side prepared to commit wholly, deadlock was the outcome.”

It was finally broken in the 83rd minute when home youngster Doug Allder swung over a corner with his left foot and Barry Kitchener jumped to head home.

It was tough on Town, who had battled hard in a hostile environment, with both bottles and coins being thrown at the players.

“Terry Poole and Geoff Hutt told me they could have amassed a small fortune from the coins littering the penalty area, but they had no time to pick them up,” added Driscoll.

“Hutt and Roy Ellam stood out in a Town rearguard which resisted magnificently, and Trevor Cherry was another who scarcely put a foot wrong.

“In the same way, it must be said that Kitchener and ‘deep sweeper’ Dennis Burnett clamped an iron fist on anything that stirred on the fringe of their own penalty area.

“Jimmy Nicholson and Jimmy Lawson worked hard to loosen that grip, but to no avail.”