TOWN shrugged off their League woes to waltz into the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Ian Greaves' side were fighting a desperate battle to maintain their top-flight status.

But they made short work of Second Division Fulham in the fourth round, seeing them off with a 3-0 win.

Les Chapman's spectacular 39th-minute opener was a particular cause for celebration for the Town fans in a 18,300 Leeds Road crowd.

It was the first goal their side had scored at home since November 27, when Derby County had been beaten 2-1, the Terriers' last League win.

Fulham had been making a decent fist of the game until Chapman deftly unlocked their defence.

Collecting a throw-in just inside the Fulham half, he headed towards goal by the shortest route.

He beat two challengers, and just when the visitors were expecting a square pass to the onrushing Frank Worthington, Chapman let fly with a right footer which flew in.

Town never looked back from that point on, with Worthington hitting the bar before Jimmy Lawson doubled the lead four minutes later.

Worthington freed Dick Krzywicki with a neat back-heel, and from the cross, the ball was headed powerfully past the helpless Malcolm Webster.

The onslaught continued in the second half as Worthington headed inches wide, Steve Smith had a shot blocked by goalkeeper Webster's legs and Terry Dolan slipped up from just five yards out.

Then, on 70 minutes, Chapman was a fraction off connecting with a low Krzywicki cross which dumbfounded the Fulham rearguard.

Jimmy Conway and Barry Lloyd never stopped foraging for Fulham.

But home goalkeeper David Lawson was rarely tested, and Town made sure of their passage to the last 16 eight minutes from time.

Jimmy Lawson grabbed his second from close range after Worthington flicked on another Krzywicki cross.

It completed an unhappy return to Huddersfield for Fulham boss Bill Dodgin, the former Arsenal defender.

The Craven Cottage chief had spent part of his childhood in Honley when his father, of the same name, was a Town player (he made 10 appearances between 1929 and 1933).

"Our goose was cooked as soon as Chapman scored," he admitted.

"You saw in those vital minutes before the break the comparison between Divisions I and II.

"Town piled it on and while my lads tried as best they could to stem the tide, there was a real lesson to be had in sharpness and execution.

"Division I is a different world."

THIS tie was one of a trilogy of exciting Cup clashes between Town and Fulham between December 1967 and January 1976.

Town, then in the Second Division, beat top-flight Fulham to a League Cup semi-final berth with a 2-1 win in a fifth-round replay at Leeds Road in 67, when Jimmy Nicholson and David Shaw scored.

In 76, Town had dropped into Division IV when they visited Division II Fulham, the previous season's beaten finalists, in the FA Cup third round.

Jimmy Lawson, a scorer in 72, and a Terry Gray double clinched a 3-2 Town victory.

* MANAGER Ian Greaves' bid to take a close-up look at Town's fifth-round foes was foiled by a traffic jam.

The Terriers were drawn at home to either top-flight rivals West Ham or non-League Hereford, who had beaten Newcastle in round three.

The teams drew 0-0 at Edgar Street to set up a replay which, because of a power strike, took place on a Monday afternoon.

Interest was huge and Greaves was among thousands unable to get to Upton Park - where the Hammers won 3-1 in front of 42,271 - as a result of congestion.