It's forty years since Huddersfield Town fell victim to a double which just three seasons earlier, would have been unthinkable.

In February 1975, Halifax Town were 2-1 winners at Leeds Road, replicating their Third Division derby win at The Shay three months before.

Until the previous campaign, the neighbours had only met in the West Riding Senior Cup, wartime football and friendlies.

But successive relegations meant Town dropped from the top flight to what is now League I for the first time in their history in 1973.

Town beat Halifax 4-0 in their first league meeting at Leeds Road on Boxing Day of that year before a goalless draw at The Shay the following March.

The Leeds Road club went into the 1974-75 campaign with a new manager, former Leeds United and Scotland star Bobby Collins.

But he failed to make the impact the board would have wanted, and after the first defeat at Halifax, when 6,827 watched and Roy Ellam netted, Town were down in 19th place.

Former manager Tom Johnston returned to work alongside Collins, but there was no improvement.

The season’s second defeat at the hands of the Shaymen, seen by 7,931 at Leeds Road and featuring an Alan Gowling penalty, left Town rooted to the foot of the table.

They were still there after the final match and went down alongside Bournemouth, Tranmere Rovers and Watford, with former Manchester United man Gowling, Town’s top scorer for each of his three seasons at the club, sold to Newcastle United for £70,000.

Town, who had never previously played in the basement division, won only nine league matches and lost 17 of their 23 away games in 1974-75, when Derby County won the league championship and Leeds United reached the European Cup final, losing 2-0 to Franz Beckenbauer’s Bayern Munich in Paris.

Halifax, managed by former Sheffield Wednesday and Rotherham United player Johnny Quinn, finished 17th.

Town’s team for the second of their defeats by Halifax was Dick Taylor, Graeme McGifford, Paul Garner, Terry Gray, John Saunders, Terry Dolan, Martin Fowler, Steve Smith, skipper Gowling, Mick Fairclough and Lloyd Maitland.