HEROIC Huddersfield have pulled off the North I result of the season!

Just five weeks after losing 32-3 at Caldy, the men from Lockwood Park completely turned the tables on the leaders to grab a victory that was thoroughly deserved.

Everything that was so wrong on the Wirral on November 11 was so right on this most triumphant of returns.

The sorry second-half wafer-thin tackling had been replaced by a terrier-like tenacity and a genuine desire to win the collision, while in attack they posed numerous questions against a defence that up until Saturday had conceded an average of only nine points a game.

The victory was also a personal triumph for player-coach Mark Sowerby, who admitted the pressure was on for his team to perform after a shaky period.

"After that defeat at Caldy, I did start to wonder if this was all worthwhile," confessed the club's pack leader.

"Now I know it was!

"The last five or six weeks have been really tough.

"But the response from the boys has been immense, and I don't think anyone could say this was a victory we didn't deserve.

"Full credit has to go to every one of the players who put on the Huddersfield shirt. They all played to their very best to produce an outstanding team performance.

"I suppose it's pretty unfair to single out one player after a team effort like this, but I did think Jack McPhail epitomised everything that was so good about the way we played.

"We told him to dig in, he did just that and the rest of the boys followed suit.

"This was a proud day for us all, and let's hope it's a taste of things to come for the second half of the season in the New Year."

But there were few signs to suggest early on that this would be this season's finest hour.

Huddersfield's opening 20 minutes was shaky, to say the least, with Caldy deservedly opening up a 10-0 lead and showing why they are at the top of the North I pile.

A seventh-minute try from winger Pat Feeley - albeit after a lethargic Huddersfield defence had failed to deal with a Simon Mason kick-through - and a Mason conversion and penalty appeared to have put the visitors in total control.

But for the remaining 60 minutes, it was Huddersfield who made all the running.

Strong runs from both Paxman twins created the position for Chris Johnson to open his side's account with a 30th-minute penalty.

And on the stroke of half-time the sides were level as Johnson drove the ball to the line and popped up a pass for George Hinchliff to collect and crash over from close range.

Johnson converted and it as 10-10.

But it got even better after the break.

While the usually reliable Mason missed two out of his three penalty attempts, the ice-cool Johnson landed three out of three, including two in the last 10 minutes, to seal what has to be one of Huddersfield's best wins in years.

* Huddersfield YMCA lost 18-0 at Old Brodleians. Full report tomorrow.

Huddersfield:Metcalfe; Taylor, Paxman (B), Paxman (L), Shaw; Johnson, Clayton; McPhail, Gough, Stringwell, Barnard, Hinchliff, Jones, Whitehead, Sowerby. Subs (not used): Chata, Rotchell, Wickett.

Caldy: Mercer; Feeley, Young, Wylie, Ross; Mason, Coast; Parker, Holt, Fedigan, White, Bradshaw, Dickinson, Bansor, Tupou. Subs: Devaney, Woof, Bennett.

Referee: Tudor Griffiths (Yorkshire Society).