Rochdale v Huddersfield Town
The Carabao Cup 1st round
Saturday September 5th - 15:00 ko
at the Crown Oil Arena, Spotland John Smith's Stadium

Huddersfield Town travel over the hills to Rochdale for a Carabooboo Cup 1st round match on Saturday afternoon. Well they would've done, but it's now Rochdale who are travelling over here to play at the JSS as they're having their pitch renovated and it won't be ready in time.  

Don't know what kind of team we will have playing. We've only had a couple of warm up matches, no summer training camp in Austria or anything like that. The two friendlies we have played have been mainly players from the newly formed B team and the likes of Christopher Schindler, Lewis O'Brien, Jonathan Hogg and Frazier Campbell have not been seen. Young Lewis and Hoggy we know are injured, but where are the returning players from loans like Terence Kongolo, Isaac Mbenza and Adama Diakhaby? Whatever team is selected, our opponents won't be a push over. They should be. They let eight players go in the summer and haven't replaced them, but with our recent League Cup record and the fact that this lot almost won at Old Trafford last season means that this won't be easy.

Bienvenida, Carlos.

So what about our new players? Well so far we have two new signings. One a re-signing and yet another goalkeeper loaned from a Premier League side.

Danny Ward first came to us on loan in 2011 from Premier League club Bolton Wanderers. He'd made his debut for them in the Prem against Sunderland, as a sub in the opening game of the 2009/10 season. He went on loan at Swindon and Coventry and came to us in March 2011 to the end of the season and helped us qualify for the Play Offs. He made his debut in a 1-0 win down at Brentford when Peter Clarke scored in injury time. He scored his first goal for us in a magnificent 3-2 victory down at already promoted Brighton, who were playing their last ever match at the Withdean Stadium, which was the winner and the last ever goal scored at that ground.

Danny scored again in the Play Off semi final 2nd leg at home to Bournemouth and scored one of the penalties in the shoot out. And we'll once more just ignore the next game.   Lee Clark signed him back on again in the summer, paying Bolton a million quid for his services, which he repayed by bagging five goals against the likes of Rochdale, Stevenage and Yeovil. He helped us reach the Play Off Final again, hitting the bar with a shot in the second half at Wembley. We won on pens against Sheff Utd but he'd been subbed by then.

Up in the Championship he scored a first minute winner against Derby and a brilliant last minute winner against Boro. Those were his only goals in 2012/13 but improved in the next one, netting ten times. One of them came in the 3-2 win at home to Dirty Leeds and one at Bellend Road in another match where I won't mention the final score. He got four of his goals that season against Watford, including a hat trick in the final game of the season at Vicarage Road, just as his contract was about to expire, which persuaded the club to offer him a new deal.

But those three goals turned out to be his last in a Town shirt for the time being as he was moved on to Rotherham, initially on loan and then permanently in the summer. He scored for them at the JSS in a match that we won 2-1 in 2016/17.

He had three years with the Millers and then Cardiff City forked out a million and a half quid for him. He helped them get into the Premier League and scored one goal for them in the Prem, a defeat at home to Arsenal, as they joined us in getting relegated. And Danny made his last appearance at our ground just before lockdown as an 86th minute sub when Cardiff came up here and stuffed us 3-0.

But now he's back.

Joel Pereira has come to us on loan from Manchester Utd and he has been previously on loan at today's opponents Rochdale. He's 24 years old, born in Boudevilliers, Switzerland. Despite all this, he plays internationally for Portugal. He has represented them in all under age groups from u15 to u21 and was also a member of the Portuguese Olympic squad in 2016, but didn't play.

He signed for United as a 16 year old and helped their u21 team win the title in 2015. This led to his loan out to the Crown Oil Arena, with Keith Hill praising him after a man of the match debut against Morecambe in the FL Trophy, in which he saved a penalty. Joel turned out on 8 occasions for the Dale before returning to Old Trafford.

At the end of the season he made his Man U debut (and only match so far) in the last match of the season and kept a clean sheet as the Red Devils beat Crystal Palace 2-0 at home.

He had more loans out. Two of them in Portugal, then Belgium and then last season in Scotland with Hearts. Joel turned out 25 times for them but unfortunately as lockdown started they were bottom of the league and were eventually relegated. Still, he came away with rave reviews from their fans.

Promoted to League 1 in 2014

A few years prior to that, in 1988/89, we played out a 1-1 draw at Leeds Road, Andy May scoring for Town. The replay was a cup classic 4-3 Town win. Peter Withe, an own goal from O'Shaughanessy, Craig Maskell and Junior Bent getting the Town goals.

We last met at league level in League 1, our promotion season of 2011/12. Both games ended in 2-2 draws, with Lee Novak and Danny Ward scoring at Spotland and Ward again and Jordan Rhodes scoring at home. So our new signing has form scoring against the Dale.

The first time we played each other was when we were on our big slide down the league ladder in the 70s. It was 1973/74 and we drew 1-1 at Rochdale with a Steve Arnold og for us, but then beat them 5-0 at home with all five goals coming in a 2nd half blitz that gave us our biggest win of the season. Goals that day coming from Jimmy Lawson (2), Alan Gowling (2) and Phil Summerill.

We have only ever been beaten twice by Rochdale, out of a total of 25 matches that's probably our best record against any opponent. The most recent one was a really bad evening in 2010 when we travelled to play the newly promoted Dale and came away with a very poor 0-3 defeat and a very unhappy manager in Lee Clark.

The only other defeat came in this competition, the League Cup of 2001, when Rochdale turned up at the Galpharm Stadium for a 1st round tie. We had just been relegated to the 3rd division and life was looking really bad as they humiliated us by winning 1-0.

On a brighter note, we did play and beat them in the Mick Buxton era. That was in 1981 and we stuffed them over two legs in the 1st round, 7-3 on aggregate. Peter Fletcher (2) and Phil Wilson scored in a 3-1 home win and then two weeks later Fletch got another two, as well as one each from Ian Robins and Steve Kindon as we won 4-2 at Spotland.

And then there was that friendly last season where we launched this shirt!!      

Chris Beech

Rekeil Pyke

Lock 50 Rochdale Canal

Town's League Cup record: is really poor, considering what a big club we are.  

Our best season was back in the 1967/68 season, the season I first started watching. We reached the semi finals then, losing to Arsenal over two legs, but I didn't see any of these games, probably because I was only 7 and my dad obviously thought I was too young for night matches.  

Anyway, to get to that stage we beat Wolves at home 1-0, Norwich away 1-0, West Ham at home 2-0, and Fulham 2-1 at home in a replay after a 1-1 draw down at theirs.
In the semi final we went down to Highbury for the first leg and narrowly lost 3-2, with goals from Trevor Cherry and Colin Dobson. Back at Leeds Road for the second leg we drew level on aggregate when Tony Leighton scored early on, but Arsenal scored three times to make it 6-3.

We had a famous win at Bellend Road in 1982/83, which was a 3rd round match. Third division Town had won two legged encounters over Doncaster Rovers and Oxford Utd and then beat the "Champions of Europe", Leeds United 1-0 with a second half goal from David Cowling, which in those days of Town being in their massive shadow, was a thing to celebrate. We lost 1-0 at Arsenal in the next round.

We have only got as far as the 4th round on three occasions. In the 67/68 and 82/83 seasons already mentioned, and in 1999/2000.

That last one was the year we won down at Chelsea in the 3rd round, a famous win and a famous goal coming from Kenny Irons. Earlier we had beaten Scunthorpe Utd and Notts County, both over two legs. And then we went out in the 4th round, beaten at home by Wimbledon, who were in the Premier League back then, 2-1 after extra time.

Since then our record has been appalling. This century we have only reached the 3rd round three times. In 2003/04, our post administration season under the guidance of Peter Jackson, we beat Derby at home and Sunderland away before losing at Reading. In 2013/14, home victories over Bradford City and Charlton Athletic gave us hope of a cup run, only to be dashed by a 1-0 defeat at Hull City. And most recently in 2017/18 when we had a first round bye before beating Rotherham at home and losing at Crystal Palace.

We have been embarrassed by lower league opposition, the likes of Oldham, Rochdale, Mansfield, Notts County, Shrewsbury and last season Lincoln City, have all given us a rotten kick up the arse.

So the only managers to get us to the 4th round of the League Cup are all club legends. Ian Greaves, Mick Buxton and errm *cough cough* Steve Bruce.   Is Carlos Corberán the man to do it this season?

Quote:Head Coach Carlos Corberán has named his side for his first competitive match in charge of Huddersfield Town; today’s 3pm Carabao Cup kick-off against Rochdale.

The Spaniard has handed competitive Huddersfield Town debuts to two Academy graduates who have impressed during pre-season; defender Romoney Crichlow and midfielder Ben Jackson.
Crichlow, 21, will line up alongside Club Captain Christopher Schindler at centre half today. He has played senior football for Enfield Borough, Bradford (Park Avenue), Hartlepool United and Welling United, but today will be his first competitive appearance in Town colours.
Jackson, 19, will start in central midfield. He spent the majority of the 2019/20 season on loan in the Vanarama National League with Stockport County, and will make his first Town start today having been an unused substitute twice last season.
There’s also a first home start for 19-year-old Aaron Rowe, who has previously started two away games for the Terriers.
Alongside Schindler, the Terriers also welcome Jonathan Hogg back from a small injury issue this afternoon. The long-serving midfielder starts, whilst Adama Diakhaby and Isaac Mbenza return to the match day squad as substitutes.
The returning Danny Ward starts in attack, whilst fellow summer recruit Joel Pereira – who played for Rochdale on loan previously – is among the substitutes.
Another two potential debutants – centre back Mustapha Olagunju and midfielder Josh Austerfield – are among the subs too.