[Lord Snooty]

March 31:

On this date in 1928, Huddersfield Town won 3-2 away at Bury in the First Division. Goals were scored by George Wilson (a Scotsman scoring in his only 1st team game for the club), Harry Raw and Johnny Dent. The result left us top of the league, with a semi final 2nd replay just around the corner. Nothing out of the ordinary there then.

The thing is, in those days there were no international breaks and on this date, England were playing Scotland at Wembley in the British Home Championship (often referred to as the Home Internationals). The reason why Wilson got a game, as well as Bill Pickering, Willie Campbell, Jimmy Smailes, Bon Spence and Laurie Cumming all making first appearances of the season, was that there were five Town players involved in the match at Wembley. So the victory at Gigg Lane was all the more remarkable.

Those five missing players were Roy Goodall, who captained the England side, Tom Wilson, Bob Kelly and Billy Smith for the home team. And Alex Jackson was playing for the Scots.

There was nothing but pride at stake as the Welsh had already secured the title, leaving these two to fight for the wooden spoon, but this is an England/Scotland game so there's always something there. Billy Smith had hit the post in the first minute, but from then until the last minute, it was all Scotland in a game that had them going down in Scottish legend as the Wembley Wizards. And it was Town's Alex Jackson who stole the show, scoring a hat trick in a 5-1 win. Town's Bob Kelly got the last minute consolation, scoring direct from a free kick.

This was on the Saturday. All five of them would play a couple of days later in the FA Cup semi final 2nd replay against Sheffield United on the Monday.

It's been another good date for Town wins over the years with 14 wins from the 23 played. We beat the likes of Newcastle Utd in 1923, Manchester City in 1934 and Liverpool in 1951. But the best one in living memory was the win at Barnsley in 1986, two days after me and Amelia had gotten wed. This was the one where Duncan Shearer, another Huddersfield Town Scottish international, scored a hat trick on his full debut in a 3-1 win at Oakwell and just about secured our place in the 2nd Division for another season.