[Lord Snooty]

October 31:

What's scarier than ghosts, ghoulies, devils or kids knocking on your door demanding sweets?

Yes, that's right. Millwall!

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This is really spooky! Three years running now, we've played Millwall on this weekend. We beat them two days ago, 1-0 with a super strike from Yuta Nakayama. Then a year and a day ago, the same score with the prolific Jonathan Hogg scoring. And now on this date in 2020, the sequence began with a wonderful 3-0 win down at the Den during the pandemic.

Josh Koroma opened the scoring with a neat finish from a nicely cushioned headed pass by the eerily invisible Adama Diakhaby. It was 1-0 to the Terriers at the break and still that score in the 89th minute.

Then two subs combined to make it 2-0. First, Juninho Bacuna won the ball in midfield, juggled with it for a while before sending the ball into the path of Pipa who was running strongly into the Millwall half. He just kept on running until when eventaully nobody bothered to tackle him, he had a shot. It stung the hands of keeper Bartosz Bialkowski and he dropped it over his own head. He tried in vain to get back to stop it crossing the line, but on this occasion, the technology was working alright. Two-nil to the Town.

Then in injury time, Fraizer Campbell tackling back on the halfway line, won the ball which fell at Bacuna's feet and he set off into the space where the Millwall defence should've been. By the time he reached the penalty area, they had caught up and so he laid the ball off perfectly for Lewis O'Brien to smash the ball into the corner of the net and we had the game well and truly won at 3-0.

That's not all. We've had them there cock-er-nees coming up here and giving us the willies in the past as well. On this date in 1987, they came to Leeds Road to play a Town side in really, really deep trouble. We had famous England international and legend of Arsenal, Newcastle United and errm, Luton Town, Malcolm Macdonald in charge.

This was only his fourth game in charge after taking over from Steve Smith, the only Huddersfield born man to manage the club. But he'd been unable to stop the downward turn. We'd sunk right to the bottom of the 2nd Division, 23rd out of 23 teams as the league was going under some reconstruction, reducing the First Division to 20 clubs ahead of the proposed formation of the Prima Donna League.

We had 5 points from the first 14 matches and had lost the last six. We'd a debutant playing in this one though. How much difference it made  to the side I can't remember but Steve Walford it was, and he was on loan from Millwall's beloved neighbours West Ham United. He played in defence, ahead of a local born goalkeper, playing only his second first team game, 19 year old Lee Martin, in the team instead of Brian Cox.

Well the new keeper and the new defender worked wonders for Supermac as the losing streak ended and the Terriers proved there was life in the old dog yet by winning our first game of the season. Strikes from Barnsley legend Ian Banks and ex Arsenal striker David Cork gave us a 2-1 victory.

Corky's two goals against Millwall in a 3-0 win in the last game of the previous season had saved us from relegation and here he was again, scoring against the Lions to kick start our season.

So the season is up and running. Who's next?

A couple of tricky away games. Ipswich at Portman Road on Tuesday. And then next Saturday, we've got a trip to Maine Road to take on Manchester City. Can we do it?

In Supermac We Trust! 

Six years earlier, the Lions had left the Den once more to travel up to Huddersfield. This was when we still had Mick Buxton in charge, but on this date in 1981, we got beat by our friends from beautiful down town Bermondsey 2-1.

Ian Robins got our goal and it was their first visit to Leeds Road since the riot in the previous season when they beat us 1-0 to knock us out of the promotion places.

We were nowhere near promotion this time around though and this defeat left us in 18th in the Second Division.