Huddersfield 1 County 0

A narrow defeat in West Yorkshire on Boxing Day

Dec 28, 2024

Saturday 28 December 2024

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Dear County fans, Stopfordians, Huddersfield supporters, and anyone else from The Football Family joining us today, a very warm welcome to your Saturday edition of The Scarf My Father Wore.

Dave Philbin reports on County’s Boxing Day defeat for us, along with Matt from And He Takes That Chance.

A Boxing Day trip to Huddersfield (via Brighouse)

The Scarf My Father Wore

December 27, 2024

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Today’s edition is sponsored by Not Just Travel and Slimming World Reddish & Bredbury. A big thank you to Paul and Tracy, and also to Shlean.

Thanks also to Gag N Bone Man Comedy who sponsor our Huddersfield Town content on the website.

Finally, I’m currently walking every street in Stockport to raise money for mental health charity Mentell. If you’d like to make a donation to help me reach my target, please click here.

Total distance so far: 192.73 miles

Total steps so far: 311,804

Total raised so far: £2,192

Total completed streets so far: 474 (Click here for the full list, which includes reports and photos from every day of the walk.)

Further information on the walk can be found by clicking here.

Des Junior

✍️ Thursday’s match in one word

Matt: Technical.

Dave: Nearly!

🤔 Pre-match thoughts

Matt: I was excited for the game – two good League One sides, a big Christmas crowd and I had a gut feeling that we'd find a way to win by one goal.

Dave: Huddersfield’s home form was excellent going into the game so I always expected it to be tough. It almost felt like Birmingham in the sense that I wasn't expecting anything from the game but was really looking forward to it!

🧐 Post-match thoughts

Matt: Job done. Our injury list is off the page at the moment and this busy period has come at the wrong time for our depleted squad. We've had 22 different first team players out injured this season and currently have nine key players out who would start or be impactful from the bench. Several players are also carrying knocks and niggles so it's imperative that we get through the period as unscathed as possible whilst picking up points. A tough ask and unfortunately Nigel Lonwijk injured his groin towards the end of this game so that's now the 23rd different player to be injured in what has been a cursed two-year spell. When will it stop, Des?

Dave: It was a game of two halves, again like Birmingham. All things considered, we went to the form team in the division and lost due to an own goal. Can't be too pissed off.

🔵 Verdict on Huddersfield

Matt: It's currently a tired team, but one that's well organised, difficult to break down and becoming more mentally resilient by the week. We fought for what could be a key win yesterday whilst not being at our best and that's a good sign. We've not once this season been able to put out a team resembling anything like our strongest XI, so the hope going forward is that we get players back, improve the squad in January and hopefully push onwards and upwards.

Dave: Really well organised, they knew when to press and when to stay, and most importantly were difficult to break down. They definitely set up in the second half as though they were the away team, but got the job done and that's what they needed to do.

🟣 Verdict on County

Matt: Very good but unsurprising. I tipped County for a top six position at the start of the season and if anything they’ve only strengthened my belief that they will get there, providing you can replace Barry's goals. The early goal changed the complexion of this game, but even so I thought County were full of clever rotations, passing movement and were intelligent in their approach. A draw would have been a fair result but Town are currently showing a mental resilience that we've not had for a few years and are quite happy defending teams at arm’s length – Michael Duff innit.

Dave: First half I felt it looked largely like men against boys in parts; we seemed disjointed and we were lucky not to go in 2-0 down at half-time, because I'm convinced they should've had a penalty. Then the second half we dominated. I bet Will Collar has replayed his chance over and over again in his head since – I know I have! A couple of other half chances that might have gone our way on another day, but the performance is important in these kind of games and I was pleased with it. Diamond is getting a lot of stick, but I thought he did really well when he came on.

🐶 Top Terrier

Matt: Brodie Spencer. Brodie’s a good young talent at 20 years old, but one who's not had the best of seasons until the last few weeks where his form has been excellent. He plays wing-back for Northern Ireland and has been one of their outstanding players for a little while and he snuffed out any threat that Louie Barry may have posed on Boxing Day.

Dave: Lees at the back was good.

🎩 Top Hatter

Matt: In the first half, the use of Bailey really bamboozled our midfield for a good half hour. It was a relief to see him withdrawn at half-time, although Kasumu had just about got to grips with his movement. Over the 90 minutes it was Lewis Bate. He controlled the midfield area and his performance didn't deserve an own goal. Special mention to Kyle Wootton as well as his hold-up play in the second half allowed you to get a higher foothold up the pitch.

Dave: Macca. Didn’t stop running for 70 minutes and was always looking to go forward.

👂 Atmosphere

Matt: I tend to sit high up in a quieter section and study the game like the scruffy hipster I am. However, the atmosphere was pretty vibrant and the belief is starting to come back to a lot of Town fans that the gloom of the last few years might be coming to an end. The JSS can be quiet with little pockets of toxicity who can sound like a majority at times, but the Town fans were great on the day and so were the County fans who did their best to rally the team when 1-0 down. Two good bunches of supporters just supporting their sides, a lovely thing to see.

Dave: The atmosphere in the away end was poor, which was disappointing because I maintain the best away atmosphere I remember was at Huddersfield in 2008. The home fans though? They were great, never stopped singing and if you believe they're a 12th man who can get a side over the line, then they did just that. Fair play.

🙏 Hopes for the rest of the season

Matt: I'm hoping we can claim one of the automatic slots. Automatic promotion for Huddersfield Town is the Halley’s comet of football. It's something that has only passed five times in 116 years and not since 1983. It's due, surely? We've work to do in the January window and on the treatment table and much depends on whether Wycombe start behaving themselves (pretty good aren't they?). For County, I hope you get that top six berth just so that I can tell everyone else on our podcast that I was right. I also have a little soft spot for you guys with what you've been through and the good grace in which your fans handled it around 15 years ago.

Dave: We're 5th after Boxing Day, almost halfway through the season. Play-offs please, but if we drop out then I'll be over the moon with top 10. Other teams' games in hand could go against us.

😀 Best part of the day

Matt: The final whistle. The wins are what matters in this period, not how they come.

Dave: Boxing Day breakfast at my mum and dad's.

😡 Worst part of the day

Matt: Probably my 6-year-old deciding he didn't want to come and instead wanted to visit his cousin. It's Christmas so I'll let him off, but raising a child in Leeds to be a Huddersfield fan whilst everyone else supports either Leeds or one of the Manchester clubs (far more in Leeds than you'd expect) has its challenges and he's taken more of a shine to Phil Foden and Kevin De Bruyne than David Kasumu and Ben Wiles, the little turncoat. In fact I might take some of his Christmas presents back…

Dave: Lewis Bate's shank into his own goal.

The British Library receives a copy of every single book published in the UK. In the same fashion, Des Junior believes a detailed record of every County game should be preserved for the history books. So here’s the full story of our 1-0 defeat at Huddersfield Town on Thursday 26 December, as told from his County-related WhatsApp groups…

3.02pm: Oh, great. Well in County. For fuck’s sake.

3.48pm: Two very even teams with nothing much up front there. They're a bit better at reffing the game than us too. Need to be braver with the ball in the second half.

4.50pm: Only side in the top eight to lose today. Disappointing. Need more quality when it counts.

4.56pm: We are probably just about where we should be in the table. We aren't good enough to go up, and if we do we would need a completely new squad. But we can compete with the top teams, and are too strong for the weaker ones.

Contact Paul and Tracy Franklin for your next holiday

It’s pitch black, it’s freezing, and the UK seems to be enveloped in a thick fog. Now’s the time to start thinking about a nice holiday, eh? Before you commit to anything, it’s worth getting in touch with Paul and Tracy Franklin as they can price match any trip you’ve found with On The Beach, Tui, EasyJet Holidays or Jet2Holidays.

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Lose weight and manage your diabetes with Slimming World

Slimming World have helped thousands of members lose weight and manage their diabetes. Now, they’re partnering with Diabetes UK to make that support even stronger.

“We’ve always directed our members living with diabetes to Diabetes UK for support outside of weight management, so we’re delighted to be working more closely with them,” said Lisa Salmon, Slimming World’s managing director.

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Through this partnership, Slimming World aim to further deepen their understanding of the challenges and misconceptions people living with diabetes face. They’re committed to supporting their members with the latest and most effective information in diabetes care, and to reaching even more people living with diabetes or at risk of type 2 diabetes with inspiration and advice.

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Dreen, a member of Shlean's group at Houldsworth Working Men’s Club in Reddish, has reversed her type 2 diabetes losing 1st 2lbs.

Shlean runs groups on Mondays at Bredbury St Marks Cricket Club and Tuesdays at Houldsworth Working Men’s Club in Reddish.

➡️ For more information give Shlean a call on 07725 088549 or email shlean@sky.com.

Photo of the day

John Smith’s Stadium, Huddersfield

A cracking photo of the 2,199 County fans at Huddersfield on Boxing Day. Thanks to Matt from And He Takes That Chance for sending it over.

Could you be the next Jason Manford or John Bishop?

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Today in SK

🎬 Cinema

One film at The Savoy Cinema (SK4) this evening. Wicked (PG) at 8.15pm.

➡️ Click here for tickets.

🍺 Food and drink

Pop in for a pint at Heaton Hops (SK4), CAMRA Pub of the Year for Stockport and South Manchester.

All pints £2.50 at The Cross Keys (SK8) from 6pm till 9pm.

A number of venues are featured on The Scarf My Father Wore such as AMP (SK1), The Crown (SK2), The Dog & Partridge (SK2), The Alexandra (SK3), The Crown Inn (SK6), The Steelworks (SK6), The Three Tunnes (SK7), Flute & Firkin (SK12) and The Ram’s Head (SK12). Support them this festive season by popping in for a few drinks.

🎵 Karaoke

The Nelson Tavern (SK1) with Lee. From 8pm.

Random photos of County players at other clubs

#82 – Luke Beckett, Huddersfield

County are struggling to find the back of the net in the big games at the moment, but here’s a lad who always knew where the goal was. Luke Beckett scored 47 goals in just 91 appearances for County, after arriving from Chesterfield halfway through the 2001-02 season. The striker later played for Huddersfield, scoring 33 times for the Terriers.