There is a reason I struggle to appreciate Peter Jackson, and a lot of that stems from the 2003/04 season.
That was the infamous Pawel Abbott season and the Andy Booth dive. They’re strong memories, but what many forget is we turned them over in the first match-up that season, a game worth looking back on now.
After a tough start, our revival under Keith Alexander gathered yet more momentum with a stirring second-half comeback in October 2003, one that stunned Jackson’s Huddersfield Town and delighted the home support, already dreaming of what this group might achieve.
Like now, Huddersfield were expected to be right at the top, and their position of sixth was, perhaps, a little shaky, given their size. As for us, we’d been beaten play-off finalists the season before, but a start that had one win in eight (including cups) had fans worried we might have been a flash in the pan.
Form had come, and ten unbeaten coming into the game, with a fine 3-1 win away at Scunthorpe on the previous Saturday (my Dad’s 50th birthday party had been that day, remember it well). Still, with players such as former Spurs and Sheffield Wednesday man Andy Booth, Huddersfield were going to be no pushover. They’d won five on the spin, including a 4-2 win against Championship side Sunderland in the League Cup.
They were seventh, a point ahead of us, lurking in ninth. It felt like a decent place to be, and there were few complaints with the crowd, a season-best to that point of 5,718.
A Nightmare Start
City’s only complaint was how poorly we began. Huddersfield struck after five minutes, and it was alarmingly simple. Danny Schofield drifted into space on the right and delivered a pinpoint cross that Booth headed in with ease for his fifth of the campaign. The veteran forward could hardly believe the room he had been given, and the hosts built confidence from that moment.
City stumbled through the first half in front of 1,700 Huddersfield fans. Tempers flared in the stands, and Ben Futcher found himself bloodied after an aerial collision. Apart from a fierce Richard Butcher strike that Ian Gray tipped away, the Imps looked nothing like the side that had recently beaten Scunthorpe and Telford with purpose and conviction. Efe Sodje dominated at centre half and controlled large parts of the first period.
The Game Turns
Everything changed just past the hour in a frantic spell that swung the match and possibly the season. A long Bailey throw caused uncertainty, Simon Weaver took it neatly and nudged the ball into the path of Marcus Richardson. With his back to goal, he spun sharply and wove his way towards goals, only for Gary Taylor-Fletcher (then just Fletcher) to take it off his toes to score. The home end erupted and City suddenly looked alive.
Four minutes later, Gray smashed a clearance forward, only for Richard Liburd to return it toward Richardson. He strode away from his marker and finished with aplomb. City had turned the game on its head.
Barely moments later, disaster threatened to undo the good work. Referee Alan Butler pointed to the spot for a Huddersfield penalty after Peter Gain handballed, but Alan Marriott has built a career on moments of defiance. He guessed correctly, springing to his right to push away Tony Carss’s effort with a single hand and keep hope burning.
Yeo Seals It
Deep into stoppage time, Simon Yeo added the finishing gloss. Sent racing into the area, his first effort was blocked, but he followed in with the hunger that defined his later Lincoln career and rolled home the rebound. It was his first goal since that famous night against Scunthorpe United in the play-offs, and the delight on his face said everything.
There was a sombre moment at full-time when club president John Jennison collapsed. Swift medical attention stabilised him, and he had recovered enough by Sunday to talk about the match, which brought huge relief to everyone connected with the club.
After the game, Keith Alexander was quick to highlight a subtle tactical adjustment.
“We were playing a team who I don’t think were too complimentary about us before the gameso it’s nice to send them away with nothing.
“We had to put Mark Bailey to the left side and brought Richard Lybird in a little bit and it worked for us a treat.
“Teams are only as good as you allow them to be. Our game is based on hard work and we have got some quality to go with that. I thought we worked very hard to close them down and we always knew that chances would come.
Huddersfield boss Peter Jackson had a very different view.
“I thought that at half time we were cruising. They had never really threatened us. At half time I said all we had to do was keep a clean sheet.”
Chairman Rob Bradley summed up the mood.
“What a fabulous turnaround by our squad. One down at half time, we looked unlikely to make any impact on a strong Huddersfield team, but we seemed a different outfit after the break and came away worthy winners. We seem to be able to create chances much more regularly now and have the players to convert them.
“Our unbeaten run continues. Few of us, as we trudged away from Gig Lane back in August, would have dared believe we would embark on a run of ten league games that comprised five wins and five draws, and Keith and the lads deserve a lot of praise.”
By the time supporters drifted back toward the station, one thought echoed everywhere. This was no longer simply a team plugging gaps or surviving on spirit. This was a side learning to win again, growing in belief, and showing that the old Keith Alexander magic was stirring once more.
We felt like maybe this game would stick in the memory for years, but events at the McAlpine later in the season (twice) ensured we recall those matches with much more clarity.
Lincoln City: Marriott, Bailey, Libird, Futcher, Bloomer, Weaver, Gain, Butcher, Green, Fletcher, Richardson.
Subs: Yeo for Bailey, Sedgemore for Lybird, Bloomer for Richardson. Willis and Pearce were unused.
Huddersfield Town: Gray, Yates, Worthington, Sodje, Clarke, Fowler, Scott, Carss, Holdsworth, Booth, Schofield.
Subs: Brown for Holdsworth, Holland, Mattis, Murfin, Senior unused.