Huddersfield Town v Yeovil Town

Saturday May 5th 2012
Galpharm Stadium
Kick Off 3pm

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Well, game 46 and the end of the regular season as plucky Yeovil make only their 8th visit to Huddersfield.

Chairman John Fry re-appointed Gary Johnson for his 2nd spell as manager to guide the team to their usual mid table position. Johnson is Fry's 9th manager during his 16 year tenure as Chairman which has seen the Glovers establish themselves in the 3rd tier of English football.

Founded as Yeovil Casuals in 1895 they became perennial giant killers in the FA Cup until they won the Conference league in 2003. Two years later they were champions of Division 2 with 83 points and have remained in Division One since.

League positions of 15th, 18th, 17th, 15th, 14th and currently 16th were punctuated by a 5th place in 2006/7 and a memorable play-off against the mighty Nottingham Forest. Losing the 1st leg 0-2 they stunned the football world with a 5-2 win at the City Ground to earn the right to play improving Blackpool at Wembley, which they lost 0-2. Within 3 years Blackpool were in the Premier League.

Massively over-achieving for a small club Yeovil suffered their worst ever defeat since their elevation to the Football League when they were beaten by Stevenage 0-6 last month.

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The teams last met at Huish Park in October where Town managed a scrappy 1-0 win to move into 2nd place in the league. This was an uninspiring performance by Huddersfield and prompted comments of "Garbage" from Hydy, "Sheet" from MN, "Least deserved 3 points" from Booothy and "less said the better" from 38....





Simon Grayson will be using the game to test out some of his plans for the play-offs, although he will have it in mind that a win is required if Town are to have any prospect of gaining 4th place and the coveted Home leg on Tuesday 15th May. He will continue to 'rest' his key players though so it will be interesting how he sets up the team for this encounter which the Terriers have won 4, drawn 1 and lost 2 of the previous 7 visits of Yeovil.





Many fans would like to see Higginbotham again, and maybe Johnson (if fit) and Miller will get a run out as they try to regain match fitness after long lay-offs. Whether Arismendi gets a run is debateable, while Rhodes and Alan Lee seem as if they will be wrapped in cotton wool for the MKDons encounter.


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It would be easy to do a resume' of the season at this point, but to be honest there are enough articles on the board covering all aspects of the Clark/Grayson period. Once the prospect of an automatic promotion place had passed us by, there has been a relaxed atmposhere around the place, particularly amongst the playing squad it seems. The fans though have settled to the play-off prospects quite well, and while current form doesn't inspire much confidence, we are wise enough to know that the form book means nothing in a play-off scenario.

Having resisted the temptation to disect the season, i will produce one interesting set of figures, if only for Mirf to chew over...

Grayson has managed the team for 1/3rd of the season and during this time has gained 23 points before the Yeovil game. So I thought I would just compare this with the previous incumbents record ~~

2008/9 (LC)
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last 16 games........22 points

2009/10 (LC)
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1st 16 games.......27 points
2nd...................27
3rd...................26

2010/11 (LC)
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1st 16 games.......26 points
2nd..................26
3rd...................35

2011/12(part LC)
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1st 16 games........31 points
2nd..................24
3rd (grayson)........23 to date


You can interpret those stats how you like..


Town team ?
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Smithies
Hunt
Morrison
McCombe
Woods
Miller
Johnson
Ward
Arismendi
Higginbotham
Cadamarteri

Yeovil
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No idea



referee
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tba


Score ?
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3-0 Huddersfield




Fancy Dress ?
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Mandatory



Enjoy the game, get behind the lads 100%


See you at the Play-offs

Mention SHOULD be made of the hardy souls making the cycle ride from Yeovil to raise funds for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance. This is an impressive commitment for a worthwhile cause, and they deserve not only our admiration, but a cushion to sit on for the match on Saturday afternoon...!!

Bravo and good luck to you all



Oh, and Chelsea for the cup !!