Huddersfield Town 1 Sheffield Wednesday 0

Last updated : 29 March 2005 By Footymad Previewer
Huddersfield midfielder Jon Worthington's low blast from outside the area ended ten-man Sheffield Wednesday's five-month unbeaten away record.

Town captain Worthington fired into the bottom left corner in the seventh minute after taking the ball off the toes of team-mate Pawel Abbott.

Poland Under-21 international Abbott was about to shoot at goal after Wednesday's defence failed to clear a Rob Edwards free-kick properly.

But Worthington jumped in ahead of the 22-goal striker to crack a fine shot past the despairing dive of on-loan Norwich keeper Paul Gallacher.

Play-off chasing Wednesday rarely threatened the home goal in a match of few chances at either end, watched by a season's best crowd of 17,292.

And what little threat the visitors posed was reduced further when defender Alex Bruce was sent packing two minutes before the interval for a shocking two-footed lunge on Adnan Ahmed.

Video replays showed Bruce's challenge sliced down the young midfielder's thigh and left him needing treatment off the field for several minutes. Referee Lee Mason was right on the spot to issue a straight red to Bruce.

It took the visitors until the 54th minute to get a shot on target, but John Paul McGovern's weak effort was easily saved by Terriers keeper Paul Rachubka.

Boss Paul Sturrock changed around the Wednesday team after that by bringing on substitutes Andrew Talbot, Patrick Collins and Chris Brunt as they searched in vain for a win that might have taken them up to third in the League One table.

But as Wednesday pressed forward they left gaps at the back and it was Huddersfield who subsequently came closest to scoring again when Danny Schofield's glancing near post header from Ahmed's 70th minute corner hit the bar, before being cleared to safety.

Huddersfield played out the closing stages to claim a third straight win - the first time this season the inconsistent outfit have done so.