Huddersfield 2 Brentford 1: Kasey Palmer's dramatic late entrance keeps the optimism high at Town

That happened almost two decades ago on August 17, 1996, just under three months before Palmer entered the world.

But one thing is for sure, his introduction to the Town faithful on Saturday will be preserved for posterity.

His first competitive touch in a senior outing yielded a goal and how many other players can say that? Small wonder that his beam lit up the John Smith’s Stadium when he addressed the press on Saturday tea-time.

Town’s first win in nine first-day outings at this level was right and proper.

Given the fanfare of a summer that has been the most vibrant in years at the club, showcased by the sale of just over 15,000 season tickets, the merits of a healthy first game at the office cannot be over-estimated.

Ahead of the season, a survey from the new-look EFL revealed that Huddersfield supporters were the fourth most optimistic in the Championship before a ball had been kicked. With good reason, on this evidence – I wonder if the critical Ian Holloway was watching.

For those who previously followed Town on the periphery or were maybe renewing their vows, they could not have failed to have been impressed by the fare on offer in front of the club’s biggest opening-day gate at home since 1970. It was all good stuff.

Six new signings who took to the field endeared themselves to the home faithful. But it was the decisive cameo of Palmer that ultimately tipped the scales with his close-range winner 11 minutes from time, moments after entering the fray, securing Town’s first opening-day win at this level in nine attempts following a run of eight successive losses.

The Chelsea loanee, 19, said: “I cannot even describe how that felt to score my first goal with my first touch in front of a great crowd, so it was a dream come true.

“I think it is probably the best moment in my football career so far, to score on my debut is just a dream.

“Literally he (head coach David Wagner) said ‘win us the game, be the decisive player in the game.’ I’m looking at him thinking ‘on my debut?’

“So to score as soon as I touched the ball was unbelievable.

“My mum, girlfriend, dad, everybody, all my family was here in the box, so it was a great moment.”

Offering his take on the game, he added: “In the first half, I think we had played much better in pre-season. It was cagey at the start, with it being the first game with a big crowd.

“But I think as the season goes on, we will just get more and more comfortable and we’ll be a joy to watch.

“Last season, I scored 18 goals and this season I am hoping to get the same sort of tally, without pushing too much pressure on myself. To start with a goal is a great feeling and can only give me confidence.”

Town knocked on the door on occasions in the first half, most notably when Joe Lolley saw his fierce strike beaten away by Daniel Bentley, but upped the ante on the restart against visitors who went close twice in the first period through Scott Hogan.

It was left to Elias Kachunga to forge the breakthrough, with his 50th-minute strike being just reward for a high-energy shift.

In Yorkshire speak, the German striker looks a real grafter who will not give defences a moment’s peace. But he is clearly much more than just a workaholic.

His instincts were predatory when he clinically headed home Tommy Smith’s inviting centre in classic centre-forward fashion.

Kachunga’s exit from the fray on 65 minutes, when he was feeling his hamstring, was the only downside on the afternoon with the forward given a rapturous ovation by Town supporters.

Fellow newcomers, including Jack Payne, who went close with a long-ranger, and Aaron Mooy in particular, also made discernible impressions and did enough to suggest that they will become firm favourites.

But it was not all sunshine and roses, with Brentford conjuring a 77th-minute leveller out of nothing when substitute Nico Yennaris coolly slotted home after neat work involving Romaine Sawyers, Hogan and Lewis MacLeod.

Town were not to be denied. Rajiv Van La Parra, who almost added a second before the Bees’ leveller, went solo, skipping past several challenges before seeing his well-struck effort blocked by Bentley, with the supporting Palmer, who had just come on for Payne, on hand to tap home the rebound.

That is what you call an entrance.

Huddersfield Town: Ward; Smith, Hudson, Schindler, Lowe; Hogg, Mooy; Lolley (Paurevic 85), Payne (Palmer 78), Van La Parra; Kachunga (Scannell 65). Unused substitutes: Coleman, Cranie, Stankovic, Hefele.

Brentford: Bentley; Clarke, Dean, Egan, Elder; McEachran (Yennaris 56), Woods; Sawyers, Kerschbaumer (Saunders 56), MacLeod (Hoffmann 82); Hogan. Unused substitutes: Bonham, McCormack, Field, Holldack.

Referee: G Eltringham (Tyne & Wear).