Huddersfield Town 0 Peterborough United 3: Huddersfield fans’ belief washed away on floodtide of Posh goals

It was, therefore, no surprise that supporters making their way to Old Trafford for yesterday’s League One play-off final were caught in a downpour courtesy of the sort of cloudburst that seems a daily occurrence on the ‘wrong’ side of the Pennines.

By full-time, however, a new variation on Manchester’s reputation for rain had been found with it not being water falling from the sky but dozens of blue and white T-shirts.

In an attempt to create a sea of blue and white at the Stretford End for Town’s first visit to the home of Manchester United in almost 40 years, chairman Dean Hoyle had paid for 35,000 T-shirts to be made with the word ‘Believe’ emblazoned across the front.

They were then laid out on the seats for supporters to wear. The gesture worked well, too – or at least it did until Grant McCann had put Peterborough 3-0 up to end, not only 2011’s only remaining unbeaten record but also, Huddersfield’s dreams of staging Championship football next term.

As the Posh fans celebrated at the other end of the stadium, the first few T-shirts started raining down to earth from the upper tier of the Town seats.

Soon, dozens were falling from the sky and, by full-time, the touchline and area behind Paul Jones’s goal were awash with the discarded items.

The sense of frustration felt by the Town hordes was understandable, Huddersfield’s 27-game unbeaten record having come to an end at the worst possible moment courtesy of a dramatic seven-minute spell that saw Posh score three times without reply.

Worst of all, up until Tommy Rowe had flicked McCann’s free-kick past Ian Bennett on 78 minutes, Town had looked by far the more likely side to break the deadlock.

Certainly, the opening half-hour or so of the second half had seemed more like a procession towards the Peterborough goal than an even contest.

Danny Ward, playing in his second League One promotion decider in a year after losing out with Swindon Town against Millwall at Wembley, had already hit the crossbar and it seemed only a matter of time before the goal Huddersfield craved would arrive.

Instead, it was Posh who scored against the run of play when McCann had been fouled by Gary Naysmith – though during the build-up to the foul, Craig Mackail-Smith had been offside when laying the ball back to his captain.

Unfortunately for the Terriers, the linesman failed to flag and, after McCann had whipped in the resulting free-kick, Rowe was on hand to guide the ball into the net.

Lee Clark’s response was to bring Danny Cadamarteri off the bench but the substitute had not even managed a touch of the ball by the time Peterborough had doubled their advantage.

Just 87 seconds had elapsed since Rowe’s opener when Mackail-Smith collected a pass from George Boyd and hit a shot that took a wicked deflection off Antony Kay to leave Bennett flat-footed.

The game was almost up for Town, whose promotion dreams were extinguished completely five minutes from time when McCann unleashed an unstoppable free-kick into the corner of the net.

Cue the T-shirts starting to rain down onto the pitch as the first wave of dejected Town followers started to make their way home. By the final whistle, the swathe of empty seats told their own story – as did the image of several Huddersfield players slumping to the floor after referee Steve Tanner had put a merciful end to their suffering.

Clark’s face also spoke a thousand words, though credit to the Terriers manager for the sporting manner in which he congratulated Darren Ferguson and the rest of the Peterborough staff in the technical area.

The scenes of devastation were in stark contrast to how it had all begun amid an air of optimism.

Every tram heading from Manchester city centre to Old Trafford was rammed with Huddersfield supporters, the vast majority defiantly chanting ‘We are unbeatable’ whenever a posse of Peterborough supporters came into view.

Such confidence was fuelled by what at the time was the only remaining unbeaten record of 2011 in the Football League, the last defeat suffered by Clark’s men having come 27 games ago on December 28 at Southampton.

Inside four minutes of this final, however, Huddersfield’s belief took its first knock when Mackail-Smith was played through on goal.

With the £3m-rated striker having finished the season with the League One Golden Boot, Town fans feared the worst only for Kay to pull off a goal-saving tackle and ensure that Mackail-Smith’s shot was deflected onto a post.

It was a major let-off for Town and they were again thanking their lucky stars in first-half stoppage time when Mackail-Smith’s golden touch again deserted him.

This time, the Posh striker could not even point to excellent defending on the part of Huddersfield as he shot narrowly wide with just Bennett to beat.

In between Mackail-Smith’s two misses, the Terriers had matched their opponents.

It did, though, take until the 44th minute before Peterborough goalkeeper Paul Jones was called on to make a save worthy of the name.

Gary Roberts was the Town player who brought a stunning one-handed save from Jones with a curling free-kick that was destined for the net.

Moments earlier, Benik Afobe had been presented with a decent opening but shot wide after latching on to Roberts’s corner inside the six-yard area.

The couple of late chances offered plenty of encouragement to the Town faithful, who welcomed their side back onto the field with a rapturous reception.

It seemed to inspire Clark’s side, who were by far the better team over the next 30 minutes or so.

Ward came closest to capping Town’s best period of the match with a dart down the right flank and shot that saw the ball crash against the crossbar.

Benik Afobe, again employed in the lone frontman role that manager Clark has clearly favoured away from home during the long unbeaten run this year, was unfortunate to see Jones claw the ball to safety after initially seeming to be deceived by a flighted cross from Jack Hunt.

Hunt also picked out Roberts with an inviting centre but no one was on hand to meet the pull-back, paving the way for the dramatic finale that saw Peterborough clinch promotion and the Manchester sky to be filled with discarded T-shirts rather than the customary raindrops.

[email protected]