Hopes are high that Yorkshire can seal triple promotion from League One

Three Peterborough United goals in seven minutes had all but ended Huddersfield Town’s hopes of reaching the Championship, which is why dejected Terriers supporters had begun discarding some of the 35,000 blue and white T-shirts that chairman Dean Hoyle had generously provided ahead of kick-off.

For Huddersfield, it was a crying shame. For the rest of the county, it was merely confirmation of what a sorry season 2010-11 had been with the largest county in England having failed to muster even one promotion between its 11 professional clubs.

Not only that but Sheffield United’s relegation meant both Steel City clubs were facing the depressing prospect of meeting in the third tier. No wonder, therefore, that a sense of doom and gloom abounded as a sorry campaign ended in fittingly depressing fashion.

Six months on, however, and the picture has changed dramatically with a sense of optimism having returned to Yorkshire football.

Not only are Hull City and Leeds United looking capable of lasting the pace in the race for the Premier League, but the League One promotion battle is shaping up to be a truly thrilling affair involving all three Yorkshire clubs.

Huddersfield have, perhaps understandably, attracted most of the headlines nationally courtesy of their record-breaking unbeaten run, which stands at 43 games ahead of Monday’s eagerly-anticipated showdown with Charlton Athletic at The Valley.

But Wednesday and United have also shown the kind of form that suggests all three Yorkshire clubs are going to be involved in the promotion battle right through until May, meaning the county can look forward to a fascinating few months.

If that proves to be the case it will stir memories among older supporters of previous seasons when there have been a trio of White Rose sides scrapping it out for promotion.

The most recent came in 2003-04 when Hull City, Doncaster Rovers and Huddersfield were locked in a fight to escape the basement division.

As late as the final day, the dream scenario for Yorkshire football seemed like becoming reality only for Huddersfield striker Pawel Abbott to attempt a rash back-pass from the halfway line at Cheltenham Town. Shane Duff was alert, nipped in and fired into the net to cancel out Andy Booth’s opener.

The game finished 1-1, meaning it was Torquay United and not Peter Jackson’s men who claimed third place behind champions Doncaster and Hull.

Thankfully for the Terriers – and, in particular, a crest-fallen Abbott – the play-offs provided a liferaft for their promotion hopes as three weeks later they claimed a penalty shoot-out victory over Mansfield Town in the final.

Huddersfield were also involved in another three-way Yorkshire scrap for promotion in 1980-81 when they joined Barnsley and Rotherham United in fighting Charlton for a place in the old Second Division.

Little could be done to separate the quartet of clubs until Town’s trip to Hull City on April 18, when referee George Flint unwittingly played a major role in the visitors losing in the last minute when he deflected a looping shot from Nick Deacy into the net.

Afterwards, Flint joked to the Yorkshire Post: “They will be sending me a signing-on form next week.”

For Huddersfield, however, it was no laughing matter as the 2-1 defeat at Boothferry Park meant the initiative had swung the way of Charlton, who went on to finish third behind champions Rotherham and runners-up Barnsley.

Completing this quickfire recap of memorable promotion battles featuring three Yorkshire clubs is 1968-69 season as Doncaster Rovers, Bradford City and Halifax Town chased one of the four promotion places from the bottom division.

All three would eventually prevail, though only after Halifax had made a thrilling late surge up the table to clinch their first promotion. As late as the end of March, the Shaymen were sitting 10th in the table as Doncaster led the way and Bradford occupied fourth place.

In Halifax’s favour, however, was the considerable number of games they had in hand on the sides above them, including seven on Lincoln and six on three of the top five. It meant a punishing end to the season with 14 games in 42 days but Alan Ball’s side proved to be a resilient bunch as they gradually chipped away at their rivals’ advantage.

Halifax moved into the top four courtesy of a 1-0 win over Aldershot on May 3, followed that with a goalless draw at York two days later to set up the home game with Rochdale as the night when the club could join Doncaster in clinching promotion.

Such was the confidence in the town that the management of the Shay Social Club applied for a licence to open for an extra hour after the game so supporters could celebrate and it proved a wise call as Les Massie netted the only goal 14 minutes from time.

The Shaymen were up, set to be joined by Bradford City the following night as two goals from Bruce Bannister and a late strike by Bobby Ham settled a ‘winner-takes-all’ promotion decider at Darlington.

Let us hope the county can again be celebrating another triple success come May next year.