Maine Road,
Manchester
Attendance 19,583
Referee: K. Breen.
Manager Mel Machin spent just over two years in charge at Maine Road but had the privilege to preside over two games that will linger long in the fans' memories. This one was City's biggest win of the century; the other was, of, course, the famous '5-1' victory over Manchester United in September 1989. Wearing a hideous black and yellow square kit (possibly the worst ever seen at Maine Road) Huddersfield, bottom of the table, arrived for the game with new manager Malcolm Macdonald just three weeks into the job. Despite their lowly league position, Huddersfield could have taken the lead twice in the opening ten minutes. City's Neil McNab, at his most influential that day, broke the deadlock in the 12th minute and well and truly opened the floodgates.
Paul Stewart doubled the score after 29 minutes and five minutes later Tony Adcock headed the third. When David White got his first - City's fourth - just before half time, City fans jokingly thought the Blues might get eight! The interval only prolonged the agony. In the 52nd minute Adcock hooked in his second and Stewart's header made it six a quarter of an hour later. Huddersfield had just restarted proceedings when Adcock broke through to make it 7-0 and complete his hat-trick. It took 17 minutes for the next goal, Stewart converting Andy Hinchcliffe's cross for his third and City's eighth. The last five minutes of the game produced three more goals. White's second was followed by the highlight of Huddersfield's miserable day as former Blue Andy May converted a consolation penalty. In the last minute of the game White dribbled round Cox for City's tenth. It was the first time in 25 years that three players from the same team had scored hat-tricks in a league game. In typical City style, the Blues lost 1-0 in the return game five months later.
