VENUE #103 HUDDERSFIELD TOWN Kirklees Stadium

KIRKLEES STADIUM

JOHN SMITH'S STADIUM

VENUE #103

           

              Home Of:  Huddersfield Town      Ground Opened:  1994

Previous Ground:  Leeds Road

       Other Uses:  Rugby Union
                                Concerts

VENUE #103

NEAREST TRAIN STATION

     The John Smith's Stadium is walkable from Huddersfield Railway Station, it should take no more than 15 minutes at a comfortable pace. After coming out of the Railway Station, turn down past the front of The George Hotel. Go straight over the crossroads into Northumberland Street and walk down across the Ring Road straight on into Leeds Road. Turn right down Gasworks Street. Straight over the crossroads to the ground.

KIRKLEES / JOHN SMITH'S STADIUM

     The club moved the short distance to the then called Alfred McAlpine Stadium in 1994 after leaving their former Leeds Road ground their home for 86 years. When the stadium originally opened it had just three sides with the North Stand being opened later in 1997. In 2004 it was renamed the Galpharm Stadium, before becoming the John Smith's Stadium in 2012, in a new five year sponsorship deal with Heineken. Most new stadiums in this country are rather boring affairs with little character, but the John Smith's Stadium does not fall into this category. Each stand is semi circular rather than rectangular, and is further enhanced with large white steel tubing above the contours. In fact from the car park I first thought it looked like a new ride at Alton Towers! It is good to see something different from the architects for a change. The ground has won many design awards and is well worth a visit. The only disappointment is that the corners of the ground are open. The Fantastic Media North Stand at one end and the Revell Ward (Riverside) Stand at one side are both two tiered stands, each with a row of executive boxes running across the middle. The other two sides of the ground are large single tiered affairs. One of these the Britannia Rescue Stand, at one side of the pitch, can accommodate 7,000 supporters. There is an electric scoreboard at the back of the away end. The stadium is completed with a striking set of four floodlights. The stadium is shared with Huddersfield Giants Rugby League Club.

     Away fans are located at one end of the ground in the Chadwick Lawrence (South) Stand, where up to 4,000 supporters can be accommodated. The facilities in this stand and the view of the playing action are both good. The acoustics of the stand are good also, meaning that a relative small number of fans can really make some noise. There is also a Ladbrokes outlet and a bar serving alcoholic drinks at the back of the stand, which remains open during the first half and half time.

GROUND LAYOUT

 A   REVELL WARD STAND

 B   FANTASTIC MEDIA STAND

 C   BRITANNIA RESCUE STAND

 D   CHADWICK LAWRENCE STAND  (AWAY)

Today's visitors  WEST HAM UNITED are currently 15th in the league table making some head-way away from the relegation dog fight but not safe yet by any means.
     New manager David Moyes has steadied the ship and got the side playing in a manner superior to their league position.  Moyes who was in charge of Sunderland last season when they were relegated to the Championship seems to to have found " the magic touch" again which brought him many years of success at Everton and was lost when he took over the reigns from Alex Ferguson at Manchester United and found the boots too big to fill.
     This is only the second time the Hammers have competed at the John Smith's stadium, the first was 3 years after the ground opened in 1997 when they were drawn against Huddersfield in the league cup second round, the game was won by the Terriers 1-0 with a goal scored by Alex Dyer in the 75th minute but the Hammers won the return leg 3-0 with a hatrick from John Hartson.
     West Ham are usually a better side playing away from the London stadium but will have their work cut out today as the Terriers have pulled out some astonishing performances this season at the John Smith's beating Manchester United 2-1 in October and narrowly losing by the same result to United's neighbours City the following month. 

HUDDERSFIELD TOWN ... 1   WEST HAM UNITED ... 4

     Not one of Huddersfield's best performances this afternoon presenting the Hammers with the first goal after 25 minutes when Jonas Lossl threw the ball out to Joe Lolley on the edge of the 18 yard box when the 25 year old winger was being marked by Mark Noble, Noble pounced on Lolley robbing the ex Kidderminster and Port Vale youngster to smash the Hammers into the lead.

     The Terriers got back into the game though 5 minutes before the interval Lolley making up for his part in the West Ham goal by curling a stunning shot past Hammers keeper Adrian.

     Queues for the toilets and food outlets were still vast when West Ham regained their lead in fact only 11 seconds had gone in the second half when Marko Arnautovic flicked a Cheikhou Kouyate pass over the defenders head to smash home West Ham's second    of the afternoon.

     Arnautovic then became provider laying the ball into the path of Manuel Lanzini to power home his first Premier away goal since November 2016.

     Five minutes later and Lanzini completed his brace as the Hammers hit Huddersfield on the counter attack making it a real miserable afternoon for the home faithful who packed out the John Smith's stadium making lots of noise and adding to a great atmosphere to try and lift their side but it didn't occur as the Terriers suffered one of the worst second half collapses that I've ever seen.

     Hammers move above Huddersfield in the league table moving up to 11th whilst the Terriers now lie in 13th place, an agonising afternoon for David Wagner but the other David, Mr. Moyes seems to have turned West Ham into a team to watch out for this season.

                           MATCH DETAILS