<div class="ds-headline" id="ds-headline">Town's automatic ambition</div><div class="ds-firstpara" id="ds-firstpara">Reds chief Ritchie far from disheartened by derby defeat Huddersfield Town 1 Barnsley 0 League One Robert Gledhill at Galpharm Stadium</div><div class="va-bodytext" id="va-bodytext">ANYONE who saw the tear-stained despondent face of Andy Booth in the Whaddon Road car park two years ago will know what is driving the veteran striker to secure an automatic promotion spot for his home-town team. Then, a last-match 1-1 draw at Cheltenham prevented Huddersfield Town from going straight up from League Two and consigned them to the play-offs. "We don't want to go through that again but, if we have to, we have the strength of character as it showed when we went up through those play-offs," said Booth after Town's 1-0 victory had given them four wins and four draws from this season's League One Yorkshire derbies – a marked improvement on last season when they just failed to make the top six. Another major difference during their rise to within six points of leaders Southend, pointed out Booth, has been that this season they have not had to over-rely on the currently sidelined Pawell Abbott for the majority of goals. The 14-goal top scorer said: "There have been four or five of us regularly hitting the target and that has been a big help. Every striker goes through a run where you don't score and so it's great to know you have colleagues who can." This time, it was Gary Taylor-Fletcher who got the winner in the defining match in the run-in for both clubs. His strike means that Town can go on to have a real crack at securing an automatic promotion slot – they are kept out of second place by Brentford on goal difference – while Barnsley will have to battle on to regain a play-off position. "You could tell by our reactions at the end what it meant to us," said Booth. "It was a big weekend with challengers Colchester and Brentford playing each other so we knew that whoever won here would be in with a great chance. "We have a couple of tough away games coming up but we go to Gillingham and Bournemouth full of confidence knowing that automatic promotion is still on." Barnsley were left to rue a catalogue of missed chances – two in particular for Marc Richards in front of the 3,183 travelling support being gifts – which left them a point behind manager Andy Ritchie's former club, sixth-placed Oldham with six games remaining. Ritchie was far from despondent and, as is necessary at this stage of the season, protected his strikers from undue criticism. However, he did go somewhat over the top in defence of substitute Daniel Nardiello's dismissal for two yellow cards within two minutes. Nardiello first took a shot after the whistle had been blown for offside and then disputed the decision to award a free-kick against him for a foul on Danny Adams six minutes from time. "If you can't say one expletive to a referee it's a sad day," claimed Ritchie wrongly. Barnsley could well have been down to 10 men before the break but referee Mike Fletcher deemed Paul Heckingbottom the yellow-card culprit for a foul on Andy Holdsworth when Brian Howard, who had already been booked, looked to many the guilty challenger. Although the wind-affected game did not quite reach the heights of the 2-2 draw at Oakwell, a crowd of 19,052 produced a special derby atmosphere and Ritchie claimed: "It was a great advert for the league, a great game. Although I'm disappointed with the result, I'm not disappointed with the performance. "The players were excellent today and I have told them to come out of the ground with their heads held high. The supporters were absolutely brilliant and you could tell that they were happy with the way we played when they stayed at the end to applaud them. "The lads gave everything and we will win more than we lose if we continue like this until the end of the season. "They have proved to themselves that they can perform in this sort of situation. We are only one point from the play-offs and have to play Oldham so anything can happen and if we continue to play like that we will certainly be in the play-offs." However, the fact remains that Barnsley have gone six games without a win and their front two certainly need some shooting practice. Striker Paul Hayes, however, began like a man inspired and the game could have had a different complexion had Chris Shuker capitalised on Hayes's ball down the right channel and slotted home rather than seeing Town captain Jon Worthington race back to clear the weak attempt over. Hayes' partner Richards was unfortunate to be a yellow-card victim of the contentious issue of the moment, diving, when he was booked for going down under David Mirfin's challenge. Barnsley claimed it should have been a penalty but it appeared a genuine attempt by both players to win the ball. Town's best opportunity of the half came when Booth met Worthington's chip to the near post with a downward header which Nick Colgan did well to push away at the foot of his post and, at the other end, Hayes volleyed over under pressure from Nathan Clarke. The winner came 11 minutes after the break, again via outstanding right-back Andy Holdsworth – Barnsley's dangerous flank player Martin Devaney later being withdrawn after making little progress against his man. Chris Brandon did well to chase the wind-propelled ball to the corner flag and the ball was moved back for Holdsworth to curl his cross beyond the first defender towards the near post where Taylor-Fletcher forced home his 13th goal of the season despite the attentions of Colgan. Barnsley rallied, Shuker struck the underside of the bar but Richards made a hash of an open goal attempt from the rebound and then miscued wide from 12 yards following a cross from Hayes, who also missed the target with another volley. Taylor-Fletcher hobbled off with back and hamstring trouble but Sheffield Wednesday loan striker David Graham, having lost 10lb while suffering a midweek virus, only strengthened Town's attacking threat and should have wrapped the game up late on when he stepped inside Paul Reid only to see Shuker race back and somehow head his goal-bound effort over the bar from a couple of yards. "This was a huge win because it was a big pressure match for both clubs in front of a massive crowd," said jubilant Town chief Peter Jackson robert.gledhill@ypn.co.uk Huddersfield Town: Senior, Holdsworth, N Clarke, Mirfin, Adams; Brandon (Ahmed 73), Worthington, Hudson, Schofield; Booth, Taylor-Fletcher (Graham 60). Barnsley: Colgan, Austin (Williams 57), Reid, Kay, Heckingbottom (McParland 84); Shuker, McPhail, Howard, Devaney (Nardiello 70); Richards, Hayes. Referee: M Fletcher (Worcs). TOWN FAN'S VERDICT MY THOUGHTS What a fantastic result in front of over 19,000 supporters, which shows the potential the club has if it achieves its target of Championship football for next season. Barnsley may consider themselves unfortunate not to have forced a draw but we also had chances to make the game safe before the end. Automatic promotion is now a distinct possibility. n Team verdict 7/10 Have played better but who cares? Man of the match Andy Holdsworth: Back to his attack-minded best and snuffed out their winger. Ref justice REDS FAN'S VERDICT MY THOUGHTS Banjoes and barn doors come to mind after watching, along with 3,000 other Reds, our strikers continually fail to hit the target. Overall, however, this was a good all-round performance from Andy Ritchie's lads and all is far from lost as far as earning a place in the play-offs is concerned. Perhaps we'll know better the next time we call for Danny Nardiello to be brought on! Team verdict 7/10 All that was missing was some goals. n Man of the match Chris Shuker: Was a constant threat, though should have scored early on. Ref justice Mike Fletcher: Left with no option but to send off Nardiello. by Paul Cooke, Penistone. Mike Fletcher: Handled the red-hot atmosphere well. by Alan Curtis, Halifax.</div>
God we should be so lucky The 14-goal top scorer said: "There have been four or five of us regularly hitting the target and that has been a big help. Every striker goes through a run where you don't score and so it's great to know you have colleagues who can."
RE: God we should be so lucky andy richie comes out with some ***** at times,sayinf we had a goalscoring proplem the last 3 games.I hate to tell you andy but we,ve had one all season!
