1987-88 saw City and Huddersfield Town meet on five different occasions.
Although the clubs played out three well-contested FA Cup ties, the league game at Maine Road would be the one that stuck in the memory.
For those there that grey, wet afternoon, it would turn out to be the best possible reward for dragging ourselves out on a cold, inhospitable day to see a game that had originally promised so little.
Indeed the first fifteen minutes delivered exactly what those in doubt had feared: an evenly balanced but scrappy game with the visitors, wearing hideous yellow and black checked shirts, slightly in the ascendancy.
Boredom and the impressive cold were beginning take hold on the Kippax when the game suddenly crackled to life.
Neil McNab, the tireless midfield terrier, who played such a big part in keeping City moving in those second division days, slotted the opener out of the blue. It will never be fully known exactly what happened to Huddersfield Town at this point.
After the match away manager Malcolm McDonald, so used to battering in goals as a powerful striker with Newcastle, Arsenal and England, would have no explanation for the utter collapse of his side. From the Kippax no visible dropping of heads, no mass hunching of shoulders could be seen, but by half time, City had advanced to a four goal lead and were clearly coasting.
In a second half that defied proper description, each City attack seemed to arrive plum in front of the bewildered and slightly buckled figure of Brian Cox in the away goal. With Paul Simpson’s trickery on the wing matching McNab’s midfield industry, City had made it nine by the 90th minute, with both Tony Adcock and Paul Stewart notching hat tricks. The old ground, with little over 21,000 rattling around inside it, was a cauldron of noise and excitement.
This being City, the lusty chants for number ten were caught in thousands of throats, as John Gidman gave away one of the most unnecessary penalties in the history of the game. If it was not sufficient that Huddersfield should spoil the day by scoring to make it 9-1, the dastardly deed was c arried out by ex-City midfielder Andy May, who exchanged pleasant hand signals with the Kippax after scoring.
Despite the disappointment, City mounted one last attack, with a feeble attempt at offside allowing David White through to claim a record-breaking tenth goal and third hat trick of the match. Adcock got another hat-trick that season as did Imre Varadi. Goals were very much the name of the game for City under the quietly spoken Mel Machin.
In fact, Varadi and White both scored twice in matches on three other occasions, while Stewart managed the feat six times. Adding Ian Brightwell to the list meant City had scorers of more than one goal in a game on a barely credible 18 separate occasions that season.
By the time the FA Cup matches came around, Huddersfield were looking for revenge and very nearly put City out in the first game at Leeds Road. Gidman redeemed himself for the daft penalty in the 10-1, by scoring a wonderfully timely free kick equaliser in injury time to take the tie back to Maine Road (2-2). There, the Yorkshire side put up a commendable fight in another draw (0-0), before the tie was taken back to West Yorkshire for a second replay on the toss of a coin.
With the rain teeming down on the huge City travelling support packed onto the open away end, City at last prevailed with a swashbuckling display that earned a well deserved 3-0 victory. It was a game so typical of what the FA Cup is trying to perpetuate to this day: lusty, noisy, dramatic and tense. City had won through playing fast and loose, but had still fallen an incredible seven goals short of their own total from the league encounter.
