By John Drake, Yorkshire Post, Sunday 6th January

After experiencing plenty of heartbreak in the FA cup during his career, Andy Ritchie hailed a fantastic performance by his injury-hit Huddersfield Town side after dumping Premiership Birmingham City out of the competition.

Forty-Two league places separated the two sides before Saturday's fixture but a great performance saw Town defy all the odds to knock out top-flight opposition for the first time in 24 years. A performance which saw Huddersfield match Birmingham for effort, endeavour and finishing resulted in Chris Brandon grabbing a late winner for the Terriers leaving his manager delighted with the performance.

After getting a taste of an FA cup giant killing, Ritchie said, "It's a fantastic day for the club, the town and the fans, even if Birmingham were a bit below par."

Town's biggest crowd of the season were ecstatic as Brandon capped a magnificent Town performance by knocking in a beauty at the back post from a cross from Luke Beckett.

"The supporters were superb and thankfully we were able to reward them with a tremendous win.

"We came out of the blocks quicker than I ever expected.

"We showed great movement for the winning goal and we've proved we can play a bit.

"I'm really pleased because it's never easy facing Premiership opposition but I thought we just about deserved it.

"We really had so many great performances out there, I couldn't single out anyone.

"We can take some real positives out of this now. I'd like to get drawn against another of the big fish in the next round, although the chairman would probably want us to be away from home and in front of a full house."

A disappointed Birmingham City boss Alex McLeish still found the time to praise the Terriers performance.

"It was baffling today because we were second best all over the park… but Huddersfield deserved their success and good luck to them."

After praising his side Ritchie threw down the gauntlet to his squad,

"The challenge now is to produce this type of performance more regularly in our league campaign."

Town's next game, against Gillingham at the Galpharm Stadium on Saturday, is £5 admission for all age groups! Click HERE for details!