Pawell Abbott looks back on his time at Huddersfield Town
- Pawel Abbott on joining Huddersfield Town
- Striker on winning promotion through the Play-Offs
- Poland U21 international on playing upfront with Andy Booth
Pawel Abbott is fondly remembered for his time at Huddersfield Town making over 100 appearances and bagging over 50 goals.
It was in January 2004 when he joined the Club, Peter Jackson made the loan acquisition of Pawel, who had caught the eye in a game against Town Reserves for his club at the time; Preston North End.
A loan move quickly turned into a permanent deal, with Abbott becoming a prolific goal-scorer in Town’s blue-and-white stripes.
The York-born Polish Under-21 international spoke of that game for Preston, along with his first endeavours in West Yorkshire.
“I think I played for the reserves against Huddersfield and I scored in a 1-1 draw. Then I found out that Jacko (Peter Jackson) wanted to take me on loan. I wasn’t getting as many games as I liked, so it was a no-brainer to go out and get a few matches under my belt.
“I came in for a month and scored a few goals. I scored in the first couple of games and that always helps, but I didn’t feel any sort of pressure or anything like that.
“At the end of the spell, I think Huddersfield wanted me on loan for another month, but Preston said they must buy me, or I wasn’t coming. They did and I played quite well…up until that back pass!”
The back pass came in the final game of the 2003/04 Third Division campaign at Cheltenham Town. Huddersfield Town needed to match the result of Torquay United in order to secure automatic promotion back to the Second Division.
Town went ahead early on, but the back pass from the Polish forward was intercepted allowing Shane Duff in to equalise in the latter stages of the game. It meant Town would have to secure promotion through the Play-Offs, which they duly did.
“That was a hard period at Huddersfield. I think that’s what makes the Club stick so well in my memory; even when it wasn’t going well, I could see the fans were behind me.
“Winning the Final was a huge relief. I think I was the most relieved person there. It’s letting everyone down, you had worked so hard to try and get promoted and to come in the week after, you’re back in training and you don’t know what will happen in the Play-Offs.
“Because it was such a big game, he (Jacko) left me out. I remember having a chat with him after we got through, we talked about it and he said that he needs me as well. I said I wanted to help the team and make up for my mistake, and then I played in the Final.”
With Town securing promotion to the Second Division, Pawel quickly adapted to the division, scoring an impressive 27 goals during the 2004/05 campaign. With only Jordan Rhodes to have since matched the feat of scoring 20 or more goals in a single Huddersfield Town season, Pawel was clear on what enabled him to hit that landmark.
“Mainly it’s your teammates and the way you play and who you play with. Playing with Boothy (Andy Booth) made it so much easier; he made the defenders more concentrated on him and it gave me more time to go on unnoticed.
“We also had some other great players at the time; Chris Brandon on the wing, Jon Worthington and Tony Carss in the middle and a few of the others creating chances for me, that’s the main reason. In training, we also did a lot of shooting and finishing sessions. Hitting the back of the net hundreds of times in the week made me feel confident about scoring in the games as well."
