A62 derby

The A62 derby is the name of a football derby that is given to matches played between Huddersfield Town and Oldham Athletic.

The two clubs are separated by roughly 15 miles and are located close to the M62 motorway crossing the Pennines in the historic counties of Yorkshire and Lancashire respectively, making it a traditional 'War of the Roses' clash.

The first game between Huddersfield and Oldham was played in the First Division of English football during the 1920–21 season, although league meetings remained fairly rare until the 1980s. Therefore, there was little rivalry between the clubs until more recent times, with regular meetings in the decades since leading to increased significance and intensity in the fixture, particularly when both clubs spent a number of seasons vying for promotion from the third tier. The two sides have not met in a competitive fixture since 2012.

Indeed, it took Oldham until 20 April 1974 to record their first victory over Huddersfield, an emphatic 6-0 scoreline at the tenth attempt that more significantly guaranteed the Latics promotion back to the Second Division.

The highest ever attendance involving the two clubs was set on 9 January 1932 when 30,607 watched a 1–1 draw at Oldham's Boundary Park in a third round FA Cup tie.

Statistics

The first fixture between the two clubs was a First Division game on 2 May 1921 and resulted in a 3–1 win for Huddersfield. The biggest victories resulted in a 6–0 to Huddersfield in the FA Cup at Leeds Road on 13 January 1932 and a 6–0 to Oldham in the Third Division on 20 April 1974. Huddersfield have been heavily beaten on two other occasions at Boundary Park, with a 4–0 win in September 2002 and a 4–1 win in March 2008 for Oldham. Perhaps the most remarkable game between the two clubs was on 20 September 1986, when Huddersfield defeated Oldham 5-4 - all the more surprising when considering that Huddersfield played with ten men from the 23rd minute and that Oldham had played their previous six games that season without conceding a goal, winning five of them.

Game list (since 1983)

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Crossing the divide

The following players have played for Huddersfield Town and Oldham Athletic.

In addition to this a number of people have links to both clubs including:

* Frank Bunn played for Oldham from 1987 to 1990 before briefly managing the club in 2018 and was also a member of the coaching staff at Huddersfield.
* Ian Greaves played for local club Oldham and also managed Huddersfield from 1968 to 1974.
* Andy Ritchie played for Oldham in two separate spells, whilst managing the club from 1998 to 2001, and also managed Huddersfield from 2007 to 2008. Ironically, his final game as Huddersfield manager was a 4–1 defeat against Oldham at Boundary Park.
* Mick Wadsworth managed Oldham from 2001 to 2002, and managed Huddersfield from 2002 to 2003.
* Neil Warnock managed Huddersfield from 1993 to 1995, and managed Oldham from 1997 to 1998.

References

{{Men's Football in West Yorkshire

Huddersfield Town A.F.C.
Oldham Athletic A.F.C.
England football derbies
Football in Greater Manchester
Football in West Yorkshire
Sport in Kirklees
Sport in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham