Huddersfield Town boss Peter Jackson has paid a warm tribute to former team-mate Stuart McCall on the eve of tomorrow's West Yorkshire derby clash at Valley Parade.

Jackson played in the same Bantams side as the current City skipper which won the Third Division championship in 1985 and knows just how vital an influence McCall can be in a dressing room.

The Town boss said: "That is why I tried to get him to the McAlpine during the summer but once Bradford came in it was obvious he was going to go there. He has done a fine job for them and will be keen to see it through by claiming automatic promotion.

"Lee Richardson and Rob Edwards have as major a task against Stuart and Bradford as they did against Kevin Ball and Lee Clark last week in the match with Sunderland. Bradford have been going very well.

"Stuart and I go back a long, long way. I have known him since I was 15 and even then it was obvious he had the right attitude and determination to forge a successful career. And that is exactly what he has done.

"He has played at the highest level with Scotland, won championships and played in cup finals. He is a tremendous player who has had a successful career."

Jackson took charge at the McAlpine in October 1997 with Town rock bottom of the First Division and seemingly set for relegation.

However Jacko and assistant Terry Yorath quickly set about reviving Town and they comfortably escaped the drop. This season, the Terriers started in fine fashion and topped the table for six weeks until a 4-1 defeat at Norwich in late October saw them slip to third.

Going into March, Town still harboured serious hopes of making the play-offs but a run of just two wins in 17 league games have caught up and the club appear destined for mid-table.

Terry Dolan completes the City connections, looking after the youth side and one player who will be keen to do well against Town is Dean Windass, who was nurtured by the former City boss in the early days of his career at Hull City.

Town appear set to keep faith tomorrow with the side that was beaten 2-0 at Sunderland although Delroy Facey is battling to shrug off an ankle injury while Jon Dyson has recovered from the illness which kept him out at the Stadium of Light.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.