This time there were no gloating home fans asking Peter Jackson for the score.

Huddersfield's former Bantam could relish the moment of victory without the barrage of abuse from the Valley Parade faithful he got last time.

"Average" was how he described his reception at the ground he graced as a player.

It also summed up the display of the side that he used to captain. Having promised so much, City failed to deliver in the game that matters most to their supporters.

Things were looking up at half-time after man of the moment Bobby Petta's spectacular free-kick had wiped out a more fortuitous one from Mark Hudson.

But after the break the Bantams slid backwards; all huff and puff but nothing to seriously worry Paul Rachubka's goal beneath the Kop.

To put it frankly, Huddersfield seemed to want it more.

As Jackson gleefully contemplates a jump back up to second spot just two points behind surprise leaders Southend, Colin Todd's City remain stuck in mid-table. Seven home games have gone now with only eight points from a possible 21 to show for them.

At least there was a backdrop of noise for a change as the fans heeded the rallying call of a local derby and roared from the start.

The crowd of 12,285 was down on March but that was no surprise given the presence of the television cameras. The £30,000 cheque the club bank from Sky helps to offset the missing 1,500 or so fans.

Those who chose to stay away and watch from the comfort of the armchair or the pub witnessed a high-octane opening as both sides threw themselves into the fray. The hectic pace was helped by referee Tony Leake's lenient approach as he made sure the game was allowed to flow.

The first meeting at the Galpharm Stadium last season saw the opening 25 minutes punctuated constantly by 25 free-kicks. Last night it was ten minutes before Leake awarded one - and nearly half an hour before Huddersfield were penalised.

Todd went for Andy Cooke over Danny Cadamarteri and the hard-working frontman nearly had an early opening after Petta had gloriously nutmegged Andy Holdsworth. But instead of swivelling and trying to shoot, he laid off to Ben Muirhead and his effort sliced harmlessly away.

Holdsworth and Chris Brandon lined up pot-shots for the visitors and Hudson was not too far away with a 20-yarder.

Huddersfield's slick passing was pulling the Bantams around, although there looked little wrong as David Wetherall fended off Gary Taylor-Fletcher by the angle of the penalty area.

But the referee saw it as a foul and Hudson stepped up to bend the free-kick into the far corner of the net. Russell Howarth, standing five yards off his line, was left groping thin air as City were once again undone from a dead ball.

The away fans were in ecstacy and City endured a nightmare couple of minutes as Huddersfield threatened to strike again.

David Mirfin headed into the side-netting after slipping round the back to meet a Tony Carss free-kick and the former City junior caused more mayhem with another set-piece which the defence finally hacked clear at about the sixth attempt.

After losing the double to their neighbours last season, Huddersfield's noisy following were lapping up their revenge and City old boy Chris Kamara, perched on the TV gantry at the top of the Midland Road stand, found himself the target of their baiting during a stop in play.

City needed a spark from somewhere and Petta provided it ten minutes before the break.

The Dutchman had talked in the derby build-up about finding his form after a difficult start. In the last couple of games there had been encouraging signs and the winger was keen to produce more evidence he can justify Todd's pre-season hype that he can be a major force at this level.

A foul 25 yards from goal gave Petta the platform he wanted. With no Dean Windass or Marc Bridge-Wilkinson, Petta seized free-kick duties and curled a wonderful effort over the wall and beyond the diving Rachubka.

For the third home game in a row, City had clawed their way back after conceding first - and for the rest of the half, that goal appeared to be the springboard for a follow-up.

Muirhead, who had one of those infuriating games, burst through to find Steve Claridge, whose cross landed just behind Cooke. Then his strike partner forced a save at the near post and Richard Edghill tried to muscle in on the act with a spirited run which ended with a fall but no free-kick.

But City had finished the half on a high and must have been cursing the whistle which cut short their growing momentum. Petta began the second half as he finished the first by dancing his way into the box where he was smothered by the diving Rachubka.

City pressed again and Claridge scuffed a half-chance across the goalmouth. Sadly that was to prove their last meaningful effort.

Huddersfield should have gone back in front after 56 minutes as Taylor-Fletcher ghosted past Edghill as if he wasn't there.

The goal was on a plate for Carss but his close-range finish was horrible as he skied it into the upper tier of disbelieving blue and white stripes.

It was a big warning for City as the game started to open up. Briefly the play shuttled from one end to the other, with Mark Bower

producing a superbly-timed saving tackle to whisk the ball off Chris Brandon in the penalty area.

Huddersfield top scorer Pawel Abbott had been troubled by a virus which restricted him to the bench.

But with less than half an hour to go, the striker was unleashed by Jackson and straight away could have notched his tenth goal of the campaign as the offside flag stayed down.

His drive flew over, as did Andy Booth's header from another Carss free-kick, while Wetherall got in the way of a ferocious drive from Hudson as the pressure continued to build.

With 11 minutes left, Huddersfield finally knocked down the door - and once again the goal followed a free-kick.

Carss swung it into the box from the left wing and the ball was nodded straight up

in the air amid a ruck of bodies. As it fell, centre half Nathan Clarke launched himself into an overhead kick which goal-poacher Booth diverted expertly past Howarth.

Valley Parade had once again proved Booth's lucky ground. He was unbeaten in three previous visits with Huddersfield and Sheffield Wednesday and the goal - his third away to the Bantams - set up a third

victory. It was also his 100th in the league for the Terriers.

City were in no mood to celebrate his milestone and frantically pushed on again. But there was no real hint of another late goal to save the day as it had done against Colchester a fortnight ago.

Petta unsuccessfully claimed a penalty-box push from left back Danny Adams and Cadamarteri never got any direction to a header from an Edghill cross.

Then deep into added time, Lewis Emanuel drilled in a low ball which was missed by a panicky Mirfin but nobody had gambled for a possible tap-in.