WERE you watching Eddie Howe, Jason Tindall and Sean O’Driscoll? Well, yes, they were and, for different reasons, they would have been impressed with what they saw.

For Howe, this stirring encounter would have been a reminder of what he and Tindall started at Dean Court. And what they walked away from.

There might have been a pang or two of ‘what if’ for Howe in particular as he watched Anton Robinson, his signing, turn in the kind of performance that saw Cherries elevated from League Two strugglers to League One promotion candidates inside two years.

Robinson was magnificent on Saturday, the new father defying the sleepless nights to turn in an indefatigable, altruistic 90 minutes in central midfield.

For O’Driscoll, the only other man to lead Cherries into the play-offs, it would have brought back fond memories of 2003.

Lee Bradbury’s squad cannot be compared with the side O’Driscoll led to the Millennium Stadium, of course, even though a few faces from that day still reside at Dean Court.

That was a team featuring the likes of Wade Elliott, Carl Fletcher and James Hayter, all of whom have gone to star at Championship level – Fletcher and Elliott one step higher.

But O’Driscoll could well have looked at the likes of Robinson and seen a second tier player in the making.

Ditto Marc Pugh, whose lively cameo from the bench continued the standards set by goalscorer Donal McDermott.

Howe, Tindall and O’Driscoll could not have failed to have been impressed with the Dubliner, whose contract at Manchester City expires in the summer.

His goal, which cancelled out Kevin Kilbane’s 22nd-minute opener for Huddersfield, was truly out of the top drawer.

Well organised and disciplined, but, Gary Roberts aside, lacking in flair, it was clear only a mistake or a moment of genius would break down the resolute visitors.

McDermott provided the latter when he picked up the loose ball on the hour, after Steve Lovell had mis-controlled and Jack Hunt had failed to clear, and lashed a venomous left-foot drive past Ian Bennett in the Terriers goal.

Prior to that, Bennett had denied Danny Ings from the penalty spot, after the keeper had sent Rhoys Wiggins |sprawling 10 minutes before half-time.

Any initial nerves Ings may have felt when stepping forward to take the penalty were not helped by Peter Clarke and Jason Pearce’s jostling on the edge of the box, the spot-kick delayed for what seemed like an eternity while referee Mick Russell sorted out the handbags.

It was tough on Ings, who went ashen as the clock ticked and, bearing in mind who had committed the foul on Wiggins, it was almost fate that Bennett should dive to his right and beat away the 18-year-old’s powerful effort.

At the other end, Shwan Jalal expertly tipped over Roberts’s blistering drive on 39 minutes, while Liam Feeney should have done better when skewing a shot well wide moments before the half-time whistle.

Rather than missed opportunities being the story of an entertaining first half, however, it was the defensive heroics of Clarke that really caught the eye. Howe, a former centre-half himself, would have been purring in the stands.

The Terriers captain was simply monstrous, clearing everything Cherries could throw at him during the first 45 minutes, but while Lovell and Ings were perhaps not going to win any battles in the air against the big centre-half, both men worked their socks off trying to get in behind.

Arguably the game’s key moment came five minutes after the restart as some lapse Cherries defending let in Benik Afobe.

Afobe picked up Lee Peltier’s pin-point ball into the box and had just Jalal to beat, but the Cherries stopper made himself big and beat away the Londoner’s shot from point blank range.

McDermott then took centre stage to get Bradbury’s side back in the contest, his sensational thunderbolt from around 25 yards nestling in the corner of the net and sending the Dean Court crowd into raptures.

It was truly deserved and the goal certainly galvanised Cherries into believing a lead ahead of Wednesday’s second leg was possible.

With Lee Clark pacing and cursing in the Terriers technical area, Bennett saved efforts from Lovell and Feeney, before denying the excellent Robinson who tried to poke home substitute Steve Fletcher’s knock-down in stoppage time.

The battle cries in the build-up to this clash were subsidised with a healthy helping of footballing clichés, suggesting the pressure would be on Clark’s men as they were expected to cruise to Old Trafford. With one hand behind their backs. Blindfolded.

But there was nothing fortuitous about this comeback from Cherries.

Dominant in possession and with more attacking potency than the Yorkshiremen, level pegging ahead of Wednesday’s second leg at the Galpharm was the least Bradbury’s men deserved.

Although Clark himself has been nothing but respectful towards Cherries, a certain amount of Terriers tension was clear to see on Saturday as the hosts came out and played without fear or trepidation during a pulsating second half.

To coin some more phrases: ‘It’s all to play for’ and, indeed, ‘game on’.