Hyde put on five star performance

BetVictor Premier Division: Hyde United 5-2 Lancaster City

Hyde pulled off one of the shock results of the weekend, beating title-chasing Lancaster City 5-2 at Ewen Fields.

Following a break due to postponements, the Tigers returned to action and put in a fine performance to take the points, thanks to a Tom Pratt hat-trick and solo efforts from Liam Tongue and John McCombe.

The result has lifted the Tigers to 11th in the table and eight points outside the playoffs. Despite being outsiders to reach the playoffs, beating sides like Lancaster will give Dave McGurk’s side the belief needed to embark on a winning run and, in the process, surprise the doubters along the way.

The hosts got off to the best possible start when, on two minutes, Pratt put them ahead after darting forward and lobbing the goalkeeper from outside the box.

Tongue doubled the advantage in the 19th minute with a well struck free-kick that nestled in the bottom right corner, but the visitors pulled one back through Glen Steele on the half hour mark after connecting sweetly from a corner and giving Lloyd Allison no chance.

Whatever McGurk said at half-time seemed to work wonders, as the Tigers scored two goals in quick succession straight after the restart through McCombe and Pratt to make it 4-2. McCombe poked the ball home from close range after taking advantage of a corner, before Pratt somehow fired in an unstoppable effort from the tightest of angles.

In a topsy turvy game,  Lancaster reduced the arrears again in the  56th minute, this time through Charlie Bailey, but it mattered little as Pratt sealed his hat-trick three minutes later to round off the scoring and secure an imprssive three points for the Tigers.