On Saturday at The Project Solar Stadium Hyde United took on Stafford Rangers in what was a huge game for both teams.
Hyde looked to push further up the play off spots and their opponents needed points to try and claw their way off the foot of the table. Hyde went into the contest massive favourites as going into the game they were 15 games without defeat. In contrast Stafford had lost four games on the bounce seeing them slip to bottom of the league. The form showed as Hyde started the better of the two sides and the first chance of the game fell to Harry Bunn just in front of the keeper but a good save denied him an opener. Midway through the first half as Stafford started to grow into the game they got their first opportunity through Sean Cooke who struck the ball well but Harry Ditchfield was on the line to clear, however it was only as far as Owen German who fired well over the bar. Just five minutes from the break a brilliant ball off the right from Ditchfield found Matty Fearnley at the back post but he just can’t steer it towards goal. At the break the two teams went in level, The Stafford manager would’ve been the happier of the two gaffer’s as his team had managed to stop The Tigers from getting the ball and down and playing which seemed to frustrate Hyde in the first period. The Tigers started the second half positively as Bunn did well to get into the box but his shot was blocked well by Isaac Lee. Ten minutes into the second half, Stafford hit Hyde on the break and a good ball over the top found Kaiman Anderson who slotted under Jordan Eastham very well. As Hyde looked to get one back in the game Callum Spooner picked the ball up on the edge of the Stafford box and his shot was held well by Cameron Belford. 20 minutes to go and Hyde found themselves through with Jack Redshaw down the right, as he galloped into the box Jack Stafford did well to catch up with him and just put enough pressure on so that Redshaw smashed wide of the keepers near post. Just a few minutes later Redshaw found himself on the ball again on the right and this time chose to swing the ball towards Manasse Mampala at the back stick who headed home well to drag The Tigers back on level terms. The last 15 minutes was flat from both sides and neither team looked like getting a winner at any point. In the grand scheme of things Stafford will be happier with the point having played well against a good Hyde team and in contrast Hyde will be disappointed that they didn’t get the job done against a struggling Stafford side. However as a result of the point and results elsewhere Hyde moved up from fourth to second in the table and that can only be a positive for Nick Spooner’s men.
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