The points were shared at Ewen Fields in a match that seemed to alternate between spells of frequent chances and scrappy intervals.
The early stages contained little action in all honesty. Because of the constant rain before and during this match, the ball was quick to skid on the surface and both teams quickly realised that the majority of long balls would just skid through to the keeper or straight out for a goal kick.
Because of this both teams had to mainly concentrate on keeping the ball low and trying to find a way through with short passes. And neither team was looking likely to find a way through early on - this was unfortunately shaping up to be one of those games were two decent well organised teams cancel each other out.
Nuneaton were having more of the possession in these stages, and after creating little more than half chances they found a way through in the 25th minute - Kevin Thornton suddenly found himself through on goal, went round the keeper and from the left side of goal rolled it into the empty net to put them into the lead.
Before anyone had time to wonder if this might rattle a Hyde team that were never expected to be anywhere near 1st place before the season began, they responded by immediately pushing forward, and Berkeley's close range shot was saved by the keeper. A 30 yard effort shortly after was pushed wide by the keeper.
In the 36th minute Hyde's top scorer Scott Spencer also had a shot saved by the keeper, but the rebound fell to Ryan Crowther on the edge of the penalty area, and he hit it into the right corner of the net before the keeper had chance to react, and that made it 1-1.
Hyde's pressure continued from there and 4 minutes later a cross was heading to Callum Byrne on the edge of the penalty area in space - and as he attempted to leather it he instead succeeded in tripping over his own feet and falling over.
Finally as the half was drawing to a close, Hyde's goalscorer Ryan Crowther had another chance, a high curling shot from just outside the penalty area went just over the top left corner. The half time whistle blew with Nuneaton probably relieved to have a break from a spell of Hyde attacks.
The 2nd half began with both teams having about the same amount of possession. The difference, particularly in the opening 20 minutes of this half, was that Nuneaton more seemed to just keep the ball and pass it around and rarely actually created good chances. Hyde's style is more direct, they pass it around constantly looking for an opening, and perhaps this explains why before this match Hyde had scored 29 compared to Nuneaton's 16.
Chances for Hyde included Spencer shooting into the side netting, a shot saved for Griffin and a Spencer shot just over. Perhaps their best opening was in the 63rd minute when the Nuneaton keeper went to collect an overhit through ball with Berkeley charging in to close him down. The wet ball skidded out of the keeper's reach, and Berkeley rolled it across to Spencer, but his shot was blocked by a Nuneaton defender who slid in just in time to stop it rolling into an otherwise empty net.
In the 65th minute Nuneaton finally created something themselves as a low shot heading towards the right corner was just tipped round the post. There were a couple more half chances for them and Hyde themselves seemed to be running out of ideas and also began being restricted to half chances.
Bizarrely in the 73rd minute a naked male streaker hurdled the barriers and wandered onto the pitch. This was particularly bizarre as he walked around for about half a minute waving at the fans whilst the stewards just stood watching in the stands leaving him to it. The streaker seemed as surprised as anyone by this, and eventually he ejected himself off the pitch - he wandered off and climbed back over the barrier, not a pleasant sight I might add!
Anyway little happened for a while after that until we got to the 80th minute and as Nuneaton attacked their player through on goal appeared to be fouled by a sliding challenge, but the referee said the player had got the ball and waved play on, with Hyde going up the other end and creating what looked like a good chance themselves, but Crowther's shot was weak and saved. Shortly after Crowther had another chance and tried a chip which went both wide and over.
Hyde's final few chances came from a succession of corners in the 92nd minute. First a scramble from one of the corners led to a close range shot being deflected over the bar by a defender, then from the resulting corner a fairly tame header was spilled by the Nuneaton keeper, and Berkeley charged in to try to beat the keeper to the rebound, but the keeper blocked his effort, strangely a goal kick given despite the keeper having the last touch.
Nuneaton made a final sub in the 94th minute, perhaps showing that by this stage they'd settled for a point. Hyde ran out of time to be able to create anything else and the final whistle blew. Nuneaton fall 2 places to 8th as a result of this draw but their fans seemed happier as the whistle went. Hyde themselves still remain top, but a win for local rivals Stalybridge means the two are now level on points, separated only by Hyde having a +20 goal difference compared to Stalybridge's +19.
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