Tomorrow - Hyde vs Nuneaton Town

What a difference a season makes.

This is the feeling at Hyde at the moment after an incredible start to the season by the club. Ten wins and a draw in their opening 11 games has put them top of the table, and some distance above some of the pre-season favourites for the title too.

This from a club who last season finished just a single place above relegation, after an end of season relegation battle with Stafford Rangers that went right down to the final game – Hyde getting the result they needed whilst Stafford Rangers lost at Hyde’s local rivals Stalybridge.

Hyde were in turmoil last season - supporter and board discontent, the manager being sacked towards the latter end of the season, and in the summer Gary Lowe was brought in from Curzon Ashton, with many Hyde fans not happy at all about this appointment and showing clear discontent on their message board.

Given all this and them nearly being relegated last season, it’s perhaps no surprise that Hyde were odds of 33/1 for promotion, which when put in a table translates to them being 5^th to bottom.

So Hyde beginning the season with a 10 match winning league run took pretty much everyone by surprise, and the question now is whether they’ll be able to maintain the brilliant start or if they might fall away. They dropped their first points in their last league match, drawing 2-2 with Eastwood Town, with only a 91^st minute equaliser maintaining their unbeaten status.

The scrutiny now is whether this first game without a win will be the start of a downturn in their results or whether they’ll get back to winning ways. And tomorrow’s game is a big tester, playing a Nuneaton Town who had odds of 9/1, in effect putting them in 4^th place in a league table of odds.

Hyde had a good record against Nuneaton last season despite their contrast in fortunes – with Nuneaton top of the table when both games happened, Hyde won 2-1 away at Liberty Way and the teams drew 1-1 at Ewen Fields.

Nuneaton Town were formed after Nuneaton Borough’s financial irregularities meant they were dumped out the Conference North, where they’d been from 2004-08. They’re very much viewed as a direct continuation of the previous club, the official website itself regularly referring to them as “the Boro” despite the change of name.

Nuneaton Town were reformed in the Southern League Division One (2 leagues below the Conference North) and wasted no time in returning back to where they’d been, with two promotions in succession in the 2008/9 and 2009/10 seasons.

Last season they finished in 6^th place, 1 below the play offs, however 4^th placed Eastwood Town’s ground wasn’t deemed fit for the Blue Square Premier (the Conference) so they weren’t allowed to compete in the play offs, thus Nuneaton took their place.

They played AFC Telford over two legs. In the home leg they were 1-0 ahead before conceding an injury time equaliser, 1-1 it finished. Then away they let in two early goals, and could only get one back in the 2^nd half, losing it 2-1 on the night and thus losing 3-2 on aggregate. To rub salt in the wounds, AFC Telford went on to win the play off final.

Nuneaton are hoping they can achieve promotion this time round but they’re currently 6^th place, the same place they finished last season. Hyde’s incredible start to the season has put a big gap of 14 points between the two as it stands. Nuneaton’s start to the league season has been LDLWWDLWWWL.

The big difference between the two has been goalscoring. Hyde have conceded 9 and Nuneaton 11, pretty similar, but Nuneaton have only scored 16 compared to Hyde’s 29. A 13 goal difference, and 13 goals is also the amount scored in the opening 11 games by Hyde’s new signing Scott Spencer, unsurprisingly making him the league’s top goalscorer at present. Meanwhile Nuneaton’s top league scorer is Danny Glover on just 3 goals.

A big crowd is expected at Ewen Fields for this one, Nuneaton have a big following anyway and unsurprisingly Hyde’s crowds have begun to rise after their excellent start, plus Hyde are offering half price to Premier League and Championship season ticket holders, students, armed forces and emergency services personnel. Hopefully the standard of the match will meet many people’s high expectations!