In front of another big crowd of 1,806, Hyde opened up an 11 point gap at the top of the table over local rivals Stalybridge at Bower Fold.
Over the christmas and new year period the two games between these sides has shown they are closely matched, the one difference seems to be that Hyde appear to have a ruthless streak in front of goal that Stalybridge really lacked in this game, which could make all the difference in the remainder of the season.
Stalybridge would have been eager to begin this game in the same fashion as the boxing day tie where they scored after 90 seconds, but this time it was Hyde who pushed forward early on. After Spencer had an early shot go just wide, they cut through Stalybridge's defence with a number of impressive passing moves that were just cut out by desperate challenges.
Stalybridge regrouped, and in truth the two teams mainly cancelled each other out for the remainder of the 1st half, the only other big moment of note being a Stalybridge free kick where Phil Marsh stung the palms of Carnell, the ball rebounding to Connor Jennings who took too long setting himself up for a shot, and he was closed down before he could score.
In truth this summed up Stalybridge for the duration of the game, as they so often took too long shaping to shoot or doing one too many passes in the hope of setting up the perfect chance. Really it was like watching a non league equivalent of Arsenal at their worst - against a well organised Hyde defence they were never likely to manage to prize open a big gap for an easy shooting opportunity.
If Stalybridge had been more ruthless at the start of the second half they could have taken advantage of early dominance - they had near total possession in the opening 10 minutes of the half, with frequent crosses and attempts at the perfect final ball well blocked as the Hyde defence stood firm, and in truth there wasn't really a good shot on goal at all despite Stalybridge having near total possession.
After this the game began leveling out again, and in the 66th minute Hyde got a free kick from 25 yards out. Adam Griffin did a short pass to Reece Gray, and he did something that the home fans had been pleading for Stalybridge to do when they'd been on top - he gambled and had a shot, despite not having a clear sight on goal and not being close range. All the bodies being in the way actually turned out to help, as the ball took a slight deflection as it flew past keeper Jan Budtz to send the Hyde fans into raptures.
Stalybridge switched to having 3 strikers up front and tried to push forward, a McWilliams shot went over and a Jennings curling chip was caught. But as they went for broke and pushed everyone forward, leaving not many back to defend, it gave Hyde excellent chances to counter attack. And when a pass was intercepted, Hyde's top scorer Scott Spencer was released by a quick through ball, and he raced from the halfway line and from wide right smashed a bullet of an effort into the left corner, making it 0-2.
It was a lightning attack that was set up and finished at breathtaking speed, and it really knocked the stuffing out of a stunned Stalybridge side. Their attacks were becoming increasingly desperate, and as a result Hyde were always looking likely to pick them off again given the opportunity. And in the 84th minute they got the 3rd goal to really kill the game off, another shot from outside the penalty area paid off again as it deflected in via a sliding Kristian Platt.
Stalybridge mustered a late consolation, Jennings tripped on the right edge of the penalty area, and he picked himself up to finish high into the left side of the net in the 91st minute. 1-3 it finished, the right result on the day, and after the 1-1 draw at Ewen Fields on boxing day the past week has been a big boost for Hyde's title campaign, Stalybridge now beginning to look like they have a bit of a mountain to climb to be able to catch up with their big local rivals.
No comments:
Post a Comment