Hyde United 3 - Goole Town 3
AN electrifying final quarter of an hour put Hyde fans on the rack as Goole, who seemed to have paced themselves better, sprinted to a 3-1 lead and looked fresh as daisies.
They seemed all set to coast home, but they reckoned without Hyde’s fighting spirit and their never-say-die approach.
Hyde did enough to win comfortably, especially in the first half, when they had Goole on the run for long periods but after the interval Goole opened up, tried a more probing game and got the breaks.
After 75 minutes Goole leader Malcolm Thompson made it 2-1 and seven minutes later his inside man, Jim Kelly, followed suit. Then came minutes of agony for the Hyde supporters. The task seemed too big.
Man of the match Roy Wilford, Hyde’s livewire inside left, set his sights and roared into action, prompting his forward line and harassing the defence.
Five minutes from time, the all-out pressure paid off when, after a defensive lapse, local boy Denis Middleton, Hyde’s new centre-forward, grasped his chance and lashed in a fierce shot from close range on the right.
Two minutes from time justice was done. Wilford tried to burst through and was brought down in the area. Calmly he rolled the spot kick wide of the diving David Knowles to snatch a point.
It was Wilford who got Hyde’s Northern Premier League career off to a storming start after just three minutes. Ian Mitchell floated over a beauty of a corner, Wilford rose to met it at exactly the right moment, and headed it down and into the net.
Soon afterwards he hit the bar with a sidefoot shot, just getting to a pass before big centre-half Paul Feasey stormed into a tackle.
Goole were dispirited by the early goal and they suffered another setback after half an hour when Goole’s inside-left John Powell took a penalty into the sun and blazed over the bar.
But he made amends 12 minutes later when he stroked home an easy goal from a close-up passing movement which split Hyde’s normally secure defence.
Whenever possible, Hyde’s defence kept well upfield, using the offside trap to full advantage and making it safer to make swift raids.
Des Bunn, the new centre-half signed from Frickley, put in a lot of work but had superb support from the Jackson twins, Joe Clayton and the faithful Jim Elms.
Colin Tabner had a mixed match in goal and needs to sharpen up a bit. But he showed good positional sense. Centre-forward Middleton has a bustling, eager style and it looks as if he will be worthy of Jimmy Hallsworth’s mantle.
Paul Fitzgerald, last year a regular half-back, was at inside-right. Though he got up front regularly his main role was in midfield. He put in one lovely snap shot in the first half which seared past the upright.
If Hyde can keep up this tempo, they’ll be a power to reckon with this season.
Tabner, Clayton, Jackson D, Jackson P, Bunn, Elms, Crawley, Fitzgerald, Middleton, Wilford, Mitchell I, Sub: Dobson.