We have no game this Tuesday as the League have allowed Warrington permission to postpone giving them every chance of beating Halifax in the final qualifying round of the FA Cup. As a result, our next game is our home game this Saturday with Hyde. So, while we have arrest for a week, Saturday’s opponents Hyde will have taken on South Shields at home on Tuesday night. That result if in Hyde’s favour will see them leapfrog us in the League table. As I write this, we are 14th with 17 points from our 14 games, whereas Hyde are 16th with 13 points from their 12 games. If you look at Hyde’s away games, they do not produce many goals. On their travels they have won 1-0 at Whitby, drawn 0-0 at Matlock and 1-1 at Witton and Nantwich. Their 2 defeats have both been 0-1 at the hands of Buxton and Grantham. So, I reckon we can expect a goal fest this Saturday.
In recent years like ourselves Hyde have experienced spells at step 1, 2, 3 and 4, so our paths have tended to miss. We have only played each other in 4 seasons since the turn of the century. 4 games in the Conference North giving us 2 victories in season 2005/6 but 2 defeats in season 2010/11 including a 5-0 Hyde victory at Marston Road. Four NPL games in season 2008/9 and 2009/10 saw us gain a win and a draw in the home games and a draw and defeat in the away games.
Hyde were formed in 1885 when they moved to their current ground, Ewen Fields in 1906 after merging with Hyde St George’s. Hyde’s nickname, the Tigers, was adopted at the end of the 1960s when they were founder members of the Northern Premier League. They fought like Tigers for two seasons and finished seventh and eleventh but returned to the Cheshire League in 1970. In 1981-82 they won election back to the NPL. In 1986, Hyde took the radical step of selling Ewen Fields to Tameside Council so that a synthetic Baspograss pitch could be laid. If I remember, this was an early artificial pitch and was very hard, not like todays. Possibly as a result grass was reinstated in 1995. They won the NPL title in 2004-05. In 2010, Hyde agreed a deal for Manchester City’s elite development squad to use Ewen Fields. The money secured the club’s immediate future but a decision to revert to the old name of Hyde FC, and to stop wearing red shirts, divided the fans. Hyde gained further promotion to the National League and finished 18th with notable scalps of Wrexham, Hereford United, Luton Town and Grimsby Town. Unfortunately, Hyde were unable to continue competing at such a high level and suffered several relegations which took them back to the NPL Division 1. Hyde secured funding from Tameside Council in March of 2016and the investment helped fund a programme to transform the ground and its connections with the local community by laying a 3G pitch, which was completed in July 2016. The 2017/18 season was one of the best seasons the club has experienced in recent years. The summer restructuring of Non-League football helped Hyde who were able to secure automatic promotion by finishing 3rd in the NPL Division 1 and not go through the painful play of format. So, after 2 seasons of being in the Division 1 North, Hyde now return to the Northern Premier top Division.
On paper, it looks like being a close encounter. Our injured players who were unable to play at North Ferriby will have no doubt made use of the fixture free midweek to come back into contention. So too will Jake Charles who has come off the bench and scoring a goal in each game. Steve Burr should have a full squad to pick from, so please come down and support the team as they hope to build on the fine away victory at North Ferriby and start to climb the league table again.
It happened on this date this century 20th October
2001 Folkstone home Southern League 1-2
2007 Crawley away Conference 1-1
1012 North Ferriby home Northern Prem 0-2
