Hyde United 2-1 Pilgrims

FA Trophy

With Leroy Chambers departing to Macclesfield and Simon Armstrong being unable to take part, as players on-loan cannot play in FA competitions, this was always going to be a tough match. So it is not too surprising that United will be concentrating on the League title from now on. The match was lost in the first half. The right side of the United defence just wasn't there and Hyde exploited this weakness with seeming impunity. After just six minutes Hyde went into the lead. They broke clear down the left wing and Paul Bastock made a magnificent save to push the shot round the post. However from the resulting corner Hyde's LAMBERT scored with a simple header at the far post. If Paul Bastock hadn't been on top form the Pilgrims could easily have been four or five goals down by half time as each Hyde attack down the left wing broke through and required a save from the goalkeeper. The inevitable finally happened on the half hour when KIMMINS ran through and slotted the ball into the net. United only had two shots at goal in the first half. One in the first minute was pushed round the post for a corner and the other a shot across the face of the goal by Joby Gowshall which went just wide. Five minutes before half time and Danny Marshall came on for an injured Len Curtis. Then in injury time at the end of the half, Martin Hardy got booked for a late tackle.

The half time talk clearly had the desired effect as a determined United side looked much better in the second half. The Hyde goal was under constant pressure and the breakthrough came ten minutes into the half. Steve CHARLES, free on the left hand edge of the Hyde penalty area, latched on to a cross from the right, took the ball forward and calmly shot past Scargill in the Hyde goal. United had a number of chances to equalise but when Martin Hardy got booked for a second time and thus sent off with just five minutes left, the game became really exciting. Paul Watts was immediately brought on for Andrew Stanhope and, as is often the case, the ten man side played better than the full complement. But despite winning a couple of corners, the equaliser never quite materialised and United's dreams of a return to Wembley are over for another season. On their second half display, and if United can make sure the defence doesn't have any more first half slip-ups, the return visit here for the Unibond League match in February could well show an entirely different result.

United team: 1. Paul Bastock, 2. Joby Gowshall, 3. Chris Withe, 4. Greg Fee, 5. Martin Hardy, 6. Steve Charles, 7. Andrew Stanhope, 8. Steve Appleby, 9. Martin Filson, 10. Paul Cavell, 11. Leonard Curtis, 12. Richard Mason, 14. Danny Marshall, 15. Paul Watts