I watched Haystead in what now turns out to have been his final appearance for Hinckley, in the Westerby Cup Final against Loughborough Dynamo. (The Westerby Cup is effectively Leicestershire's County Cup, which has secured a sponsorship deal). Match report here ...
http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/loughboroughdynamo/s/match-report-25576.html?official=0&fixture_id=1131337The report clearly blames Haystead for Loughborough's first goal, stating that he dropped the ball at the feet of one of the Loughborough players. That isn't quite how I remember the goal, and it certainly wasn't an error to the same extent as Bazza dropping the ball in the first minute at Hyde.
Loughborough's winner came in the second half of extra time. As the report says, Haystead blocked the first effort but was beaten by the rebound. The initial block was a very good save from a one-on-one situation, and deserves a bit more credit than this match report gives it.
Couple of other facts and suggestions ...
(1) yes, it is the ex-Pilgrim striker Jamie Clarke in the Loughborough line-up. Didn't score on the night, but did score 21 goals for Dynamo over the course of the season.
(2) When he was introduced as a substitute at the start of the second-half, Hinckley's winger Tom Byrne did have a substantial influence on the game. He stretched play and created a lot of chances, and it was only some woeful finishing from the Hinckley strikers that prevented them from winning the match in normal time. When it comes to making additional signings, we shouldn't touch any of the Hinckley strikers with a barge pole. But Byrne looks to good to be going down with Hinckley, and might be worth a look. He's 22 and previously played for Kidderminster Harriers and his home town team Quorn.
(3) Why can't the Lincolnshire FA leave their county cup finals until after the end of the league season? Both Hinckley and Loughborough fielded their strongest sides, which made for an entertaining game. But the Lincolnshire approach always seems to diminish the competition and clubs end up picking fringe and reserve players to avoid picking up injuries for their league matches. Having watched both competitions this year, it feels like Leicestershire do things better than Lincolnshire.
