Match Report
HYDE FC (1) 2 ALTRINCHAM (0) 2
Hyde won 5-4 on penalties
played on Saturday, 26 July 2014, at 3pm
SUMMARY
This friendly at Ewen Fields was played for the Ray Stanley Memorial Trophy. With just eight minutes remaining, and disappointingly trailing two-nil to a Hyde squad comprising just six named players and 13 unnamed trialists, Altrincham secured a draw with late goals from Reeves and Gillespie.
Hyde had taken the lead when the so called "Trialist F" evaded a tackle before feeding ex-Vauxhall man Steve Tames, who drew Coburn out of goal before scoring (38 mins). Hyde's second goal came after "Trialist G" got past Havern in the box and from his feed, an unmarked Tames scored, in the 75th minute.
Alty's comeback was engineered by Gillespie. His fine run to the byline set up Reeves for a goal (82 mins) before he himself slotted home an 89th minute equalizer.
Having announced before kick off that there would be no extra time or penalties, after the final whistle it was decided to conduct a penalty shoot out. It took 18 spot kicks to resolve the contest as Altrincham missed five of their nine attempts and Hyde missed four. In short, it was a disappointing afternoon for an Altrincham side which was unable to translate plenty of possession into much in the way of a goal threat.
SCORERS:
- 38 mins: Steve TAMES (Hyde FC 1 ALTRINCHAM 0)
- 38 mins: A TRIALIST (Hyde FC 2 ALTRINCHAM 0)
- 82 mins: Damian REEVES (Hyde FC 2 ALTRINCHAM 1)
- 89 mins: Steven GILLESPIE (Hyde FC 2 ALTRINCHAM 2)
- LAWRIE shot wide; Trialist L shot saved - 0-0
- DENSMORE scored, Trialist G scored - 1-1
- CROWTHER scored; Brizell scored - 2-2
- GILLESPIE scored; Trialist J shot saved - 3-2 to Altrincham
- REEVES hit bar; Tames scored - 3-3
- KING scored; Hughes scored - 4-4
- HAVERN shot saved; Trialist K shot saved - 4-4
- Sean WILLIAMS shot saved; Trialist H shot over the bar - 4-4
- GRIFFIN shot saved; Trialist B scored - 4-5 win to Hyde FC.
REFEREE: Mr Paul Graham
ATTENDANCE: ?
TEAM NEWS
With Hyde again declining to name their numerous trialists, as has been their custom in pre-season, the Tigers took to the field with just seven of their nineteen-strong squad having names on the teamsheet. All of the unnamed players seemed to be at the lower age of the age spectrum.
For their part, Altrincham rested Jake Moult, Tom Marshall and Kyle Perry this afternoon and had two regulars from last season (Sean Densmore and James Lawrie) moving to the bench.
LINE-UPS:
ALTRINCHAM(Yellow shirts and socks, blue shorts) |
1. Stuart Coburn (gk), 2. Scott Leather, 3. Adam Griffin, 4. Simon Richman, 5. Gianluca Havern (capt), 6. Mike Williams, 7. Ryan Crowther, 8. Greg Wilkinson, 9. Steven Gillespie, 10. Damian Reeves, 11. Nicky Clee. Subs: 14. Shaun Densmore, 15. Sean Williams, 16. James Lawrie, 17. Jeff King, 18. Josh Samberg (gk) |
HYDE FC(Red shirts, blue shorts, red socks) |
1. Christian Thewlis, 2. Josh Brizell, 3. Darren Thornton, 4. Trialist, 5. Trialist, 6. A. Trialist, 7. Connor Hughes, 8. Trialist, 9. Adam Thurston, 10. Trialist, 15. Steve Tames. Subs: 12. Trialist, 14. Trialist, 15. Trialist, 16. Trialist, 17. Trialist, 18. Trialist, 19. Rhys Day
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BACKGROUND:
This friendly had been nominated as the Ray Stanley Memorial Shield, a trophy named in honour of the late former Hyde United secretary. It was stated before kick off that if the match ended with level scores, the trophy would be shared; there would be no extra time or penalties.
REPORT
The Ewen Field pitch was in superb condition and was watered heavily both before kick off and at the interval. Alty included several ex Hyde players in the shape of Griffin, Crowther, Havern, Clee and Sean Williams.
The opening stages saw both sides making unforced errors in the hot Tameside sun. When Havern gave the ball away in the second minute, it was fortunate that Hyde's resulting shot, which deflected strongly off Mike Williams, went straight to Coburn's hands. Altrincham began to settle and pass the ball about but the nearest to a goal was when a clever Wilkinson flick found Reeves but his cross from right of goal was blocked (7 mins).
Crowther was operating on the left at this stage and he won his side's first corner. When Thewlis cleared the ball to Clee, the Yorkshireman's attempted chip fell comfortably back into the keeper's hands (9 mins).
Though Altrincham were seeing more of the ball than Hyde, it was the hosts who threatened when Hughes got the ball from a rebound off a Havern clearance but Williams covered well. There was no real threat of a goal before right-back Leather intercepted the ball and, via Clee, Reeves and Gillespie, the move led to a corner (20 mins).
A good Altrincham move saw Reeves feed Crowther, from whose pass a header at goal came from Gillespie but he was given offside. When Havern was penalised for a push on the edge of his side's box, Brizell's freekick was cleared, which was followed by a drinks break for the players (28 mins).
With Crowther now on the right and Clee on the left again, Alty were soon caught offside again, the third time in 32 minutes. Trialist F then fired wide for Hyde after a foul by Richman and soon afterwards, Coburn held a firm, low shot from Thurston (34 mins).
Gillespie's great long ball to Crowther led to an Alty corner, after which Griffin, who had a good half, won the ball but his cross just evaded Reeves in the goalmouth (35 mins). Alty were still prone to losing possession in unforced situations.
Hyde's Trialist F now evaded a tackle as he advanced up the middle and he played in Tames who scored from right of goal after rounding Coburn (38 mins).
After a fine Wilkinson long ball to Clee, he was dispossessed and Hyde countered with Thurston getting in a shot at Coburn. Altrincham won a freekick when Reeves was fouled but Gillespie fired this well over the bar (40 mins). Apart from a good Havern long ball, which just evaded Gillespie and ran on to the keeper, there was no serious threat of an equalizer before the interval.
Half-Time: HYDE FC 1 ALTRINCHAM 0 |
A neat Hyde move ended with a header over the bar (49 mins) before Alty were again guilty of giving the ball away cheaply. Things looked up when Gillespie turned well and won a freekick on edge of "D". But he was again off target, putting this freekick miles over bar (52 mins).
A bright spot came when a Clee cross from the left just failed to connect with a stretching Reeves, before Hyde's Hughes saw his shot blocked and then a later effort saved by Coburn.
At the hour mark, Altrincham made a triple change as Lawrie (into an advanced central midfield position), Densmore (to right back) and Sean Williams (to centre midfield) came on, with Wilkinson, Richman and Leather all departing. Crowther was as lively as anyone for Altrincham and he now won another corner, which was overhit by Lawrie. Two minutes later Crowther won another corner which was cleared. But things were improving as, now, Gillespie got in a 25 yarder at the keeper.
Soon afterwards, keeper Thewlis came out of his box and got stranded but Gillespie in trying to make space ended up chipping his effort wide of the unguarded net (63 mins). Alty's new striker went closer when his rasping shot hit the bar from the edge of the box; just as against Manchester United in midweek, the woodwork had deprived Gillespie of a goal.
By now Hyde had at least four unnamed subs on the pitch adding to the unreality of the situation. After 68 minutes Crowther made space well but fired just wide from 18 yards. Four minutes later after Lawrie had alertly taken a quick freekick, Gillespie was felled in the "D". Again he took the kick himself and this time won a corner off a deflection. Altrincham were consistently poor with their corners, this time Crowther was the culprit.
However, just when Altrincham looked to have a bit of momentum, Hyde scored a second goal. It came when, uncharacteristically, Havern was beaten inside the box, by Trialist G. He got the ball across the goalmouth from the right for an unmarked no.11, a Trialist not on the teamsheet, to score (75 mins).
Reeves was now twice more caught offside (76 and 79 mins) before Hyde's Brizell fired just wide. Next, Jeff King came on for Clee (81 mins).
At last Altrincham scored when Gillespie made a jinking run into the inside left of the box and got in a low cross from the left byline, which was converted at close range by Reeves (82 mins). Time ticked away but in the 89th minute Trialist H lost the ball in midfield and it was worked to Gillespie who picked his spot impressively from right of goal to make it 2-2 (89 mins).
So it seemed Altrincham had claimed at least a half-share in some silverware for the new season. But then, contradicting its earlier announcement, the tannoy told us that it had now been decided to hold a penalty shoot-out.
Alty went first but Lawrie shot low and wide of the Hyde keeper's right post, only for Trialist J (or at least one of the two no.16s) to see his kick saved by Coburn. Sean Densmore scored well to the keeper's left before Trialist G equalised with a chipped spot kick.
Next, Crowther scored into the bottom corner to the keeper's right before Brizell's effort for Hyde was reached by Coburn's left hand but went into the net to make it 2-2.
Gillespie then scored, low to the keeper's right before another Hyde no.16 saw his kick saved by Coburn to his right, leaving the score at 3-2 to Alty. But then Reeves hit a firm shot onto the underside of the bar before Tames levelled the score at 3-3. Young Jeff King scored coolly before Hughes levelled the tally at 4-4 from the penalties.
Gianluca Havern now had his penalty saved before Coburn also stopped Trialist K's shot. The next to miss was Sean Williams, followed by Trialist H who skied his effort over the bar, so 4-4 it remained; a quite awful series of penalties by both sides!
Finally Griffin's spot kick was held by the keeper to his left before Trialist B became the match winner as he beat Coburn to make it 5-4 in the shoot-out.
It was a big disappointment to see Altrincham go down to a team largely comprising trialists but, hopefully, the errors of today will be ironed out before the season begins in earnest in two weeks' time. And let's hope we get in some spot-kick practice before then, too!
Full-Time: HYDE FC 2 ALTRINCHAM 2 Hyde won 5-4 on penalties. |