Hyde United tasted their first defeat since the opening day of the season as they were defeated 2-0 by Witton Albion at Wincham Park, thanks to goals from James Short and Danny McKenna.

The tigers were looking to continue the good run of form but looked uncomfortable throughout against a very organised, effective and pragmatic Witton side.

Chances by Jones and Murray evaded the Hyde goal early on and the tigers found themselves behind after 11 minutes when Short cut inside to curl the ball around Mewitt and into the bottom corner.

After the opener, it was then tough for the tigers to break through the tight Witton defence but were perhaps unfortunate not to be level at the break as Pratt and Tongue forced strong saves from Renshaw.

The second half started where the game left off with Hyde having the majority of possession but struggling to create any concrete chances, with the ball running out of play often, as the rain gave the pitch an extra zip. Despite using all three substitutes, it didn’t make much of a difference as the tigers couldn’t find any decent attempts to test Renshaw.

Witton got their second with 5 minutes to go as McKenna pounced onto a loose ball by the Hyde defence and fired past Mewitt to seal all three points for the home side.

By George Rothwell