The two sides could not be separated after an entertaining goalless draw. Both sides never gave their opponents any opportunity to settle into the game and it made it an enjoyable watch for the almost 600 capacity crowd.

South Shields, as expected, played a good brand of football but Hyde never let them turn their possession into a flurry of chances as they pressed with high energy.

The best chance of the first half fell to the visitors as they worked the ball well towards Hunter on the right of the pitch, who squared the ball to Briggs on the edge of the area but his shot was saved well by Green down to his left.

Hyde had much of the better chances in the second half as Shields were chasing the game. Tom Pratt ran in behind the defence on multiple occasions but just couldn’t quite find the room to get any meaningful shots at the keeper Boney. He and Lane were reduced to corners for Hyde.

As the game entered the last 10 minutes the visitors almost snuck a winner as Gillies was found in the area but Tom Morris, who won every ball against the opposition attack, cleared to keep the scores level.

The tigers delighted with the result and performance against one of the best sides in the league, who return to the North East with a point in a game they would have been looking to win to announce their early intentions in the league.

By George Rothwell