At The Project Solar stadium on Tuesday night Hyde United met National League Altrincham in the quarter final of the Cheshire Senior Cup.
Although you wouldn’t have known from the spectacle, the two teams were separated by 47 league positions.
The first blow was inflicted by The Tigers after 15 minutes as brilliant build up play from Jack Redshaw and Antione Makoli meant that Makoli found himself in the box and he created half a yard of which he used to smash the ball past Ollie Byrne and put The Tigers a goal up early.
Just 10 minutes later another chance came for Hyde as former Stockport County striker Nyal Bell received the ball from the goalscorer Makoli in the box but his shot hit the post and was eventually cleared by The Robins defence.
The first half ended with Altrincham starting to grow into the game, possession and pressure wise, but other than that no real chances were created by The Robins and at the break The Tigers led by a goal to the good.
The second half started off as the first half finished, and this showed just eight minutes into the second period as Jordan Eastham was called upon to deny George Burroughs in the box.
After a wave of pressure the game seemed to calm down as Hyde looked to have regained composure and once again looked comfortable.
Until with 25 minutes to go Ellis Johnson made a rash tackle on the edge of the Hyde box which saw referee Tom Swift reach for his back pocket without hesitation and send Johnson for an early bath.
Just four minutes later Justin Donawa found himself with a shooting chance but the ball struck the outside of the post.
Another shooting chance presented itself for Dior Angus from the edge of the box and this time it was Eastham to the rescue as he pushed the ball round his right hand post for a Robins corner.
The pressure continued with just 10 to go as Angus was played into the box but was again denied by Eatham who made the save of the evening with his feet to further frustrate the visitors.
As Altrincham started to commit more bodies forward Hyde saw the opportunity to counter through Shakeal Jones-Griffiths’ interception. The ball found Manasse Mampala who carried the ball over halfway and down the left, he spotted the run of debutant Rio Clegg who couldn’t miss.
