REPORT: UNITED 0-0 HYDE UNITED

BY CALLUM WRIGHT

Basford held the high flying Hyde United to a goalless draw in what proved to be a thrilling encounter at Greenwich Avenue.

In a game that saw two goal line clearances, neither team could somehow break the deadlock with plenty of huge chances for both, the most coming from Jordan Hallam in a promising game after his return from a long term injury.

As expected the Tigers came out swinging, forcing Kieran Preston into a diving save in the opening seconds as they pressed heavily on the Basford defence. The Ambers weren’t scared to push forward however and the returning Hallam became an immediate threat, but no clear chance arose from the rapid first minutes.

Despite the confidence that the away team were showing it was the Ambers who came the closest to drawing first blood, as Rev James won the ball in the box from a promising press before he teed up Hallam, but his goal bound shot was brilliantly saved by Jordan Eastham.

Chances seemed to be appearing every minute as neither team opted to lower the tempo as both knew the importance of an opener. Hallam found another half chance as he hooked a powerful volley just over the bar, showing his danger on the pitch once again. Neither team proved clinical enough to find a breakthrough as the clock approached 30 minutes.

Hyde gradually began to appear the team on top as they saw much of the ball but the Greater Manchester side appeared frustrated as they took plenty of speculative shots from outside the area but couldn’t falter Preston.

As the game appeared to be dying down a mistake by Bradley Roscoe gave James a chance to lead a break. The ball fell to Hallam as Remaye Campbell flicked it towards him, and his fantastic turn and shot took many deflections before trickling just past the post. An even greater chance came from the following Matt Thornhill corner, but Henri Wilder’s header was cleared of the line by Harry Ditchfield.

In the dying seconds of the first half Basford began roaring down the belly of the Hyde defence, with Hallam having one shot blocked well by Roscoe inside the box, then another coming from a excellently struck bullet of a shot from outside the area, saved with an equal level of skill by Eastham. Despite the cascade of chances, somehow neither team could break the deadlock.

Anarchy in the Basford box early on lead to Preston having to claw a ball from a Manasse Mampala cross away from goal, but it ended up falling to Harry Bunn whose likely goal bound shot was cleared excellently on the line by Henri Wilder. At the other end the skipper had a chance to whip in a free kick but Eastham met it at the top corner.

Bunn saw another good chance from distance but Preston remained unaltered with a great save to his right. While Hyde saw much of the ball in the second half, Hallam picked the ball up from 30 yards out and launched a shot towards the top corner but Eastham produced a ridiculous save to keep him out once again.

The tempo began to die down as the teams tried to find that clinical breakthrough that miraculously had not yet been found by either. Good skill from Lewis Alessandra on the edge of the box led to a shot that just missed the net by inches in Hyde’s best chance but frustrations continued for both.

Hyde threw everything at the game in the dying seconds but to no avail, and both teams had to settle for a point, albeit one that Basford could be happy with in their fight for survival.

The Ambers will be back on the road next week as they travel to Lincolnshire for a meeting with Gainsborough Trinity next Saturday at 3pm.

UNITED: Preston, Ridgely, Wilder, Lewis, Frizelle, Barnes, Thomas, Thornhill ©, Campbell, Hallam (Dacres, 84’), James

SUBS (not used): Saane, Tomlin, Goddard, Ritzema

ATT: 374