Match Report -
Hyde romp home
By Iain Benson
The result shows the commitment from the two teams, Hyde were up for the Derby, Celtic fizzled out, and the score line reflects that.

For the first ten minutes, the game was playing out the way that the table suggested it would, with Celtic playing the better football. In the opening minutes a cross from Dave Hankin was flicked just over the bar by Matty Barlow, but Celtic looked irrepressible, and Hankin again beat his marker to flash in another cross, this time, Jody Banim coming in to knock the ball home past on loan keeper Mark Halstead.

Hyde got into the game when Danny Adams was adjudged to have tripped Kevin Holsgrove on route to goal. Matty Burke took the free kick, and it evaded everybody smacking against the bar, and down, whether it crossed the line or not, Kevin Holsgrove made sure, following the ball in, bringing Hyde level. The goal gave Hyde a belief in themselves, and their work rate shot up, pushing Celtic on the back foot. Scott Mooney twice forced Dave Carnell into comfortable stops, but he was getting the space, and it wasn't until the last fifteen of the half that Celtic looked like getting back into the game and started creating chances.

Halstead was twice called on to cut out dangerous crosses to deny Banim and Barlow, before Connor Jennings was put through only to blaze wide. Law won a corner out of Mark Lees, and Steve Woods met it with a perfect header, Halstead almost getting a hand to it, and Celtic were back in front just before the interval.

Celtic started the second half as they had started the first, but Halstead denied both Banim and Michael Twiss with fine saves, Twiss's shot tipped around for a corner that eventually came to Jennings, who shot into the side netting.

At the other end Hyde drew level after Holsgrove again went down rather easily, this time John Hardiker was blamed, again Burke took the free kick, this time hitting it perfectly, though Carnell will be kicking himself for not getting across to it.

Celtic tried to get back in front, but couldn't seem to get started, a Keith Briggs run and shot was straight down Halstead's throat, and Banim smashed a free kick wide of the wall and goal. They were made to rue their lack of cohesion, when Hyde went in front thanks to Nathan Arnold, unmarked at the corner of the box from a corner, which came out to him and he drilled it straight through the crowd and into the net. Burke was denied his hattrick by a near post save from Carnell, whilst Celtic could barely find a string of passes to get them out of trouble.

With fifteen minutes left on the clock, Joe O'Neill was brought on, and he was handed a glorious chance to restore parity when Twiss lifted the ball through to him, but he dallied too long after escaping the lunging tackle from Nathan D?Laryea, and that allowed Dean Stott to get across as Halstead came to O'Neill's feet. With Celtic hunting up front, there were gaps at the back, and a loose pass put Nathan Arnold in to storm into the box and let fly and rocket of a shot to make the three points safe.

Celtic will get their chance for revenge in a little under a week, but they will have to lift their game to the Derby heights that Hyde lifted theirs too.

1Halsted, Mark  
2Stott, Dean  
3Lees, Mark  
4McNiven, Scott  
5Lynch, Chris  
6DLaryea, Nathan  
7Burke, Matty  
8Manship, Tom  > 83
9Mooney, Scott  > 88
10Holsgrove, Kevin  
11Arnold, Nathan  
12McNiven, David  < 88
14Mercer, Ricky  
15Rick, Lee  < 83
16Rowbotham, Ben  
17Tolson, Neil  
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