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Match Details: Saturday 25th August 2012 Conference Premier
Attendance: 2203 Mansfield Town: Marriott, Sutton, Dempster, Jones, Meikle, Green (Wright), Briscoe (Hand), Howell, Rhead (Speight), Roberts, Daniel. Unused subs: Beevers, Clements Hyde FC: Ashley Frith, Josh Brizell, Adam Griffin, Luke Ashworth, Robbie Williams, Alex Brown (Daniel Douglas-Pringle), Callum Byrne (Grant Spencer), Matthew Cassidy (Liam Tomsett), Scott Spencer, Phil Jevons, Matthew Blinkhorn. Subs not used: David Carnell, Kelvin Lomax. An early goal from Matt Green was enough to give Mansfield the three points and send Hyde crashing to their second consecutive defeat of the season. Hyde originally named an unchanged line-up to the team which faced Luton the week before, but were forced into a change prior to the match when David Carnell, who had been suffering with a virus, was unable to start the match, meaning a debut for substitute keeper Ashley Frith. Mansfield took the initiative from the kick-off as Hyde initially struggled to settle in torrid conditions following a monsoon prior to kick off. This left the surface water on the pitch spraying up with every kick of the ball. Mansfield dominated possession in the early moments of the game where a Luke Jones shot from a corner gave Frith his first test of the match. Just 3 minutes later, Mansfield made the most of this possession when Green, cutting in from the right, lashed a crisp shot past Frith, which the debutant stood no chance of saving and putting the hosts one up. Mansfield continued to attack with fervour as Hyde’s defence struggled to settle. Hyde then started to become more dangerous when, on 35 minutes, Josh Brizell shot over the bar after being laid off nicely by Adam Griffin. Then just two minutes later Callum Byrne’s delightful through ball sent Scott Spencer clear, but was denied by some last ditch defending by Colin Daniel. Just a moment later saw action move to the other end and a shot from the increasingly dangerous Green was well saved by Frith, who tipped his powerful shot round the post. Hyde looked increasingly likely to score before the end of the half, and a great cross field ball by Byrne left Griffin in acres of space down the left, but could only muster a corner, which itself was wasted as Hyde failed to get on the end of the quick ball in. However, Mansfield failed to double their advantage when an unmarked John Dempster headed well over the bar from a corner. Just two minutes after the restart, Frith had a nervy moment where his botched clearance landed at the feet of Louis Briscoe, who could only shoot wide from 30 yards out. Moments later, Green was nearly put through, but Robbie Williams tracked back and made a good tackle to break up the attack. Mansfield had a strong appeal for a penalty when Williams tackled in the box, but referee Charles Breakspear waved away the protests. A minute later, Phil Jevons provided a deflected pass to Spencer, who gave Hyde their best chance of the half by jinking past three Mansfield defenders, but screwed his shot so far wide it went out for a throw in. An increasingly scrappy game began to fizzle out, but Blinkhorn had a great chance to equalise after shooting wide after a pass from the increasingly dangerous Jevons, who was becoming a handful for the Mansfield defence. With 15 minutes to go, Hyde nearly gifted the hosts another when Frith spilt the ball into the path of Jake Speight, but his effort was cleared off the line from the relieved Tigers. Substitute Grant Spencer summed up a bad day at the office when, with a minute to go, he hit a free kick into the stand from a dangerous position to the bemusement of the Hyde faithful as Jevons was lining up to take it. Debutant Liam Tomsett had time to shoot from distance after being set up nicely by fellow substitute Daniel Douglas-Pringle, but it was to no avail as Hyde were left to curse their inability to take their chances and Mansfield continue their march up the table with a second consecutive win. |