An unofficial site recording the results and player stats of the Tigers.

Match Details:

Saturday 20th November 1954
F.A. Cup 1st Round


Workington5Bertolini, Dailey (2 goals), Whittle (2 goals)
Hyde United1Hilton


Workington: Not available

Hyde United: Bobby Walton, Len Brickell, Brian Parkinson, Fred Pye, Sam Walker, Harold Barber, Tony Morrissey, Alan Rogers, Jack Hilton, Eric Webster, Joe Lansley

Hyde United made a gallant exit from the FA Cup competition on Saturday, when they went down by five goals to one at Workington in front of a crowd of 10,000.

Hyde were five down long before half time, but so courageously did they fight back that they warmed the hearts of the 2,000 followers and earned fulsome praise from the Cumbrian third division opposition.

They brought honour to Hyde and to the Cheshire League.

The Workington Reds, known locally as Bill Shankly’s Bank of England XI (the club spent £17,500 in transfer fees towards the end of last season) were playing a spellbinding game in the early stages, switching the point of attack in bewildering fashion, darting into open spaces for the return pass, and seemingly mesmerising the Hyde defence.

With every searing thrust of Workington’s eight-pronged attack, Parkinson and Brickell were forced deeper and deeper into their own territory and, faced with such a menacing array, the halves had precious little time to turn their minds to forging an attacking link themselves.

Hyde’s hopes were dashed in the first 18 minutes when they were five down and, to crown their sorrows, Eric Webster had to be carried off for a ten minute spell of medical attention, but they fought back with credit to earn the plaudits of the crowd.

As Workington slowed the tempo to take a momentary breather, Hyde spied the slight opening and cracked home an attack which surprised Workington.

Do not let anybody fool you that the Football League side were content to coast for the remaining 65 minutes. If they could have slammed in another five they would have been delighted to do so.

Ten thousand people on the ground might have been prepared to agree that Hyde were beaten already but the players were obviously not subscribers to the same opinion for the remainder of the game was a grim battle.

The Hyde forwards, beautifully prompted by the militant halves, swept down on enemy territory and only the brilliance of goalkeeper, Newlands, plus over-eagerness on the part of the raiders, prevented Hyde from closing the gap.

Workington’s goals were scored by Bertolini, Whittle (2) and Dailey (2).

The second half saw the emergence of Hyde full of battle. Lansley, of whom little had been seen in the first half, slipped a pass to Hilton but the centre-forward’s drive across the face of goal had negative results as Morrissey failed to bring it under control.

A remarkable change came over Hyde as they found that progress could be made against their League opponents and, in a series of well-planned raids, they more than disturbed the opposition.

A goal was long overdue, Hilton crashed a beautiful shot against the bar but, in the 60th minute, Hilton found the net. From a corner on the right, Morrissey played the ball to Lansley, whose shot was blocked. The ball rolled out to Hilton, who crashed it home from close quarters.

The Hyde contingent went wild but, despite a quickening of the pace, Hyde just could not make a further impression.



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