ASHTON UNITED 0, HYDE UNITED 3
Hyde United’s great revival continued with an emphatic derby victory at Ashton United as old-boy Jack Dyche inflicted much of the damage with two goals against his former club.
Since Nick Spooner’s appointment as manager, the once relegation threatened Tigers have had a massive upturn in fortunes.
Hyde have lost only one of Spooner’s six league matches which has yielded 13 points as the team has climbed to 15th place and seemingly well clear of danger.
And a form table for the division’s last four league games sees the Tigers top, an indication of how well they are doing under Spooner’s watch.
As for Ashton they lost for a second successive match, a contrast to the run of six wins and one draw in the seven league and cup games before that,
The derby, a dress rehearsal for the forthcoming Manchester Premier Cup final, turned into something of a procession as the visitors won unchallenged with the hosts failing to register a single shot on target in the 90 minutes.
Hyde, who completed a league double in front of 575 fans, threatened almost immediately as Sam Peplow’s cross was cleared to Callum Spooner whose low shot was saved by Greg Hartley to his left.
The Tigers made the breakthrough after eight minutes when Tom Pratt’s cross was headed home by ex-Ashton striker Dyche.
Ten minutes later Javid Neavin’s free kick was cleared to Tayt Trusty whose mishit effort rebounded kindly for Pratt to double the advantage.
Dyche then put a left-foot effort well wide of goal from Trusty’s pass after Jack Redshaw had lost possession and Dyche won a free kick just outside the area which saw Lewis Earl’s low effort held by Hartley.
Six minutes after the restart, the Tigers moved further ahead as Harry Ditchfield’s right wing cross saw Michael Brewster’s clearing header land for Dyche to easily fire home left footed.
Ashton’s Nathan Ntula won a corner for the hosts and from Cole Lonsdale’s delivery Redshaw failed to make contact with an attempted header.
Brad Roscoe headed Harry Benns’ free kick over as the visitors continued to dominate.
Dyche could have completed a hat-trick as Hartley needed to be alert from Brewster’s short back pass while substitute Harry Pratt almost registered as he helped Spooner’s cross over the top from close range before shooting straight at Hartley after he had held off Ekow Coker.
Ashton United: Hartley, Brewster, Lonsdale, Tomsett, Coker, Spratt (Jenkins 63), Ntula (Donlan 70), Simpson, Bentham, Redshaw, Yonsian. Subs (not used): Taylor, Sheridan.
Hyde United: Green, Ditchfield, Swaby-Neavin, Spooner, Fagbola, Roscoe, Peplow (Benn 48), Trusty, Earl (Sherratt 65). Dyche, T Pratt (H Pratt 74). Subs (not used): Mitchell, Brown.
Report: David Robinson