Hyde F.C. - Up the Tigers!

Cheers guy! Will be tough but hopefully I'm up to it!

Season 2015/16 - The Conference Premier

Having been promoted up through the playoffs at the end of last season, we now find ourselves in the conference premier for the season to come. This promises to be a very tough challenge, as we're still a part time team and unlike last season, this is a predominantly full time league. The expectation is that we will fight bravely against relegation, and the media are predicting a finish of 24th out of 24. A tough season lies ahead, especially with losing Liam Chilvers, a crucial cog in my defence, to Nuneaton, and with keeper Billy O'Brien being made unavailable for loan by Man City. Other than that I managed to keep the rest of the team from last season intact, with a few deadwood players being released, as well as a number being brought in. To date these are 25 year old keeper Jasbir Singh, 19 year old centre defender Alex Finney,24 year old keeper James Belshaw, 20 year old striker Rhys Oates, 23 year old Right Back Danny Taylor and 23 year old centre midfielder Michael Potts.

My own personal objective for this season is simply to survive, and continue Hyde towards a sound financial footing so that hopefully full time football won't be too far away and we'll be genuinely able to compete in this league. We could also do with an upgrade to some of the facilities we have available to us, but obviously that requires money to do so.

Opening Day

Our opening day fixture saw us take on Boreham Wood away from home, a side who had been promoted via the playoff's in the Conference South, and were predicted to finish 23rd in the league. It was a match I really had to be taking at the bare minimum a point from if I wanted to have any chance of staying in the division. We had by far the better of the opening exchanges, and were extremely unfortunate to find ourselves a goal down towards the end of the first half due to an absolute cracker of a goal. They went two up mid way through the second half through a free kick on the egde of the box, before we grabbed a consolation goal that our play had deserved. We were the better team throughout and controlled much of the game as the stats show, but had lost. Disappointing to say the least, but plenty of time to get the vital points needed to stay up

August 2015


After that opening day disappointment, it was straight back into action as we then faced off against Halifax, a game which we struggled in after Alex McQuade's red card, until they were also reduced to 10 men following which we quickly took the lead before then being pegged back to 3-3. Our first point of the season, and it could have been more but we were under the cosh for large periods so I'll take that. Next up were Forest Green, and we took the lead when Blakeman's mishit cross managed to find the net, however shortly after this we were again reduced to 10 men, this time Alex Finney seeing red. Following this, we conceded 2 in quick succession before Rhys Oates got his first goal for Hyde with the last kick of the game to rescue a point. Our first win came against Kidderminster, where we were well on top for much of the game, until D'Arcy O'Connor was also sent off (maybe time to have a look at my tactics) and they managed to pull one back but we were able to see the game out and get the win. We then faced Torquay, one of the teams who should be battling it out for a playoff place come end of the season, and the difference in quality between the sides was easy to see, as they comfortably outplayed us, Jason Lampkin's late consolation the only real positive from the game. We managed to bounce back in the next match against Chester with a tremendous comeback from 2 down at half time, we got back into it through Rhys Oates finish from a tight angle after a lovely bit of passing. Reece Gray then brought us level with a good finish inside the box before the same man was again on hand in injury time to fire home a winner and secure a fantastic result against a good side. All told its 2 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses from our opening month, not bad at all, and it sees us sitting comfortably mid table at this stage. If the season were to end like this I'd be thrilled.

(Can't fit the full thing on my screen, but Bristol Rovers are top with 16 points)

After 6 games you arlready 8 points from Bristol...seems this is gonna be a tough season...

September 2015

The big news from around the club that wasn't on the field was that the board have agreed to improve the training facilities, and also allowed me to hire a new coach. Big step in the right direction to being capable of being a proper league football team. I was also offered a job interview by Gateshead, but as they are in the same division as me and worse than me (presently) I turned it down. Would also kind of defeat the point of the story..



The months started with a fantastic win over Altincham, coming back to win after falling behind very early on. We then faced Lincoln, supposedly one of the strongest sides in the division, and we absolutely threw it away. Leading 3-1, we were then pegged back to 3-3 before ex player Liam Chilvers netted the winner for them in injury time. It was our turn to get the injury time goal next game, as Rhys Oates (for the second time this season) rescued a point with a last minute goal, after Manny Panther had been sent off earlier. Following this we were comfortably beaten by Morecambe, before we took on Ebbsfleet. where Rhys Oates again netted a late goal, this time to win a game that had looked like heading for a draw. Up next were Dartford, who got fairly lucky to grab a 89th winner against us and take the 3 points. Our final game of the month was against Harrogate, promoted up alongside us from the Conference North, so this would be a good test to see how we'd progressed from last season. It was therefore encouraging that we beat them 5-3, in some style given we failed to beat them at all last season, its shows how far we've improved this year. We still sit very comfortably mid table at the end of this month, which again I'm very pleased with.


(Braintree are bottom, have 9 points too but goal difference of -18)

On a final note, Rhys Oates is an absolute king. 9 goals in 13 games playing for a mid table side is a very decent return. Got player or the month this month as well.

October 2015

News

The injuries really piled up this month while Rhys Oates, Louis Almond and Gary O'Neill the main losses. Gary O'Neill is particularly worrying as he's a good player but he seems to get injured all the time. I was also offered just about every job going in non-league football, but obviously turned them down as the whole point of this is to have Hyde rise up through the league system. Sent Kyle Brownhill on loan to Gainsborough as he isn't getting a game for me, and I don't want him to complain. Finally, drew Plymouth in the FA Cup first round. Hopefully be a decent wee payday to help with the finances.

Results



An absolutely appalling month. 2 disappointing draws against struggling sides set the tone as we dropped points against both Alfreton and Aldershot. We were then comfortably beaten in our next 2 fixtures by Wrexham and Gateshead, both of whom we should have been capable of beating really but we were simply outplayed in both. The FA Cup tie against lower league opposition in the form of Buxton offered some form of escape from the league form collapsing as we showed we were the better side, but we were brought crashing back down with a loss at bottom club (at the time) Welling. Due to this we've slipped down the table somewhat, but still clear of the relegation places. Another month like this one though and we might not be.


(Bristol Rovers sit top on 41 points)

Hopefully you can turn it around and ease up the table

That last series of games was far from kind to u and it seems that now you have to fight that relegation...damm tough.

Lost enthusiasm for this save a bit recently, gonna play around with another save for a while and then maybe get back to it depending how that goes. Cheers for following though!