Two copycat goals from young striker Max Hazeldine in the space of fifty seconds were sufficient to give Skelmersdale United all three points at home to Hyde United. The Eighteen year old who is on loan from Accrington Stanley was put straight through the middle of the visiting defence twice and twice he left them floundering in his wake, before confidently finding the net in 19 & 20 minutes to leave Hyde chasing a game that was just too much for them.

An opening ten minutes was nothing special, however, the game sprung into life in the 11th minute when Chris Almond went on a run down the left then slid the ball into the box from where Hazeldine saw his shot bravely blocked by a defender.

Hyde briefly threatened on 14 minutes, but Frank Van Gils was well off target when he was the recipient of a Peter Boyle flick.
By the nineteenth minute Skelmersdale were beginning to take control and Paul Woolcott completely split the Hyde defence with a superbly weighted ball, Hazeldine ran on and put the ball low past advancing goalkeeper Sam Vince and into the net.

Seconds later Tony Rendell sent a long ball to Almond he helped it on and Hazeldine rounded Vince before rolling the ball into the empty net.

It was 2-0 to Skelmersdale and Hazeldine had got both and he almost made it three on 29 minutes. Louis Corrigan found him on the far post with a free-kick, but under pressure from a defender his effort went just over the crossbar.

The pressure continued. In the 41st minute Kenny Strickland hit the post with a free-kick, the rebound just evading the inrushing Almond.

As half-time beckoned Skelmersdale almost got the third, arguably killer goal their dominance had deserved. Woolcott found Almond in the inside-left channel but his shot beat the far post.

It was always going to be a different game in the second-half because Hyde had time to reorganise during the break and so it proved.

It took eleven minutes for Hyde to produce a serious effort, but Skelmersdale goalkeeper Martin Fearon comfortably dealt with Boyle’s near-post shot as he did again when he parried a Ryan Ellison shot on 59 minutes.

Arguably the best save of the half was by the Hyde keeper Vince on 63 minutes. Valtar Fernandes made a raid down the right and found Ged Kinsella in the penalty box; Kinsella dummied his marker, swivelled and sent a blistering shot at goal, Vince blocking it out above his head.

Eleven minutes from time Hazeldine almost got himself in on goal again, but Hyde’s Andy Pearson proved he is pretty quick himself as he managed to force Hazeldine away from goal.

Hyde pulled a goal back in the 81st minute. Huddersfield Town loanee Ben Holmes lifted a fine cross to the far side of the area and James Burke firmly headed the ball down, its bounce carrying it into the roof of the net.

Twice Hyde won free-kicks in the latter stages and twice Holmes looked dangerous, once Fearon held onto his shot, the second was smothered by the Skelmersdale defence.

It was an important three points for Skelmersdale, and it could be said that it should have been a more comfortable three points. They were unable to build on their two goal lead when they had the opportunities in a first-half they dominated, this gave Hyde hope that might just be able to salvage the game, when a third goal would have extinguished that hope. Hyde came back well near the end, but it wasn’t enough to wipe out the Skelmersdale lead.

SKELMERSDALE UNITED: Fearon, Fernandes, Corrigan, McIntosh ©, Rendell, Booth, Kinsella, Strickland, Hazeldine, Woolcott, Almond Subs (not used) Kusaloka, Murphy, Donaldson, Vassallo, Gyimah

HYDE UNITED: Vince, Ellison, Burke, Muscat, Pearson ©, Bell, Gray (Parkes, 79), Holmes, Van Gils (Khamsuk, 53), Bevins, Boyle Subs (not used) Trimble, Snodin

Referee: Daniel Mitchell Attendance: 162