SKELMERSDALE UNITED 3 HYDE UNITED 3

RENDELL ROCKET SENDS SKEM INTO MONDAY REPLAY

SKELMERSDALE UNITED 3 HYDE UNITED 3

By Neil Leatherbarrow

A rocket shot from Tony Rendell two minutes into added time gave Skelmersdale United a deserved second bite of the cherry in the FA Trophy against the Evo-Stik Premier Division’s form side who went into the game having won five consecutive matches.

Skelmersdale led twice and Hyde once in a see saw encounter that had all the trappings of a traditional cup battle, though significantly there wasn’t one bad tackle or one yellow card brandished from a match that was pure blood and thunder.

The game really took off from the quarter-hour mark when Hyde goalkeeper Ed Wilczynski saved from Kenny Strickland.

Around a minute later Skelmersdale went into the lead. Ged Kinsella played a diagonal ball in from the right to set up Tom Ince who beat the visitor’s offside trap before netting.

Hyde are full of confidence right now and as expected they reacted by taking the game to Skelmersdale. However, Skelmersdale seemed to be weathering the pressure well until the 29th minute when Joe Wilkinson played the ball into Spencer Harris’s feet, he played the ball back to Sam Fitton who unleashed a shot from 18 yards that thumped into the net.

The rest of the first-half saw both teams neutralising each other, not because they played negatively, but because the game was played at such a high tempo.

Hyde went close just before the break as Grant Spencer fired wide, but it was honours even as the teams left the field.

Both teams threatened quickly after the restart. Rendell and Skelmersdale goalkeeper Martin Fearon combined to snub out Hyde’s first foray, then Kinsella was thwarted by Harris on Skelmersdale’s first attack.

That changed after 50 minutes. Kinsella took the ball midway inside the Hyde half an played it wide left to Ince, Kinsella carried on with a run into the Hyde penalty area where Ince found him with the return ball and the former Everton youngster restored the Skelmersdale advantage.

Just a minute later Louis Corrigan put in a snapshot that Wilczynski did well to cling onto as Skelmersdale sought a third goal.

Instead of holding a 3-1 lead Skelmersdale found it all level again on 54 minutes, midfielder Fitton putting a deflected shot into the Skelmersdale net for his second of the afternoon.

Referee Kelvin Sarsfield almost chalked himself up an assist in the match statistics on the hour as he got in the way of a Corrigan clearance, the ball bounced to Jordan Snodin, but his effort went for a corner. From the corner Andy Pearson charged in to head Hyde into a 3-2 lead. However, Mr Sarsfield’s contribution was not lost on Skelmersdale manager Tommy Lawson in his after match comments.

Certain incidents in a game can be described as a “Game Changer”, and in the 69th minute Skelmersdale left-back Corrigan certainly pulled one of those off. Ayrton Bevins getting behind the home defence before dispatching a goalbound shot that how Corrigan managed to get over his own crossbar to safety can only be described as miraculous.

Gradually Skelmersdale got more and more of the possession as they finished looking the fitter outfit. Kinsella had a volley saved then Sam Staunton-Turner cut in from the right and played the ball low into the goalmouth, Strickland got a touch, but was frustrated by a fine reaction save by Wilczynski.

Just when it started to look all over for Skem they won a free-kick that was lifted into the penalty area, under pressure Hyde only partially headed clear, Rendell spied his chance and met the ball with a volley off the full meat of his boot that sent the ball roaring into the bottom corner of the net to set up a replay at Hyde on Monday night.

After the match Tommy Lawson said; “We stuck in there and showed great spirit, we had no luck though, all three of their goals came via deflections in one way or another. It was great goal from Tony, but we deserved it.”

SKELMERSDALE UNITED: Fearon, Fernandes (Mooney, 55), Corrigan (Holden, 81), McIntosh ©, Rendell, Burton, Phillips (Staunton-Turner, 64), Strickland, Almond, Kinsella, Ince Subs (not used) Donaldson, Heron

HYDE UNITED: Wilczynski, Ellison, Burke, Wilkinson, Pearson, Harris ©, Fitton, Snodin, Boyle, Bevins, Spencer G. Subs (not used) Khamsuk, Boateng, Neville, Broadbent

Referee: Kelvin Sarsfield (Burnley)

Attendance: 209