Evo-Stik North Prem

[BigDaveCUFC]

I am really hoping Ashton Utd keep up their run and sneak up then I can experience a true derby.

Mind Salford a good away day since they play near where I live

 

[David Curries Mullet]

We had two hard games against Ashton. Then again, all teams around the play-offs are pretty decent.

 

[SGW]

Just clocked this thread!

I've been watching a lot of NPL Premier recently as my son has gone on loan to Hyde, but they don't seem to have been playing the same teams as you (Darlo). They did play Rushall mid-week who looked decent: Hyde 1 up and Rushall down to 10 men, then Rushall go 2-1 up after HT, then Hyde get the equaliser but always vulnerable on the break and final incident of a pretty incident-packed match was Hyde going down to 10 men as well.

Hyde have also played Ashton and tbh I wasn't too impressed with them. Playing them again on Easter Monday, though, so may have a different opinion by then!

 

[DarkSithLord]

Have heard that Daventry Town will resign from the Northern Premier Division One South at the end of the season.

 

[Blue Lion]

Ashton are a good side from what I have seen. They were 2-0 up against us in the FA Trophy before the game was abandoned at half time and then we won the replay (if that's what it's called?) comfortably. I've seen a fair bit of NPL football recently watching Buxton and Leek Town and Ashton are certainly one of the better teams in the division. I'm sure they could have a good go at promotion.

 

[David Curries Mullet]

2-1 win over Halesowen saturday. Blyth won as well. On to Whitby away. Expecting to take over 1000 today. Tricky again.

 

[Crewelad87]

next week Nantwich playing Saturday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Tuesday. it's going to be a busy end of the season. still in with a shot of play offs but the back log won't help.

 

[JE93]

Still a long way to go this season. Our game at Whitby postponed due to a waterlogged pitch so that leaves us playing sat, Tues, Thurs, sat for the last 2 weeks of the season.

4 points behind Blyth with 3 games in hand. We can still win the league. We have the for form... but will we have the legs. Impossible to know. But think this Darlo team is really one to be proud of. With this backlog of fixtures and being in our first season at this level winning the league would be a massive achievement.

As for Nantwich. Unfortunately I think their playoff hopes are gone. The 4 behind Darlo are in a very strong position and I think it will be a case of too many games for Nantwich to catch up. Still a brilliant season for them though.

 

[SGW]

Hyde on a run of really bad luck at the moment. Lost 1-0 on Sat to Mickleover in a relegation 6 pointer: game spoilt by gale-force winds, hard bobbly pitch and a ref who had a whistle and was determined to use it. Hyde played 80 minutes with 10 men and the only goal was that penalty and, really, they did exceptionally well to hold Mickleover to the one goal but they were obviously never going to get anything out of the game. There was a bizarre 20 minutes where the Hyde keeper would kick the ball, it would go no more than 30 yards, then it would be blown back to the edge of the box where the centre halves were waiting to head it clear, then Mickleover would pick it up, have a strike and blast it wide or over the bar. Then just repeat the above.

Hyde then played Ashton on Easter Monday and went down 4-0. Bonkers as it sounds, Hyde (who started with 8 teenagers and that soon became 9) were actually the better side until Ashton scored what seemed a clear offside goal about halfway through the 2nd half. After that, Ashton used their older, wiser heads and better game knowledge to hit Hyde 3 times on the break. I've now seen Ashton twice in the past few weeks and they are clearly a strong, well-organised side but I think it's fair to say that they don't play much football.

 

[Blue Lion]

Have heard that Daventry Town will resign from the Northern Premier Division One South at the end of the season.

That's now been confirmed by the league so there will be one less relegation position 'up for grabs' now. Good news for Loughborough who are currently 2nd bottom and looked pretty average when I saw them play at Leek Town earlier this season. Best of luck to Daventry, whatever happens in the next few seasons.

 

[DarkSithLord]

That's now been confirmed by the league so there will be one less relegation position 'up for grabs' now. Good news for Loughborough who are currently 2nd bottom and looked pretty average when I saw them play at Leek Town earlier this season. Best of luck to Daventry, whatever happens in the next few seasons.

Heard that Loughborough have crippling financial issues as well so I am unsure what they would make of this news. Tividale are going to take the other spot too.

 

[genesimmons]

Have heard that Daventry Town will resign from the Northern Premier Division One South at the end of the season.

Has the increased travelling been a factor i wonder

 

[DarkSithLord]

Garry Lowe leaves Hyde United with Scott Spencer taking over as player manager

http://www.hydeunited.co.uk/news/board-statement-1589631.html

 

[Jemfy]

That's now been confirmed by the league so there will be one less relegation position 'up for grabs' now. Good news for Loughborough who are currently 2nd bottom and looked pretty average when I saw them play at Leek Town earlier this season. Best of luck to Daventry, whatever happens in the next few seasons.

Daventry will likely go to the UCL now and hopefully stabilise there. They've been a side that has been alternating, sometimes several times a season, between having one of the larger (rumoured) budgets in their division, and having severe difficulties - sometimes leading to failing to be able to raise a full squad. I thought I saw somewhere that they failed to raise a starting XI the other day, though I'm not sure.

Their ground has good bar facilities which should provide decent enough income so long as they don't do the typical thing of trying to spend a bunch of money to win the UCL.

 

[DarkSithLord]

Garry Lowe leaves Hyde United with Scott Spencer taking over as player manager

http://www.hydeunited.co.uk/news/board-statement-1589631.html

A further announcement - Former Halifax and Oldham Manager Darren Kelly appointed till the end of the season!

 

[David Curries Mullet]

No change after Saturday at the top. Darlington beat Sutton Coldfield comfortably 2-0, an own goal and Nathan Cartman providing the goals. Blyth came back from 3 down to beat Ilkeston's teenagers 4-3, with a winning goal in the 97th minute. Gap still 4 points, with three games in hand, but I feel this week will be crucial. Blyth go to an ailing Hyde tonight, and look good for a further three points. We travel to Frickley tomorrow night for what will be a tough game, before a home game with Nantwich on Thursday, and a trip to Grantham on Saturday. Can't help but feel we will get a little leggy at some point, but it's been a great achievement to win 8 out of 8 at this stage of the season.

 

[Soup Ladle]

Hats off to you Darlo for the way you've turned yourselves around but can you please stop winning? The gap between us is getting smaller.

 

[David Curries Mullet]

Was looking like it could be even smaller, until you appointed Hignett. Hopefully, one day, our rivalry can be resumed

 

[Who Needs Mourinho]

Salford very impressive away at Ashton tonight running out comfortable 3-0 winners in the end.

They have always had a ridiculous amount of attacking depth but now they seemingly found the right balance with six consecutive clean sheets, they will be tough to beat in the playoffs.

 

[David Curries Mullet]

A 3-1 defeat to Frickley last night means we now trail Blyth by 7 points with three games in hand. Might have been different had the referee not ordered a converted penalty to be re-taken due to a Frickley player encroaching into the box, as we would have had a 2-0 lead. Don't understand the rationale behind that decision. By the end, we were looking a bit leggy, which was the worry with so many games to be fitted into such a short period. Go again tomorrow night at home to Nantwich. Have beaten Salford twice this season, but sod's law says that they would triumph if we had to meet again in the play-offs.

 

[F Side Rat]

I went to Hyde - Blyth on Monday and to be honest you couldn't tell them apart in the first half. In the second half though it was easy to see why one was top and one was struggling (strangely the same happened at last night's Harrogate Town v Lowestoft game).
Had an interesting chat with someone at Hyde; apparently they are putting in a 3G pitch, so along with their solar energy and the fact they are self sufficient in water, they are hoping to have a much better financial position in the future. Hopefully now they are fan owned and with these facitlities, the future maybe a little brighter.

 

[Who Needs Mourinho]

A 3-1 defeat to Frickley last night means we now trail Blyth by 7 points with three games in hand. Might have been different had the referee not ordered a converted penalty to be re-taken due to a Frickley player encroaching into the box, as we would have had a 2-0 lead. Don't understand the rationale behind that decision. By the end, we were looking a bit leggy, which was the worry with so many games to be fitted into such a short period. Go again tomorrow night at home to Nantwich. Have beaten Salford twice this season, but sod's law says that they would triumph if we had to meet again in the play-offs.

I've seen them 4 times this season (not including the cup games on tv) and last night was the first time that I thought they had got the tactics and balance of the team spot on. They made Ashton United look like relegation fodder in all honestly, Martin Pilkington was impressive up top though, I wouldn't mind nabbing him for next season.

 

[SGW]

Hyde update: new manager, new formation, some new faces (although all kids out of the academy), same run of bad luck.

Lost 3-0 to Frickley on Sat who didn't make our keeper make a save the whole game, scoring from 2 free kicks and an OG. Presumably saving themselves for the Darlo game . Then lost 4-0 to Blyth but, as the earlier poster has said, actually played v well first half. Sucker punch goal at start of 2nd half and confidence lost immediately , only one winner from then on but tbf Blyth are also a good team with one or two very good players.

Started both games with 9 teenagers and playing Ilkeston on Sat so should be like watching a youth game!

 

[Pliny Harris]

I'm not sure if it's simply bad luck with Comical Kelly. The way he had us playing was unbelievable. We'd try fast-paced short passes in the six yard box. Our centre backs would part and move up the flanks while the opposition broke. Over five particular games we had him (Cheltenham 1–7, Grimsby 0–7, Woking 0–3, Wycombe 0–4, Braintree 3–6), it genuinely felt like the opposition could bag as many as they wished. But the weirdest part is that we tended to get much worse in the second half.

He lost his dressing room remarkably quickly, you heard all sorts of bitching over his style from the players. Perhaps the oddest decision he made of them all was switching our training from evenings to mornings. We're a part-time team. Guess where most of our players are early on during weekdays? As a result, only two or three turned up to each one.

Weirder still, this was all under the assistant management of Jim Harvey, who has brought us 33 points in the 20 league games since he took over. How much input then did Harvey have, and how did he buy into Kelly's ambitions? The first post-Kelly game we had, we went to Gateshead, and won 4–1 there despite having 10 men for most of the game. The players afterwards stated that they didn't want us to get relegated. All change.

This is a man who said he was aiming to get us into the playoffs when he first took over. Come the Cheltenham game, we lose 1–7, he says he doesn't want to see us play like that again... ten days later we lose 0–7 at Grimsby and he says he can't fault our effort. Prior to the 3–6 Braintree defeat he said he was aiming for a top ten finish (after PL 19, Pts. 10). He was then sent on his way.

Most Town fans find it funny that he's found work again and we're keeping abreast of the results, but I just find it rather sad. The man isn't cut out for management, regardless of personality. He's a kids' coach at best. I've wanted Hyde to prosper so it's a terrible shame they've fallen for his wiles, as you're more likely to go full Droylsden under him. Good luck on your resurgence, which will come at some point, but it won't with that chap managing.

 

[SGW]

To be fair to Kelly (and granted his track record this season doesn't make good reading), he's only had the past 2 games, he's come in after the transfer deadline so can't bring in any new players and I'm not sure either side see it as a long-term thing. Hyde have been on a shocking run since October and it seems to have become a self-perpetuating thing which Kelly hasn't so far been able to change if he even can at all. The lack of rub of the green which Hyde have been on the receiving end of recently is the typical luck you get at the bottom and also pre-dates Kelly.

He's actually set the team up well for both the games but then shit happens, as it does in football, and they're all young and lacking in nouse so don't seem able to come back against more worldy-wise teams. That's been an issue under both Lowe and Kelly.

 

[Pliny Harris]

Yeah, there's all that. I can understand not having seen him before, wanting to wait before you pounce rather than when you're thrashed by the best team in the league, or lose to set pieces and own goals to a decent side. Things certainly hadn't bottomed out before.

Ironically Aspin's football ended up being very unpopular with our fans, we went more and more longball and hardly any games in 2014/15 could be rated more than 3*, and Gary Lowe was always being mooted for his successful passing game and interest in local football. Then Darren Kelly supposedly teaches the fast passing game too, but his sides spend more time picking the ball out of the net so you can't tell...

It's a bit too late to play for clean sheets rather than to freely score, too. You have to lose all caution with six games to go. I'd just be worried about the sort of side he'd be allowed to build pre-season. He probably has an eye for talent, but you can't have a side becoming jaded when it's still August, and I'd see that coming with him.

 

[Blue Lion]

In other news, New Mills were finally put out of their misery in the Div 1 North with a 9-0 defeat to Spennymoor that confirmed their relegation out of the NPL. They currently have two points.

 

[DarkSithLord]

Pivotal win for Darlo tonight 2-1 v Nantwich with 10 men. With easier fixtures coming up think they may pip Blyth to the title.

Blyth`s failure to win at already relegated Ramsbottom may be the difference.

 

[AndyPark]

Fatigue will kick in for us at some point - We will become very tired.

Hopefully we can keep it going.

 

[David Curries Mullet]

Excellent win against a good Nantwich team. Stephen Thompson and Tom Portas with the goals. 20 minutes with ten men, but held on well. Seemed a harsh red card to me. 1,268 on a wet, miserable Thursday night not bad either. Great team spirit. On to Grantham away Saturday.