How bad was that?

A promising start, failure to capitalise on the early advantage and some shocking teamwork left The Bulls deservedly on the end of a 5-2 beating at lowly Hyde this afternoon.

Martin Foyle named an unchanged starting line-up from the Woking game as The Bulls, again, had to manage without the threats of Marley Watkins and Marlon Jackson.  The hosts got the first strike on goal but Hanford was comfortably down to collect.  Smikle failed to move onto a through ball from Pell but when a similar move developed down the left, Clucas and Curruthers combined for the latter to whip in a cross that Ryan Bowman met with a glancing header for the opening goal on four minutes.

Sam Clucas

The shaken hosts, who had assembled the grand total of two points before today’s encounter, looked capable of collapse after the early reverse and for ten to fifteen minutes The Bulls continued to press.  Clucas and Curruthers combined to produce a similar cross to the one that produced the opening goal but this time Canham’s header was well off target.  Bowman made an energetic diagonal run but his searching cross was headed over by Clucas who also forced a fruitless corner following a darting run into the box.  

Ashley Sammons

With twenty minutes gone and no addition to the score, Hyde began to realise that they could, perhaps, have some influence on result and gradually took control of the central area with some good, patient possession football.  Former Everton man Scott Spencer and the aging Phil Jevons took turns to run the channels whilst alternating with dropping into midfield to provide a spare man.

With just short of thirty minutes on the clock, Spencer tested Hanford from 20 yards and The Bulls custodian did well to tip over the bar.  Then a deep cross from the left was punched away by Hanford as The Tigers started to push The Bulls deeper and deeper towards their goal.  The now familiar two banks of four became compressed and Hyde’s central division gleefully lapped up clearances without much attempt from The Bulls to press or close down.  It was hardly surprising when Hyde equalised on thirty-nine minutes.

The ball was switched left to right before Spencer, who had peeled away from the centre, broke down the right before cutting in towards the box and firing across Hanford into the far corner of the net.  The hosts might have taken the lead just before the break when Spencer, again, broke down the right but his driven cross was volleyed just over by the advancing Brizell.

HT  Hyde 1  Bulls 1

The Bulls emerged unchanged for the second period both in personal and attitude.  With little more than five minutes of the second period gone, Alex Brown was allowed to work his way across The Bull’s box unchallenged before firing low past Hanford into the corner of the net.

Brian Smikle

The goal briefly woke United from their apparent slumbers and Stam found Canham with a crossfield ball but the striker’s first touch was poor and he was easily dispossessed.  Just ten minutes into the second half Canham was hauled off and replaced by Will Evans in, presumably, an attempt to wrestle control of the midfield from the now confident Hyde team.  Evans’ early contribution was a long diagonal ball that found Smikle in plenty of space fifteen yards from goal but he shot weakly straight at the keeper.  A slightly more promising move down the left involving a Curruthers overlap finished with Evans lifting his shot over the bar.

Ryan Bowman having treatment minutes before he scored his second goal

Spencer got free on the right and sent over a low cross that Jevons almost converted but an almost identical move a few minutes later did produce a goal for the former Yeovile player when Spencer’s cross was turned in from less than ten yards out.

A fine left-side cross from Sam Clucas was headed home by the enthusiastic Bowman to reduce the arrears but it only served to spur Jevons into completing his hat-trick with another brace in a four minute spell…both coming from less than ten yards and both when he got behind the defence to shoot home while unmarked.

Apart from, possibly, their second there was little that Hanford could do about any of the goals.  We were soundly beaten in front of just 688 of which upwards of 200 were in the away end.

FT  Hyde 5  Bulls 2

Bulls:  Hanford, Gallinagh, Graham, Stam, Curruthers, Pell, Clucas, Sammons (Plummer 76), Smikle (Nicholls 67), Canham (Evans 55), Bowman. Unused subs Heath, Clist.

Hyde: Carnell, Brizell, Pearson, Ashworth, Lomax, Brown, Byrne (Moses 88), Cassidy, Crowther (Cox 22), Spencer, Jevens (Poole 85). Unused subs Frith, Williams.

The midfield dropped too close to the back four who were already too deep in the first place.  Canham and Smikle were largely ineffective and when Pell went forward we were unprotected at the back and got exposed and punished by effectively the same move four times.  Very few (possibly Clucas and Bowman IMO) came out of this with much credit and it sadly emphasises the lack of depth in the squad once Watkins and Jackson are out of the reckoning.

That said, Hyde looked like rabbits in the headlights for the opening ten/fifteen minutes and should have been put to the sword in the first half.  One goal is not enough to defend.

MOVE ON.

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