A Jack Redshaw goal was enough to see Hyde United through to the Second Qualifying Round of the FA Cup following a replay at Prescot Cables.
The home side, still riding high from goalkeeper Calvin Hare’s 96th-minute equaliser in Saturday’s 2-2 draw, started the brighter, hitting a trio of shots inside the opening quarter of an hour.
The Tigers soon settled into the rhythm that saw them control the original tie for 75 minutes, almost fluking a goal when a Shakeel Jones-Griffiths cross turned into an inadvertent shot to send Hare scrambling to divert it for a corner.
Will Hall, returning from illness, had a bullet header cleared off the line, while the livewire Antoine Makoli picked up a booking for a what the referee deemed to be a dive inside the Prescot area.
Cables showed a defensive cohesion they lacked in spells on Saturday, marshalled by veteran centre half Peter Clarke, but it was Hare to the rescue again when he made a stunning stop to deny Festus Arthur his first Hyde goal and keep it goalless at the break.
After probing the home backline, the Tigers found what turned out to be the decisive breakthrough on the hour mark, when captain Redshaw swung a low curling effort past Hare for 0-1.
Matt Fearnley flashed a shot just wide moments later, before both he and Taylor McMahon went into the referee’s notebook for clumsy challenges.
With ten minutes left, dead-ball specialist Franny Smith brought a flying save out of Hyde keeper Yusuf Mersin, who tipped the goal-bound effort onto his left post and out for a corner.
The visitors snuffed out any further threats to progress to the next round on September 13 where they’ll host Whitby Town, a side they beat 5-2 in the Northern Premier League last month.
The one fly in the ointment was the post-match dismissal of Fearnley for an incident in the tunnel, which also saw Prescot’s Alex McNally receive a red card.
“I’m proud of them, this is one hell of a tough place to come,” said a relieved Hyde boss Nick Spooner. “The fans are very knowledgeable, they’re hostile – even though they’re friendly – and they get behind [their team].
“For the last 30 minutes they really put it on us, and we’ve discussed that we’ve been poor at set plays, but tonight I think was the first time that one-to-eleven, everyone stood up for themselves and put in a great performance.
“It took us a while to get into our groove, but they made it very difficult and closed us down at every opportunity.
“At the end though, a little bit of class from the little man, he takes it inside and Redders does what he does best.”
Spooner also had words of praise for goalkeeper Mersin, who he admits has had a “topsy-turvy” start to the season.
“I’m really pleased for him. Out of seven games he’s probably had four Man of the Matches, and he’s getting a bit of criticism off some supporters, but it was really nice tonight seeing a lot of faces who have doubted his ability – but he’s saved us.
“They’re two world class saves. He lives about a mile away [from here] so he’s got some bragging rights. He deserved that.”
