Hyde United face an FA Cup replay after a dramatic 2-2 home draw against Prescot Cable on Saturday.
The Tigers had the perfect start when a Cables clearance ricocheted into to path of a grateful Antoine Makoli, who buried the ball past Calvin Hare for a 1-0 lead in the second minute.
It was a performance of total domination from Nick Spooner’s side, with the visitors only having one touch in Hyde’s half in the opening 12 minutes.
Their second almost resulted in a goal when James Steele broke down the right flank, but Ben Elliott couldn’t connect to his teasing ball across the six-yard box.
Matt Fearnley excelled in a deep-lying role, freeing up Tom Pratt and Jordan Scanlon to unleash their creativity in teeing up a succession of chances for Hyde, all of which were repelled by Hare’s seemingly telescopic limbs.
Hyde continued to apply pressure when the heavens opened after the break, with a Makoli shot on 47 minutes beating the keeper but kissing the wrong side of the Prescot post.
They didn’t need to wait long to double their tally, though.
Lewis Rawsthorne headed in his third goal of the season from a Jack Redshaw corner after 58 minutes, with the Tigers containing any fleeting threats from the opposition.
That all changed with 12 minutes to play, when Jack Goodwin hopscotched his way along Hyde’s byline before drilling past Yusuf Mersin to pull a goal back against the run of play.
Sensing blood, Prescot piled players forward, but their efforts came to nought with Mersin protected by a fog of defensive reinforcements.
However, a controversial free kick awarded against Makoli in the 6th minute of stoppage time resulted in a Cables corner and Hare leaving his post to join the fray.
The deep delivery looked to be sailing out of play, but an athletic header from Michael Grogan fell into the path of Hare, whose left-footed volley crashed in off the foot of Mersin’s near post for the unlikeliest of equalisers.
“We started so well,” Tigers boss Nick Spooner said. “We scored two and they’ve made a comment that if it wasn’t for their keeper at half time, they might as well have got on the bus and gone home.
“It’s typical Hyde United. We’re so exciting when we go forward, but we miss so many chances – I think realistically, we probably should’ve had four-plus.
“But we look so fragile when we let a goal in. You could argue the conditions were difficult to defend against, but it’s not good enough, and it’s a set play again.
“All we did on Thursday night was train for set plays. It was a poor delivery, by the way, but the kid’s done great to get it back in, we don’t react to the second ball, and it’s sod’s law that the keeper who’s done magnificent at one end goes and gets the equaliser at the other.
“I can set them up to win games, but I can’t go out there and make decisions for them,” he added. “We make too many poor decisions, and once one of them panics it seems to just breed through them. It’s infectious and it makes people nervous.
“We don’t have a Brad Roscoe, we don’t have a Callum Spooner, we don’t have a Harry Bunn.
“We’re a young team, and that’s not an excuse, but they’ve got to learn quickly.”
