Images by GGC Media
NICK Spooner believes Hyde United are well placed to push on after thrashing Bradford (Park Avenue) 5-0 – after a reminder of how they have come so far.
Lewis Alessandra’s hat-trick, along with goals from Callum Spooner and Josh Doherty, made sure of an 11th straight match unbeaten.
Despite the scoreline, Park Avenue pressed in the first half and had chances. Although, the Tigers themselves could have had more.
Thankfully, it did not count for much in the grand scheme of things.
But manager Spooner admitted a reminder had to be given as they push for promotion from the Northern Premier League.
He told the club: “We just had a general word of, ‘What’s the point of doing all these great results?’
“We started really well and everyone’s been looking at then run we’ve been on and the places we’ve been to and got results.
“But you could see from the first few minutes, they weren’t going to come at us, they were going to sit 10 behind the ball and make it difficult for us.
“But what we’re doing well, at the minute, which I’ve been critical of, is we got the first chance and Lewis out it away. That stops the pressure.
“We gave them their chances – we’ve done that all year They could’ve hurt us and we had that word.
“We wanted to stamp our authority on the game and they were ruthless in the second half.”
Park Avenue goalkeeper Tom Scott should have done better for Alessandra’s first while quality play between him and Spooner resulted in the latter’s second.
Doherty’s quality free kick curled in before Alessandra rounded things off with a finish on the rebound and clinical take after goalkeeper Jordan Eastham’s long punt forward caused chaos in Bradford’s defence.
Hyde’s haul makes it an impressive 13 goals scored in three matches as their competitors also rack up big scores.
And Spooner believes that shows how attitudes have changed.
He added: “It’s great and there’s only been one against. We missed a lot of chances earlier in the season, we’d take six or seven to get one goal.
“Now we have a shot of goal and it’s going in, plus the goals are getting spread. Keep it going and keep up the performances.
“The lads are starting to believe in themselves. This time last year, we got jittery. That’s why I brought in the likes of Lewis.
“I’ve got the experience now and hopefully we can keep pushing on.”