NICK Spooner has expressed his disappointment that his Hyde United team had “let down” the club’s supporters after missing out on an opportunity to claim silverware.
The Tigers were booed off at half-time as they were beaten 3-2 by Irlam FC on Tuesday evening in the Manchester FA Frank Hannah Premier Cup.
Their manager felt the supporters’ reaction at the interval, when the team was 1-0 down, was understandable.
“It’s a cup final and you should want to win,” Spooner told the club’s media team afterwards. “I said to the boys at half-time, you shouldn’t be getting booed off in a cup final. We have to regroup and see where we go from here.
“They [the fans] have got every right to be unhappy in a final but, as people have just said to me, the expectations are a lot higher at this football club.
“We [the management team] came in, we kept them up and then we had two really good seasons, people are disappointed with a cup final. We are ninth in the league and [have reached] a cup final but the standards for Hyde now are expectations and expectations go with the fans. I’m disappointed that we’ve let them down.”
The Tigers were seeking to win the competition for the first time since 2006, but were on the losing side at FC United of Manchester’s Broadhurst Park ground in Moston – which came on the back of a 4-0 home defeat by Matlock Town in the league.
Irlam FC took the lead in the 32nd minute through Jack Mitchell and doubled the advantage just before the hour mark through Aidan Roxburgh.
Jack Redshaw struck in the 70th minute to get the Tigers back into the contest, before Ethan Cartwright’s volley put Irlam 3-1 up in the 79th minute.
A composed Will Hall finish four minutes later was a mere consolation for Hyde as their Salford-based opponents held on to lift the trophy.
Spooner admitted the Tigers were beaten by the better team, to whom he gave credit.
“We said we wanted to start bright, we didn’t start bright,” he said. “They hit us on the counter attack. I feel it was a mistake for the first goal. You just look at it and I don’t think we really got going until the 70th minute when people started sprinting, so very disappointing.
“Obviously they [Irlam] went in 1-0 up at half-time, they came out and had a good 10-15 minutes at us where they really put us under pressure. Even though I think it was a mistake for the first one, [goalkeeper] Callum [Hiddleston] has pulled off three great saves in a matter of seconds. Credit to them [Irlam], they’ve done very well.”
A campaign that promised much for the Tigers has seen their play-off ambitions fade in recent weeks. With three games remaining, they sit ninth in the Northern Premier League Premier Division table and are unable to finish in the top five.
Hyde travel to Basford United on Saturday before Warrington Rylands are the final visitors to the Project Solar Stadium this term on Easter Monday. They end the campaign away at third-top Stockton Town on Saturday, April 26.
Spooner is determined that the season doesn’t come to a close with a whimper.
“We don’t want to fizzle out, we want to finish as high as we can and finish with three wins hopefully,” he added.