TUESDAY 19th FEBRUARY 2008

VAUXHALL MOTORS 3 v 4 HYDE UNITED

BLUE SQUARE NORTH

TOM Field marked his 100th appearance for Motors with a goal and Peter Heler unleashed a strike worthy of winning any game, but Vauxhall have had no luck lately and last night was no exception.

The entire flank on the dugout side of Rivacre Park was frozen solid at the start of the match, and by the end it was worse as the temperature dropped.  The linesman and a number of players from both sides turned ankles or slid into the dugouts and the match should probably never have gone ahead – but Blackpool referee Andrew Newell insisted it did.

Motors, missing the suspended Paul Taylor, showed flashes of the ability they will need to escape the drop and were on top on 22 minutes when Heler smashed in a stunning 25-yard half-volley which skidded off the surface and past Hyde keeper Craig Dootson.  Hyde, looking for a play-off place, were back on terms 11 minutes later.  Motors’ weakness defending set-pieces was once more apparent as they allowed a free kick to be headed back across goal and the ball was popped in by Mark Innes.

Motors shaded the first half but the Tigers came out all guns blazing in the second.
They broke away with pace as Andy Mutch’s side pushed on and Lee Cartwright met a whipped cross with a flamboyant diving header past Andy Murphy in the home goal on 62 minutes.  Hyde began to pull away on 67 minutes, an early lofted pass catching Motors out and allowing Matthew Tipton to race past the defence and slot home for 3-1.  Tipton added his second and Hyde’s fourth three minutes later, firing through a crowd as Motors failed to clear their lines.  Centurion Field got Motors back into the game, smashing a 20-yard effort from the flank into the top corner to give the home side hope.  Heler continued to make a nuisance of himself and carve out chances, but it was the introduction of David Roberts for Mark Reed that saw Motors almost snatch a point.  Four minutes after coming on, he chased a through ball and, on seeing the keeper looming, deftly chipped him from just inside the box to make it 4-3.  And Roberts almost equalised in injury time when a low cross from Field looked to have put a goal on a plate for him, until a stray defensive boot just tipped the ball behind the Motors man. It just about summed up the luck Motors have been having of late as they were so close, yet so far, from taking something from the game.

Vauxhall: Murphy, Holmes, Williams, Field, Robinson, Hitchen, Heler, Griffiths, Reed (Roberts 76), Smith, Egerton. Subs: Gresty, Owens, Rigby.