I SHOULDN’T raise my hopes but I always do. Once again I went into the weekend believing that this might at last be Hyde’s year for a good FA Cup run, and once again I was left sorely disappointed.

Of course it’s all my fault. I only had to look at the Blue Square Bet North table to realise it was very unlikely the Tigers would over come Droylsden. Yet hope springs eternal. Anything can happen in the Cup, it’s all about the 90 minutes. You know the cliches.

On Saturday, at Ewen Fields, the result was a goalless draw and there was very little for people to cheer about. In the replay, at the Butchers Arms, Droylsden bossed the first half and took a 2-0 lead. Hyde fought back after the break, Dale Johnson pulled one back, but the equaliser proved beyond their grasp and the Bloods snatched a third goal in the dying seconds.

Post-match, Tigers boss Neil Tolson was his usual cheery self despite the result, complete with cheeky schoolboy grin. “I can handle losing like that,” he said. “When the lads give their all I can’t ask for anymore.”

Dave Pace mentioned the physical side which Hyde displayed. “It’s the only way they could stop us after we played some superb stuff in the first half,” he said. Tolson didn’t deny it but stressed that he would never tolerate any of his players going out to injure an opponent.

Tolson also revealed that midfielder Shaun Whalley is the subject of an approach by Conference National side Southport. Understandably, Whalley is expected to move to Haig Avenue, despite Tolson’s offering his own wages to the former Droylsden player in a last-ditch bid t get him to stay.

Droylsden, with £4,500 in prize money in their back pocket, now head to the North East to take on former Football League side Ashington in the third qualifying round on Saturday, October 9. Dave Pace praised his side, and also Mossley, who will be heading for Lincolnshire Moorland Railway. Surprise, surprise though, he predicted that Stalybridge Celtic would lose to Alfreton and miss out on a trip to Warrington or Bamber Bridge.

Interviews with the two managers will appear on 103.6FM Tameside Radio on Friday (October 1) between 6 and 7pm. Or listen online at www.tamesideradio.com

Thanks to Stalybridge Celtic’s sponsors, Pavilion, there will be free entries to Saturday’s game at Bower Fold. And a free Celtic scarf for the first 1,000 fans.

Finally, it was great to bump into a few old faces at the Butchers Arms: former Hyde United manager Mike McKenzie, midfielder Levi Edwards, and Glyn Chamberlain. Glyn, now assistant manager at Macclesfield Town, skippered Hyde when they won the NPL Cup at Maine Road in 1986.

Who’ll ever forget his shouts of “edge of the D” as he organised the defence?