Hayes dazed by delighted United (18.11.03)

AT FIRST glance, Tuesday night’s scoreline suggests a closely fought and highly competitive cup clash.
However, while Hayes may argue this was the case, the truth is United should have wrapped it up by half-time.
And, but for the woodwork, they almost certainly would have done, as they dominated the midfield, enjoyed the lion’s share of possession and played by far the better football.
Having said that, Hayes’ opening goal on 12 minutes was an absolute blinder, as Lee Holsgrove dinked a sublime chip over United’s static defence for Scott
Forrester to blast past Nick Hart from 12 yards.
Undaunted, United continued to play their own brand of slick passing football and opened up the visitors’ defence time and time again, only to be repeatedly denied by the woodwork.
Ryan Ashe twice hit the right-hand post, while the impressive Brendon Gallen saw his curling free-kick strike the face of the bar.
With the missed chances mounting the fans began to fear the worse, until Mark Boyce settled the nerves by nipping in to slam home Steve Hale’s looping header on 38 minutes.
Lawrence Yaku should have made it 2-1 in added time, but went for the near post and saw his effort turned away for a corner, instead of squaring the ball to Steve Hale for a simple tap-in.
United’s onslaught reached a peak just after the break, with Andy Jennings arriving late to head home Craig Farley’s corner in the first minute of play.
Gallen made it 3-1 from the spot five minutes later, after Peter Collins dragged back Hale, just as he shaped-up to lob the ball over the on-rushing keeper.
That should have been curtains for Hayes, but a defensive lapse on the right brought them straight back into the game, when John Hastings drew both defence and keeper before squaring the ball for Josh Scott to bundle home just two minutes later. Thankfully, United secured control of the midfield after this and restricted their guests to occasional long balls over the top.
Most of these were dealt with comfortably, although man of the match Kelvin Mcintosh still had to make two brilliant tackles to deny Hayes a clear sight of goal, while only poor marksmanship denied John Hastings an equaliser on 80 minutes, as he skimmed the outside of the post when one-on-one with Hart.
But Yaku, Hale and McIntosh also had good chances at the other end and United can justly claim it should have been more, as they once again made a top-five league side look very run-of-the-mill.