Hyde can look back on a hugely successful and satisfying campaign as the Tigers defied almost all expectations and managed to beat the drop. Having lost title-winning manager Gary Lowe in the summer due to disagreements over the playing budget, it was hard to see Hyde prospering in a much tougher division with mostly the same side that did so well in the previous season. The morale was low after the shock news but the appointment of former Hyde player Scott McNiven as a manager was a sensible one. He knew the players well having been a caretaker for a period before at Hyde but he had struggles at the start of the season. Hyde won none of their first seven games, regularly conceding goals late on and failing to hold on to their lead. Yet, that first win in the league was a memorable won as Hyde were destroyed 5:2 at home. Yet, the next victory did not come until October when the team was comfortably bottom of the table. However, that narrow 2:1 success over Tamworth seemed to remove a mental block from the players who started to express themselves more and show real footballing qualities. They won their next two games on the bounce too and also caused a shock in beating leaders Newport County away from home. Suddenly things were clicking with Scott Spencer terrorising defences and Ben Dennis coming out of age at the back. Alex Brown was doing very well in midfield too and the purple patch continued as Woking were spectacularly beaten 7:0 at home. The festive period was great too as Stockport and Southport were beaten as well. Hyde welcomed 2013 sitting ninth in the table having been in the bottom four only a few weeks ago. However, the team once again had a big drop in performances after the turn of the year as a New Year's Day loss at the hands of Stockport prompted a run of four points gained in the next 12 games. That saw Hyde back in trouble but just then things got a big turn for the better as the Tigers put a massive performance to beat Luton 2:1. McNiven deserves credit for the turnaround as he boosted the ailing squad with the loan additions of Louis Almond and Jamie Milligan and the signing of Scott Hogan. These three had the biggest impact in the subsequent march to safety as Hyde won four more games after the Luton victory, including beating Wrexham. That allowed the team to see off the threat of relegation in highly impressive manner but next season the threat will be a bigger one as teams around them will be taking the Cheshire outfit much more seriously.
