McGurk: Let's enjoy being top

Hyde United boss Dave McGurk has urged the club to enjoy their time at the top of the Northern Premier Division - and has laid down the challenge to his players to stay there.

The Tigers took advantage of the teams around them being in FA Cup action in midweek by moving to the summit, as goals from Oran Thompson and Jack Dyche earned a 2-0 win over Nantwich Town on Tuesday night at Ewen Fields. 

The manager hailed the strong display from his team against a fellow promotion challenger, which was in complete contrast to their 3-1 defeat at Morpeth Town last weekend when they crashed out of the FA Cup. 

"The reaction was huge," McGurk told Hyde United's media team. "We’ve gone from our worst performance of the season to the best performance of the season. We’re delighted with that.

"I kind of expected it because we wrote down everything we’re good at and everything we’re not so good at in the dressing room before the game. It was like ‘which one do you want to give us?’ because if we do the basics well, we’ll get a result. If we do what we did on Saturday with the negatives, we won’t.

"That [on Tuesday night] was a 90-minute performance and I think it’s our first one of the season. We were up against, I think, a very, very good side with some exceptional players for this league. I think we swarmed all over them, the legs and pressing and energy was brilliant. It was eight out of 10 all over the pitch." 

Although reaching his points target remains the immediate objective for his team, McGurk insists the club should enjoy leading the way in the Northern Premier Division and aim to maintain their position at the top. 

“We’ve got to enjoy being top of the table. Let’s enjoy being top for the next few days," he said. "The challenge to the players is can we stay there? We know we’ve got difficult games coming up and the games in hand won’t come for a while. The target for me still is 45 points – let’s get there but let’s enjoy it. It’s a nice feeling being top of the league so let’s all enjoy it while we’re there.”

The Tigers face a tough task on Saturday, away to third-top Whitby Town - who are one of three teams with 13 points, two fewer than Hyde. But McGurk is well aware of what to expect from the high-flying Seasiders in North Yorkshire. 

“They’re another good side with a dangerous front-two," he added. "There are players up there we know a lot about. We know a lot about Whitby generally in terms of how they play and the players that they’ve got.

"It’s another tough game – this league is relentless. We’ll go there and we’ll emphasise to the players the good stuff they’ve done [against Nantwich]. They could play that way again and lose a game of football, but win a lot more than we’ll lose playing like that. The challenge is just to do the basics well and everything else will follow from there.”