Matthew Blair scoring a goal

How often can you see your side win 4-0 and still come away thinking the scoreline does not do them justice?

Well that was certainly the case for AFC Telford United fans on Saturday.

It was a day when goals were flying in all over the country.

In the Premier League, Chelsea smashed seven past Aston Villa, and in the Blue Square Premier Luton Town went one better by hammering Hayes & Yeading 8-0.

Yet, with a little more conviction in front of goal, the Bucks could easily have eclipsed both those totals, such was their domination of an overwhelmed Hyde.

“There was a bit of pressure on us, because the gaffer demanded a win,” said skipper Stuart Whitehead, who was starting only his second game since January 1.

“We hadn’t won at home for a while and we hadn’t had that feel-good feeling on a Saturday for a while.

“On the back of the bad run we’d been on, there were always going to be some nerves out there,” he added.

“Luckily we held in there, and once we got the first goal we played some great stuff. We could have been five or 6-0 up by half-time.”

It may prove too little, too late in the race for a Blue Square North play-off place, but it was a victory that at least allows us to dream for another week.

Hyde, in all truth, looked simply appalling and it was a shock to see how easily Telford tore them open time after time.

Rob Smith’s side came into the encounter having only scored twice in a run of six games without a win, and for the opening 20 minutes it was clear to see why.

Loan striker Mark Beesley was one of the prime offenders, getting into a succession of goalscoring positions but then fluffing his lines at the crucial stage.

Adam Dugdale, Matt Blair and Shane Killock all had efforts off target, while Whitehead hit the bar with a thundering header from a corner.

But it was Beesley who had fans tearing their hair out with a pair of misses.

First he lobbed the keeper, only to see the ball drop wide, then he scuffed a shot which was blocked by keeper Mark Halstead, who gathered at the second attempt.

Bonus points to Beesley for persistence though, and he made it third time lucky on 23 minutes as he gathered Liam Blakeman’s pacy low cross and cracked a sweet strike into the corner of the net. It was no less than Telford deserved, and they were clearly in no mood for letting up.

Indeed, Beesley might have had a second – this time doing everything right with his great swivel and strike only matched by Halstead’s superb save.

It was though, a temporary reprieve as the Bucks duly doubled their lead just a minute later as Kevin O’Connor’s wicked cross was turned in by Matt Blair.

The second period was always going to struggle to match the breathless pace of the first, and so it proved.

But Hyde showed no sign of staging a comeback – Neil Tolson’s side looking set upon damage limitation.

Instead, it was left to Telford to keep pressing and slowly but surely, the chances started to flow.

Beesley turned creator to release Blair just past the hour, but his shot just squeezed past the post.

O’Connor also had the ball in the net soon after, only for an offside flag to stop his celebrations before they had begun.

Beesley had one more chance, a half-volley blocked by Halstead, before he gave way to Danny Carey-Bertram.

And there was time for two more goals in the last five minutes.

Brown got his 15th of the season when played in by substitute Steve Thompson.

And Carey-Bertram added his name to the scoresheet as he applied the finish to a Route One move – keeper Ryan Young launching the ball long and Thompson providing the flick on.