Hyde boss Gary Lowe saw red along with skipper Dave Birch and midfielder Chris Worsley in a stormy Blue Square Bet North encounter at Worcester, writes Tony Glennon.

But the nine-man Tigers held on for a 2-2 draw which keeps them top ahead of their home clash with struggling Eastwood tonight (7.45pm).

Lowe was ordered from his dug-out for arguing, moments after Birch had been dismissed for his reaction to having conceded the 79th-minute spot-kick which handed the hosts the second of two penalty equalisers, each scored by Tom Thorley.

Both teams were down to 10 men by that stage with Worsley and Worcester’s Martyn Naylor having already been sent off for squaring up to one another soon after David Poole had given Hyde a 10th-minute lead.

Josh Brizell’s trip then led to Thorley making it 1-1 but the Tigers quickly regained the lead through Andy Pearson before Birch was controversially ruled to have fouled Mike Symons in the box before pushing over the Worcester man in a fit of rage.

Meanwhile, second-placed Stalybridge Celtic seized on Hyde being held to close the gap on their table-topping Tameside neighbours to three points with a 3-0 romp over visiting Boston.

But Jim Harvey’s Celts left it late to make certain of the win which stretches their unbeaten home league run to 21 games with two goals from sub Craig Hobson.

Up until that point Bridge, who have two games in hand on Hyde, were holding onto a lead given them by Arthur Gnahoua in the 35th minute.

Droylsden suffered a big blow to their promotion hopes as they crashed 6-3 at Colwyn Bay, who played the entire second half with former Bloods striker Lee McEvilly in goal after losing keeper Chris Sanna to a shoulder injury.

Nat Kerr, Chris Brown and Danny Rowe were on target for the Bloods but it was otherwise a day to forget for Dave Pace’s glaringly inconsistent side. Tweet