HINCKLEY AFC 2-1 AYLESTONE PARK: THE INDEPENDENT, HONEST, LIGHTHEARTED MATCH REPORT...

 Profligate Aylestone Miss The Point

Hinckley AFC 2-1 Aylestone Park

The Mowdog’s thoughts…

I thought that these two teams matched up well for a tense, often frenetic encounter which lacked only more accuracy in the shooting. In truth home ‘keeper Matt Hill was rarely troubled, for Park’s finishing was too often awry. At least visiting goalie Josh Wormleighton was worked a few times but overall, from an unbiased point of view, surely the two teams might have been fairly satisfied afterwards with a point apiece.

Both AFC goals were scruffy and Park’s was a spot-kick, highlighting the kind of smart finishing which was sorely missing from the game. A strike from a melee by Isa Abraham caused by his own persistence gave the hosts the lead and Jack Edwards added to that with a poked effort in a goalmouth sitcom. 

JOSH WORMLEIGHTON: BEATEN BY TWO SCRUFFY GOALS BUT DID WELL...

Shay Brennan netted the Aylestone penalty but really he would rue a wild finish in the closing moments which would have clinched the draw his colleagues probably deserved on the balance of play.

Also guilty of poor finishing were Besongbap Beck-Ray, a speedy customer mainly on the Park right and his replacement late on, Cory Holdom. The left-sided attacker for the guests, Aaron Nuttall was quick and dangerous but strangely, although he won the spot-kick, he didn’t really threaten to score a goal himself.

WEALE THROWS UP HIS ARMS IN DESPAIR AS HIS TEAM CONCEDES A SPOT-KICK...

Hinckley, at 2-0 ahead at the break for bowls of soup and bread rolls (is that right?) were never really comfortable with their lead and occasionally looked vulnerable but Park, despite their patience, their pace on the flanks and their undoubtedly dangerous central striker Brennan, were simply unable to add to their goal, scored soon after the recess.

The last moments of a considerable amount of added time, due mainly to an injury for AFC winger Jeremie Agholor (good wishes to him, by the way…) were thrilling, for twice Park looked likely to regain parity whilst home midfielder Jack Edwards so nearly settled the match, only to be denied by Josh Wormleighton.

Shay Brennan…

The forward scored with a confident penalty-kick down the middle of goal, following a careless trip by home defender Ben Whitehead on Nuttall who had capitalised upon a loose clearance by Nick Brandish, I believe.

WAITING FOR BRENNAN...

...& HE DULY OBLIGES...

Before the break Brennan was limited by the home defence to a couple of shots from downtown, one easily collected by Matt Hill, the other, a volley, drifted wide. 

After the interval Brennan glanced a header well wide and then, in the dying seconds, found himself onside in the centre but as Matt Hill advanced to meet him, the in-form striker shot too high to his subsequent chagrin.

BRENNAN RUES HIS LAST-GASP MISS...

Certainly home defender Jacob Sturgess did a decent job with defending his own 18 yard box during the 90+ minutes, assisted by Brandish, Whitehead and the truly demon-like Mikkel Hirst whose tackling at times could be described as ‘well-timed harshness’…

Besongbap Beck-Ray…

So much speed… Sadly, his four real offensive contributions came to nought. An angled drive from inside-right flew into the side-netting early on, then after cutting inside dangerously his attempted pass seemed miscued, before repeating the move soon afterwards and losing control of the ball. His one opportunity after the break was again after cutting inside from the right but with the home defending criminally loose and Beck-Ray  seemingly given an age to set himself up for a 12 yard shot, he pulled it horribly wide of the right stick.

BECK-RAY IS ABOUT TO SHOOT WIDE...

However, I will not criticise the forward at all, partly because we almost share the same surname, Ray…

Which brings me to the Wormleightons, the Hills and the Edwardses… Jake (the Park skipper) and Josh Wormleighton appeared for the guests, Matt Hill kept goal for the hosts and Josh Hill worked the midfield for the visitors whilst both number 4 shirts were worn by chaps called Edwards: Jack for AFC, Spencer for Aylestone…

More Park offense… 

Solid central defender Captain Wormleighton headed off target, a Josh Hill shot struck (the arm?) of Sturgess, a low Kaden Stokes shot was deflected to Matt Hill for an easy save and three times, low centres were directed across the face of the home goal untouched by Dan Marriott then after half-time by substitute Ben Tansley who really might have scored from his delivery and then finally by Josh Hill.

STURGESS URGES...

Hinckley were certainly guilty of offering Stokes too much space to receive passes in midfield and they were fortunate that despite some neat footwork by the Parkman several of his well meant passes went astray on the night.

Isa Abraham…

He scored the first goal which had stemmed from his own fine work on the left-wing. Park defender Shay Beeby, who would later be cautioned, tried to shield the ball out of play for a goal-kick but Abraham chose to go after the ball and indeed kept it in, passing the ball inside for Ryan Harkin to strike. The shot was saved by the falling Josh Wormleighton but then Harkin was felled as he went for the rebound, resulting in a skirmish near the goal-line and the ball was niftily shot into the net at the left upright by Abraham although it was likely a penalty wold have been awarded anyway.

ABRAHAM HAS SCORED...

...THEN CELEBRATES...

Abraham’s speed was always going to be a threat to Park but in truth, Marriott defended him well for much of the game. Before his goal Abraham had bundled the ball past Josh the Goalie at 17 yards but a brilliant rush back by Marriott saw him hook the effort off the goal-line in spectacular fashion. The second phase of that attack saw Harkin shoot low from an angle but Josh the Gloveman saved it…

A delivery from the left by Abraham later in the match was palmed away by Josh the Goalminder, nearly against the onrushing AFC replacement for Agholor, Lewis Padmore who also had an angled shot deflected for a corner later on.

Ryan Harkin…

The central striker for the hosts made Beeby and Jake the Captain work hard on the night, forcing Josh the ‘Keeper to save a low shot from 22 yards in the opening period then after the break he had an angled effort deflected for a flag-kick and later he volleyed another shot way too high.

HARKIN IS MARKED BY BEEBY HERE...

Jack Edwards…

More so than equally talented fellow midfielder Dan Hoskins, Jack the Lad was instrumental in the victory for AFC. He was cautioned for a late and bad tackle but why Park left-back Yaro Phillips needed to square up to Jack the Lad, I have no idea, which incensed Abraham so much that he lost all control. He had to be moved away from the rather insipid reaction of the referee, like he was performing a polka with skipper Tom Weale in a ‘Strictly’ episode… No caution for Phillips though which was rather lenient by the main official. 

HIRST JOINS WEALE & ABRAHAM IN A POLKA...

PHILLIPS: "WHAT? ME? TALKING IN CLASS? NO WAY..."

Jack the Lad took punishment himself too but scored goal two, benefiting when Sturgess’ long pass left led to the eager Hirst reaching the left byeline. Jack the Lad was in the middle but Park’s Jake the Sergeant was unable to deal with the ball, Josh the Goaltender was left clawing air and Marriott was unable to get in a clearance, as Jack the Lad’s poke rolled into the net almost apologetically…

JACK THE LAD CONVERTS A PILEDRIVER OF A TRICKLE TO MAKE IT
2-0...

...& OF COURSE CELEBRATES...

Edwards had already fired a low shot for the ‘keeper to save from from 20 yards, before late in the match a smart pass by Dom Alleyne freed Jack the Lad to enter the penalty-box but his low right-footer was superbly saved low to his left by Josh the Glove, leading to those anxious closing moments for Hinckley…

The other goal attempt by AFC…

A left-side throw was headed on at the near pole by Sturgess and it took a fine goal-line clearance by Phillips to stop the ball but the rebound fell to Padmore whose 10 yard drive really ought to have been better than the one he produced: a bouncing attempt which took a slight deflection for a left-wing corner.

BEEBY BOOKING...

The final comments…

A pretty decent, often end-to-end game which reached a dramatic climax but in reality the finishing by both teams wasn’t what the coaches would have liked.

WEALE PREPARES TO TAKE A FREE-KICK...

Certainly Agholor hadn’t been offensive enough for the hosts before his nasty-looking injury and Marriott eventually stemmed the danger from Abraham later in the second period but in all honesty Park will be fuming about the loss, especially after those two late chances went begging…

The journey home?

Horrendous… Three lanes of the M6 going north were shut, 5 miles from the M42 junction and I had already wasted time trawling past, er, Nuneaton Griff’s ground (yes, really…) to actually get to the M6…

I should have been home by 10.35pm. I rolled in at 11.25…

Thanks, Workforce In Road’ and all the buttheads who ignored the signs about the closed lanes and raced on anyway to cause a huge bottleneck at the cones…

TEAMS:

HINCKLEY AFC:

MATT HILL, NICK BRANDISH, MIKKEL HIRST, JACK EDWARDS, BEN WHITEHEAD, JACOB STURGESS, JEREMIE AGHLOR, TOM WEALE (CAPT), RYAN HARKIN, DAN HOSKINS,  ISA ABRAHAM.

SUBS:

DREW KEAR, LUKE WILSON, LEWIS RANKIN, LEWIS PADMORE, DOM ALLEYNE.

AYLESTONE PARK:

JOSH WORMLEIGHTON, DAN MARRIOTT, YARO PHILLIPS, SPENCER EDWARDS, SHAY BEEBY, JAKE WORMLEIGHTON (CAPT), KADEN STOKES, JOSH HILL, SHAY BRENNAN, BESONGBAP BECK-RAY, AARON NUTTALL.

SUBS:

AIDEN KIRBY, CORY HOLDOM, BEN TANSLEY, BRAD BENNETT, TOM HOLYOAK.