HINCKLEY AFC 0-3 SMETHWICK RANGERS: THE INDEPENDENT MATCH REPORT...

 When The Goal-Frame Wears Yellow & Blue…

Hinckley AFC 0-3 Smethwick Rangers

The Mowdog’s thoughts…

Rangers had conceded 42 goals in their 19 games before this fixture but the goal frames at Kirkby Road proved to be allies in keeping their goal intact, especially after the interval as AFC struck posts and crossbar a number of times. Visiting goalie Lewis Riley made several crucial saves too and skipper Joel Powell with colleague Jordan Ambris also made telling interventions in that second period. Yet it was Smethwick who netted a second-half brace of goals to add to the one they had scored before the break and thus leave a stunned Hinckley team, their coaches and their fans who had stayed until the end looking like they had been visited by a ghoul. Rangers also had two efforts cleared from the AFC goal-line during the encounter…

All three Rangers goals though were crafted by pace on the break and finished with the clinical ability of a classy dentist smoothly extracting teeth. The thorn in the side of Hinckley was certainly Dylan Green, who not only scored goals one and three but also set Adam Nasir running to assist replacement Lucas Edmonds for goal two. 

RANKIN & BALOUCOUNE...

Green was busy, speedy and indeed shrugged off an early injury to help his team to three points. He was also cautioned, along with team-mate Fadel Traore and AFC’s Harry Walker-Donovan, whose passing and involvement for Hinckley were surely positives for manager Joe Conneely. Strangely though, the Smethwick defence bossed the opening period, with Powell commanding the troops but in truth the hosts looked jaded and pedestrian. 

Several promising first-half offensive passing movements by Hinckley ended with the ball returning to the back three and on one occasion play went from 20 yards or so from the Rangers’ goal back to home custodian Brandon Bache. Errors were made and penetration was weak, as Riley gathered a low Matt Dawson centre and dropped on two loose balls before Chandler Pegg and Lewis Collins could benefit. An 18 yard Lewis Rankin volley was blocked by Rangers’ striker Constantin Calmis but it was interesting that the closest AFC came to a first period goal was when Rankin’s astute pass right to Dawson saw the wingback cut inside and shoot in a crowded penalty-box, only for a deflection to nudge his shot against the base of the right pole and away for a corner.

COLLINS & AMBRIS...

Smethwick before the recess…

Traore side-footed a shot following Green’s centre against home defender Adam Barber, midfielder Joshua Baloucoune drove too high and Calmis powered a free-kick from way downtown well wide. However, a Baloucoune corner from the right was then missed by Bache, forcing Barber to head clear smartly from in front of his own goal-line, before Green struck his first goal.

The AFC coaches will hate watching a replay of the strike, for Green exploited the situation which unravelled as he watched Ben Birch attempt to control a long pass by hard working Smethwick midfielder Zaki Kamali. Birch was nominally playing on the right side of the AFC back-three but somehow he had found himself left of centre and attempting to prevent Kamali’s pass from going over his right shoulder, with his right boot awkwardly high. He was unable to control it and Green exploded like a greyhound from a trap, raced towards goal at inside-right and was faced then by Bache. As the ‘keeper advanced, he seemed to turn his head away as he plunged and Green squeezed past the challenge to slip the ball into the net from an angle wide of the right stick.  

0-1...

Thus Rangers led at the break, against an inept Hinckley team, despite the efforts of Walker-Donovan and the totally committed Jack Edwards, who would come to loathe one of the goal-frames after half-time.

The haunting second period spell cast upon the Rangers’ goal-frame… 

It made no sense at all how Hinckley failed to win, score, or avoid striking efforts against the magic rectangle of Riley’s goal-frame. Forgetting the goal-frame for a moment, central defender Luke Wilson could get no real purchase with two headers, Barber made a foraging rush but drove into the left side-netting, Edwards shot too high from 22 yards, before Riley excelled himself too. 

The Rangers’ goalminder stopped one effort easily from substitute Joe Cairns but also dived right to save another Cairns shot well, although Edwards crashed the rebound into the side-netting. Cairns scrambled a close range shot past a post following replacement Tom Weale’s flick-on, whilst a strong run by Edwards ended up with Riley beating away his 19 yard rising shot. From Walker-Donovan’s smart pass, Collins saw Riley leap to turn away his rising 18 yarder in fine fashion but that pesky goal-frame became as, if not more, effective than the goaltender…

MILLINCHIP, LOWE & POWELL...

A Wilson free-kick from distance clipped the outside of the right vertical and later, Wilson shot against the left post from an angle after Birch had nodded on a Fortune Sibanda free-kick. Cairns shot onto the top of the crossbeam from 18 yards but it was Edwards who would curse that horizontal pole twice, for he went so close with a superb overhead shot which smacked onto it, then powered in a 20 yard shot which also bounced away, leaving the crossbar shivering in the floodlights on a darkening Barwell evening.   

I watched the clips of those shots at home, then watched them again, and then again, just in case next time, the ball would go into the net… Would AFC bemoan their poor fortune? Of course… 

Rangers’ other two goals & The Mowdog’s final words…

Interesting that despite the patient offensive build-up play by AFC, which can be effective in controlling a game, the three goals they conceded stemmed from fast counter-attacking by Rangers. After the recess, Green shot low at Bache on a break at inside-left and following a fine Powell pass to the rapid and energetic Nazir, the forward cut in from the right side, worked an opening but eventually saw his low shot cleared from the home goal-line by Birch.

Goal two was scored by Edmonds, who was poorly marked due to a fast Smethwick break, instigated by replacement Sergio Gomes and a pass by Green to Nazir on the left. Nazir raced towards the left byeline, crossed low, just out of the reach of the supporting Green and defender Barber but the ball rolled on for the unmarked Edmonds to rap home from just beyond the right edge of the 6 yard box and into goal at the near post.

0-2...

Goal three was all Green’s own work, after picking up possession from Kamali two yards inside his own half, left-flank. He simply ran and rather quickly too, passing both Wilson with a stepover and then Barber with a side-step as he entered the 18 yard box, before shoving a low 8 yard shot into the net as Bache tried to narrow the angle. 

0-3...

And so, despite the offensive heading danger caused by Birch’s height, despite Edwards’ efforts at goal and Sibanda’s stream of set-pieces, Powell and company not only held out but added insult to injury by nicking a brace of late goals too…

The loss of midfielder and set-piece chap Chris Camwell to injury was likely tough on AFC but subsequently Rangers battled hard to hold on to what they had, before rubbing it in late with those goals on the breakout. Full-backs Jon Millinchip and Joe Lowe put in strong shifts in support of Powell and Ambris, whilst Riley the gloveman handled what came his way with little panic.

THE REFEREE IS ABOUT TO CAUTION WALKER-DONOVAN...

...& DOES SO...

TRAORE IS CAUTIONED...

GREEN IS ABOUT TO SEE YELLOW...

Points squandered by Hinckley but points gratefully received by Smethwick…

Rangers’ skipper Joel Powell played for the same kids’ team, Shenley Radford, as my son Jamie, who was the goalie, whilst Joel was always a skilful player with smart control. He was a lovely kid too and his dad was a keen follower of the lads, so for Joel to recognise me at Kirkby Road was a real personal bonus from attending this remarkable match… 

JOEL POWELL...

TEAMS:

HINCKLEY AFC:

BRANDON BACHE, MATT DAWSON, HARRY WALKER-DONOVAN, BEN BIRCH, LUKE WILSON, ADAM BARBER, CHRIS CAMWELL, LEWIS COLLINS, CHANDLER PEGG, LEWIS RANKIN (CAPT), JACK EDWARDS.

SUBS:

BEN WHITEHEAD, TOM WEALE, FORTUNE SIBANDA, JOE CAIRNS, LEWIS PADMORE.

SMETHWICK RANGERS:

LEWIS RILEY, JON MILLINCHIP, JOE LOWE, ZAKI KAMALI, JOEL POWELL (CAPT), JORDAN AMBRIS, FADEL TRAORE, JOSHUA BALOUCOUNE, CONSTANTIN CALMIS, ADAM NAZIR, DYLAN GREEN.

SUBS:

LEVI HENDERSON, SERGIO GOMES, LUCAS EDMONDS, JUNIOR ENONGENE.