Hinckley United returned to action after a two week lay off and recorded a good 0-2
away win at Corby Town, our first visit to their new Steel Park ground, lifting the
club out of the relegation zone.
Leicester City loan goalkeeper Patrick Lane and Notts County loan central defender
Haydn Hollis were making their club debuts, and Craig Farrell was making his first
appearance as a full on Hinckley player, having signed a contract following his loan
spell and then release from Athletico Telford.
The first half was fairly mundane and non descript, teh ball spending most of it's
time in the air and neither side getting a grip on the game, and neither keeper really
called into action. Mark Jones had a good chance for Corby when played through on
goal but placed his shot wide of Lane and the wide of the goal, and Lloyd Kerry was
also clear on goal for Hinckley but saw his effort saved by Chris MacKenzie.
Hinckley stepped up a gear in the second half and whilst Corby were lacklustre up front,
MacKenzie in their goal was showing his former club what he was capable of. He was
called into action 10 minutes into the second half when Sam Belcher fired in from 25
yards, only for MacKenzie to tip his effort over the bar. From the corner Hollis headed
from close range and Mackenzie produced a superb save to keep it out. Hinckley did
take the lead just before the hour when Andre Gray did well on the right and crossed
the ball to teh far post to Rich Lavery unmarked to head down into the net. Hinckley
doubled their lead 5 minutes later when Gray's header beat Mackenzie but was cleared
off the line by Stephen Towers, however Corby didn't clear the ball properly and
Farrell took advantage by blasting home from close range making it 0-2. Gray then
saw another shot deflected and then cleared away, before Mackenzie dived and reached
another effort with his fingertips. With the game coming to a close Belcher tried
another longshot and Mackenzie was relieved to see it smash off the crossbar and the
matched finished 0-2 to Hinckley, the club jumping over Vauxhall in the league table
and out of the relegation zone.
A third consecutive match falls victim to the weather as Vauxhall Motors were forced
to postpone their home game with Hinckley today, due to a frozen pitch.
For those fans that want to watch a game, Hinckley have arranged a friendly against
Nuneaton, whose game has also been postponed, to be played on Hinckley's All Weather
pitch. The game kicks off at 1.30pm and is free entry to all.
The re-re-re-rearranged home game against Solihull Motors has been postponed for
a third time, or is that fourth, to tell the truth I've lost count. This time it
has fallen victim to the ice and snow which is still with us. No new date has been
scheduled yet, but looking like March could get busy with the fizzy.
Like most other games up and down the country, the freezing weather has frozen Hinckley's
pitch pretty solid. The very short pitch inspection was held at 9.30am Saturday morning
and the chances were rated between no chance to absolutely no chance of a game being
played. Therefore Hinckley United v Boston United is OFF. No new date has been scheduled
yet.