Late Town Comeback sees Town Tackle HInckley - Pre-Season Match Report: Nuneaton Town 3 Hinckley AFC 2
By George Kirk
Fans were treated to a pre-season cracker at The Oval, as Nuneaton Town came back from two goals down to beat a very lively Hinckley AFC side.
Following an early sucker punch, with Fin Barker and Zach Tellyn putting the away side two to the good, Boro were forced to dig in as goals from Caine Elliot, Declan Somel and Aaron Roberts earnt them a hard fought win.
Kick-Off:
After a huge confidence boost on Saturday beating Stratford Town from the league above, Nuneaton Town fans were expecting more of the same, especially taking on a team that they did the double over on the road to winning the title last season.
So fans would be left stunned when less than a minute in, Fin Barker chipped over Finn Osborn to hand the visitors an early lead.
Things went from bad to worse only minutes later, as a trialist was adjudged to have dragged down a Hinckley attacker in the box, resulting in a penalty to the away side.
Up stepped Zach Tellyn, who fired into the top right corner, doubling the away sides lead in the 5th minute.
This proved to be a real wake up call for Boro, with James Armson giving the Hinckley keeper his first action of the night, forcing him into a decent save from just inside the box.
It wouldn’t be long before Town had the ball in the back of the net, Caine Elliott’s smart strike found its way into the bottom left corner, but was disallowed for an offside.
Despite Nuneaton’s momentum, Hinckley’s would continue to pose a real threat, as Osborn pulled off two huge saves to stop the away side grabbing a third. The first seeing the shotstopper spring down low to prevent an effort going into the bottom right corner, and from the following corner pushing an header onto the bar from point blank range.
Osborn’s heroics proved to be massive not long after, as in the 40th minute Caine Elliott whipped a sensational free-kick past the Hinckley keeper to half the deficit.
Half-Time: Nuneaton Town 1-2 Hinckley AFC
The second half saw Acco and Doddsy make seven changes with Brandon Bache, Declan Somel, Loyiso Recci, Dante Hesson, Michael McGrath, Aaron Williams and Charlie Jones all coming on to get some vital minutes in the legs.
During the second fourty-five, the away side’s intensity levels dropped, allowing Boro to have the majority of the ball. Despite this, Town struggled to create many real clear cut chances with Hinckley being well organised and tricky to break down.
Declan Somel provided a decent chance early into the second half, whipping in a dangerous cross which Aaron Williams was unable to connect correctly with, taking a nasty bump on his landing, meaning veteran Armson was brought back on for the remainder of the game.
After a couple of solid blocks from the visitors, Acco and Doddsy took an unorthodox approach, putting powerful centre-back Aaron Roberts up top for the final twenty minutes.
This would make a real difference to the game, as the visitors defence would be unable to handle Boro’s new signing, with it slowly becoming a difficult task to mark him and handle his strength on the ball.
In the 89th minute, the away side would be caught off guard, when Declan Somel was found free in the box, making no mistake finding the top right corner, levelling the scoring.
Only a minute later, Acco and Doddsy further profited from their tactical chang:e, when powerhouse Roberts was played through on goal, dinking over the helpless Hinckley keeper.
Another huge confidence boost for the Town, showing bags of character to comeback against a sharp side in pre-season.
Full-Time: Nuneaton Town 3-2 Hinckley AFC
MOTM: James Armson
Attendance: 250
Team: Finn Osborn (Bache, 46’), Trialist (Recci, 46’), Kai Thomas, Aaron Roberts (Jones 46’), Luke Softley, Corey Currithers (McGrath, 46’), James Armson (Williams, 46’, Armson back on, 58’) , Caine Elliott (G, 40’, Somel 46’, G, 89’), Brad Stretton (Hesson, 46’), Liam Murphy (Roberts, 70’, G, 90’), James Harrison
Substitutes: Dante Hesson, Loyiso Recci, Michael McGrath, Aaron Williams, Charlie Jones, Declan Somel, Brandon Bache
Next-Up: Nuneaton Town are back again at The Oval as they take on National League North side Telford United in a pre-season friendly, on Saturday 11th July with a 3pm kick off time.
