Abbo on ‘Dogged’ Victory

Hinckley AFC manager Carl Abbott was pleased to come away from Atherstone with three points, despite not playing ‘particularly well’.
Goals from Matt Gardner and Tyrone Clarke-O’Connell gave Hinckley a ‘dogged’ 2-1 victory, and Abbott was pleased to record a victory despite the performance.

‘We didn’t play particularly well today. We were a bit below par.

‘I think the difficult pitch has got us off on the wrong foot a little bit, and we had to play a style of football which didn’t really suit us. It lent itself to turning them and booming it forward, which isn’t our way.

‘We never really got going in the first half, playing in quite an uncomfortable fashion. In the second half, they only way we could do it was to go back to our normal game playing up the bank and against the wind.

‘It made for quite a difficult game. It’s a difficult place to come, a difficult pitch, they’ve just lost their manager, and come off the back of a hiding, and that always makes for a tough game.

‘It was a tough game, and a good result under the circumstances.’

Abbott also feels that his side’s luck is beginning to change after their difficult run at the start of the season.

‘I don’t think we’ve done anything greatly different in the last couple of weeks to what we were doing before, apart from the fact that maybe that little rub has turned for us.

‘I was never a big believer in luck in football, but I’m converted now! With some of the things that happened to us earlier in the season, we should be in a different situation to the one we are in. But we accept that, and we move forward. I think what we’re seeing now is a very good side.

‘I really enjoyed today. That was dogged, hard fought, and we didn’t play well, but all teams have got to win when they don’t play well, and that’s the first time we’ve done it this season.’

He also reserved praise for the Hinckley fans, who made the short trip up the A5 in numbers to support the team.

‘I really hoped that we would have a turnout like that today being so close to Hinckley. I put something on Twitter during the week encouraging everyone to come, and give us a really loud backing.

‘They’ve done that today, they were absolutely fantastic. I love out away games, it’s just amazing. I’m nor sure why it’s a little bit different to home games, but the atmosphere on our travels in absolutely amazing.

‘The supporters were a credit to the club again today.’