Allexton & New Parks 2-6 Hinckley AFC
Hinckley AFC marched through to the quarter finals of the Jelson Homes Senior Cup with a comprehensive 6-2 win over Allexton & New Parks.
Hinckley played the majority of the match against ten men after Allexton’s Rhys Lelacheur was sent off after fifteen minutes.
But the rest of the first half was the Luke Richards show – he scored a hattrick to give Hinckley a 3-1 lead at half time, a scoreline which was doubled after the interval thanks to Ryan Taylor, Matt Gardner and Nathan Walker.
It was the Leicestershire Senior League hosts who started the brighter, and they had a golden opportunity to take the lead just three minutes in. Dominic Smith fouled a home attacker in the area, but Sam Arnold saved Paul Pallett’s spot kick.
A minute later, Arnold saw a long range shot cannon off the inside of his post, before Lelacheur was sent off for a headbutt.
From then on Hinckley dominated, and they took the lead after 24 minutes, when Richards’ 40 yard lob found the top corner.
Four minutes later, he latched onto Dominic Oliver’s through ball and side footed past the ‘keeper to double the scoreline.
Allexton pulled one back ten minutes before half time, when a free kick from the left headed home.
But just a minute later Richards bagged his treble. Straight from kick off, his powerful run beat several home defenders before his precise finish into the bottom corner.
Richards was forced off shortly after half time, but his replacement Taylor continued the scoring. He scored Hinckley’s fourth with a 25 yard strike that swerved past Sam Robinson.
Before that, Allexton had made the score 3-2, when free kick from the left was converted at the far post.
Two minutes after Taylor had made it four, Gardner made it five. Taylor’s clever reverse pass found the former Coalville Town forward in space, and he finished despite the best efforts of the Allexton defence.
Nathan Walker added gloss to the scoreline with three minutes to go, when his first time shot was spilled over the line by Robinson.
