Tomlinson on Scrappy Win
Hinckley AFC assistant manager Paul Tomlinson said that AFC were successful after half time in yesterday’s 2-0 win at Nuneaton Griff because they were able to ‘press them in their own half’.
After an uneventful first 45 minutes, Dom Smith and Luke Richards scored for Hinckley in the second half to extend their unbeaten run to seventeen.
And Tomlinson said that he and Carl Abbott adapted the system slightly at half time in order to get a tighter grip on the game. He said: ‘It was a very scrappy game, especially the first half. There was no rhythm to the game, and it was quite long ball.
‘We couldn’t get a grip of the game, we seemed to be too far apart in different departments because the game was so spread and we couldn’t go and close down.
‘It was a really scrappy first half, but in the second half we tightened up a little bit and we’ve matched them up 4-4-2.
‘That made it a little easier for us to get on the ball and press a little higher up the park by squeezing the back line further up the field, and that’s where we got our joy: by being able to press them in their own half.’
Tomlinson said Hinckley were kept quiet in the first half partly because the threat of Marco Adaggio was nullified, which they adjusted at half time.
‘The way we’d set up, with Robbie (Millington) playing at the top, Nathan (Walker) and Roscoe (Ross Clarke) as the two at the back sitting, and we couldn’t get Marco into the game. We couldn’t play through the lines to get him into the game.
‘That isolated Robbie, so by pushing Marco further forward alongside Robbie, it made everybody’s life a little bit easier today.’
AFC’s next game is the Jelson Homes Senior Cup Semi Final against Barlestone St Giles on Tuesday, but that game hadn’t even been mentioned until after yesterday’s game, according to Tomlinson.
‘We hadn’t even talked about Tuesday night. We’ll discuss it now this game’s over and done with, but it never had any bearing on the game whatsoever because we hadn’t spoken about it. Now we’ll start thinking about Tuesday.’
The current seventeen match unbeaten run has seen Hinckley soar to second place in the Midland League First Division. After a difficult start to the season, AFC have crept up the table quietly, and Tomlinson is happy for the likes of Highgate United, Bromsgrove Sporting an Bolehall Swifts to be talked about ahead of Hinckley.
‘Myself and Abbo were talking about that the other night. Teams are not even talking about us. We were watching a game the other night and teams are talking about Highgate, they’re talking about Bromsgrove and they’re talking about Bolehall, but they’re not talking about us.
‘That’s great, but we’ve just got to keep this run going. Sam (Arnold)’s had a great game today, but the two centre halves (Smith and Alex Morris) have been outstanding in the last few weeks for us. I don’t like to single out individual players, because Sam’s had a good game today, but the two centre halves are, for me, very special footballers.
‘That’s helped us on the run that we’ve been on. If you can stay solid defensively, then you give yourself a chance and those two have given us a great chance over the last few weeks.’
Finally, Tomlinson said that Hinckley have simple objectives for Tuesday’s game.
‘Go and win it! We need to go and see what sort of a squad we’ve got available for Tuesday, and we’ll be going there to win the game. We go into every game to win it, and this one will be no different.’