Abbo ‘Immensely Proud’ of Final Performance

Hinckley AFC manager Carl Abbott spoke of his ‘immense pride’ in his side’s performance despite their 1-0 defeat to Bardon Hill in the Jelson Homes Senior Cup Final yesterday evening.

Andy Fell scored the only goal of the game for Bardon midway through the first half, and only an inspired performance by Bardon ‘keeper Chris Martin prevented Hinckley at least taking the game into extra time.

Speaking after the game, Abbott spoke of his pride in the team’s performance, saying: ‘I’m immensely proud of them, they were brilliant tonight. First half, I think it’s become something that I’m used to. I think with our possession based style we tend to grow in to games to find a foothold.

‘They (Bardon Hill) started at a canter and we struggled to get to grips with them for ten minutes. First half, I thought we were the better side but we’ve given a really, really bad goal away, which we’re disappointed with.

‘Other than that, we defended their line of attack brilliantly. I really felt we could have defended them all night in open play. I thought our back four were absolutely brilliant.

‘We’ve gone in 1-0 down, which we’re disappointed with. We were very calm at half time, we had an inquisition over the goal and then we were very calm and very positive. We went out believing that we’d get on top in the game, which we did, we dominated play, we moved the ball sharply and we tore them a new one to be honest.

‘I’m just so upset for the fans that we’ve just not had that rub of the green that we deserved here tonight. Nobody here tonight would say that it shouldn’t have been a Hinckley victory but that’s the way it goes sometimes.’

To see the full video interview with Abbo, visit our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnyvlXK71-k