Abbo on Heather Victory
Despite a 4-1 victory, Hinckley AFC manager Carl Abbott said his side’s first half performance against Heather St John’s was ‘very sloppy’.
Two goals from Marco Adaggio and one each from Luke Richards and Mitchell Tomlinson secured Hinckley’s fourth league win in five, but Abbo felt the team’s intensity wasn’t good enough during the first 45 minutes and demanded his side improve at half time.
He said: ‘I’m not sure it was convincing! In the first half we were very sloppy; we gave the lads a bit of a rocket at half time, we demanded more of them and in my opinion they should demand more of each other and of themselves.
‘Lads who get opportunities in the side need to take them with both hands and have an enthusiasm about them. The intensity in our game wasn’t good enough, and I think the key word for the day is enthusiasm.
‘We probably, for some reason, lacked that in the first half, but it was far, far better in the second half for a few reasons. None more so than Neil MacKenzie to be honest, who I think is the illustration of a good player that wants to be a good player all the time.
‘We say to the guys that that’s how they should be; to be the best player they can be all the time and not just when they feel like it.
‘We can’t afford to play, and contest, portions of games like that, especially when we play against better sides, but the second half was far better and it was a good result.’
Darious Darkin was voted as The Printing Works Supporters Man of the Match on his full debut for the club, but honourable mentions from fans went to the two full backs – Rico Taylor and Mitchell Tomlinson.
On Darkin, Abbo commented: ‘(he’s a) Good player. Good energy, good technical ability, good spacial awareness, good distribution, he plays difficult passes – difficult forward passes. He’s a good player and a really good acquisition for us.
‘He gives us a little bite as well, tenaciousness in midfield that we maybe lack a little bit with the blend we’ve got. We’ve got great attributes but that’s one thing that we won’t be missing in our selection of players. He complements what we’ve got with Neil and Nathan and he’s a good acquisition and a very, very good player.
‘You’ll see far, far better than that as well. If people are impressed with that today then they’ll be really pleased in the coming months.
‘Rico’s done well. It’s something that we’ve been talking about for a while, a week or two, now – about having a look at Rico in there. The Bromsgrove game was probably a little bit too intense to try him in a position he’s never played in before, so we were pleased to have the opportunity to look at that today and I thought he did very, very well – certainly well enough to go again on Saturday.
‘Mitch was better second half. Again, I thought he was a little sloppy first half but was better second half.
‘There’s plenty of positives today as well, we look strong on paper and we roll on.’
