Hinckley AFC manager Carl Abbott said his side’s performance in their 5-0 win over Berkhamsted in the Buildbase FA Vase was “fantastic”.
AFC reached the last 16 of the competition for the first time after a stunning start that put them three goals to the good before ten minutes had been played.
And Abbott said the way his side came out of the blocks was crucial in settling his side down. He said: “You don’t get starts like that too often. We should have had a penalty but we won the free kick straight afterwards and Lee Butler stepped up and stuck it in the stanchion.
“It gave us a great start and then we scored the second goal. Before you knew it, the nerves had settled, we were away and running and it was just the perfect start.”
Two of those goals came from Luke Richards, who replaced Paul Sullivan up front. The former Wolves Casuals boss was full of praise for the forward’s performance on his first start of the season.
“It couldn’t have been written any better than that. Luke was brilliant. He was dogged and aggressive, and he gives us something totally different up front.
“We knew Sully was never going to be able to play today, so that was one that we had to work out a few weeks ago. The options were Sean Williams up with Javia, Luke and Jav or Luke and Sean.
“We went with Luke for that bit of extra power. He’s looked really hungry in the last few weeks and he’s dying to get back in the side. He represents the club well and it was an excellent performance. I thought he was unplayable”
And Abbott says the performance meant they created more history for the club, and now can’t wait for the next round.
“After we went 3-0 up I thought they came back into it, particularly in the last 20 minutes of the first half. They were probably on top going onto half time in terms of possession.
“But by that time we were 3-0 up, so maybe psychologically, by that time, we had sat off them of. But we started on the front foot, we got into them and Lee Butler settled those nerves early on.
“We looked a cut above throughout, we were comfortable and clinical around the box.
“It was a fantastic performance and we’ve made a little bit more history for the club. It’s really exciting now to see who we get in the next round on Monday.”
