Assistant manager John Ramshaw felt his Hinckley AFC side picked up a good point at Heather St John’s yesterday – but was also disappointed not to take all three.
AFC led twice during an entertaining first half, but were pegged back both times by their resilient hosts who had won every league game prior.
But despite hitting the woodwork twice late on, AFC couldn’t force home the goal that would have given them back-to-back wins.
And Ramshaw admits he had mixed feelings about whether it was a point gained or two dropped.
He said: “At the start of the day we probably would have taken a point, coming away to the league leaders who were unbeaten in the league, as we are too.
“But when the referee blew for full time we felt a bit disappointed, because in the last five minutes we hit the bar, then hit the bar again and didn’t put away the rebound.
“So we’re a little bit disappointed at the end of the day, but it’s a good point against a good side – there’s no two ways about that.”
Ramshaw was impressed with the way his side defended after half time, particularly when faced with the league’s top scorer Simeon Cobourne.
“I thought we defended well today, certainly in the second half. Cobourne came on in the second half – he’s lively, his movement’s good and he’s quick.
“So our defenders had their hands full, but I thought they coped very well.”
He does, though, want his side to manage games better, having relinquished leads on more than one occasion early in this campaign.
“We talked at half time about game management. We scored twice but let them back into the game quickly on both occasions.
“With a minute to go before half time, they scored from a break away from our free kick. We thought we could have managed that better, and we spoke about that at half time.
“But as we keep saying, it’s a young team, a team that’s only been put together at the start of this season.”
But that young side is now starting to understand each other more, and Ramshaw reckons there is plenty of cause for optimism as the season goes on.
“We started to look more cohesive as a unit today, more so than previous matches.
“The light at the end of the tunnel is beginning to show, and we’re starting to come together more as a team. There are signs of us becoming a good side.”
