Joint manager Joe Conneely said he was pleased with the “ugly” side of Hinckley AFC’s 2-1 win at Nuneaton Griff.
AFC ended Griff’s unbeaten start to the season as goals from Jack Edwards and Harry Walker-Donovan before half-time put them 2-0 up.
And they weathered a second-half storm after going down to ten men when Preston Bitemo was shown a red card to earn a second backs-to-the-wall win in four days.
Conneely said that was the most pleasing aspect of the victory – and that it isn’t something that has always been a strength of the side.
He said: “We knew they’d try to make the game emotional, based on there being lots of players who knew each other, whereas we tried to strip that back.
“We did ugly things well even with 11 players, and that’s probably the most pleasing thing because we’ve come unstuck previously in games like that.
“Those wins go a long way in a season. We didn’t have to do it much last season, but we said at half-time on Saturday to go back to Kimberley where we got through an hour with nine and ten men.
“There were a couple of players left from that so we were able to use it. We had to manage it and kick every ball. But it was a good win and it’s always nice to win a derby. We had a blip against Heather, that was a disappointing day, but we’ve bounced back well.”
He felt the red cards shown to both Ky Green at Bilston and Bitemo at Griff were harsh, but must now do without them for three matches.
Green’s suspension starts on Saturday while Bitemo misses three games starting with next weekend’s FA Vase tie at Eccleshall.
“If a lad had done something idiotic then it’s not defendable. But Ky’s just overstretched for a tackle, the lad made a meal of it. Referees react to players and when everyone is getting around the ref he reacts to it.
“With Preston’s, the ball is in the air, he’s just tried to win the ball but he’s caught the lad. The ref said he led with his elbow which he didn’t, he’s a 17-year-old lad and is not like that.”
AFC also welcomed Jeremie Agholor back to the squad when he came on as a second-half substitute, and says pace in wide areas in something he and Courtney Hunter-Belford were looking to address.
And overall, with three wins from four league games, he says he’s content with the start his side have made.
“Droitwich was a tough opener, and we managed to get through it with players missing. But we saw against Heather that the lack of squad depth affected us.
“We didn’t deserve anything from that game, we got outran, outfought, bullied, they did the horrible things well and we were a soft touch.
“But it’s all about how you react and we said to use that game as our Hucknall moment from the UCL season. So hopefully we’ll go on a run now. It’s a good start, but teams pick up results off everyone in this league so it will take for someone to go on a bit of a run. Hopefully that team can be us.”
