It’s time for Hinckley AFC to embark on the club’s first season at step five, starting with Saturday’s away trip to Eynesbury Rovers.
10 years of hard work and near misses at step six culminated with lifting the Midland League Division One title last season, as the squad became the first Hinckley team to win a league since 2001.
And now, Joe Conneely and Courtney Hunter-Belford will lead their side at step five for the first time. They’ll do so with a mixture of new faces and members remaining from last season’s squad that achieved that title, with eight players in line for debuts at Eynesbury.
This will also be the club’s first competitive match played in July – the earliest Hinckley have ever started a league season.
The opposition
Eynesbury finished 17th last season and lost just one of their last seven home matches in a run that was pivotal in their battle against relegation.
So too was their form at Hall Road – 22 of their 31 points came at home, including one from a goalless draw in their Boxing Day derby with St Neots Town which was watched by a division-high crowd of 793.
They also had a decent run in the FA Vase, reaching the second round.
From the dressing room
“It’s a really exciting league. We’re going into the unknown a bit but we’ve done as much as we can to prepare for teams. This is a brilliant league and it doesn’t get much tougher than a good journey to Eynesbury to start, and then taking on the title favourites two days later.
“Eynesbury will fancy it at home to a team who have just come up. We’ve prepared well, we had a good session on Monday to get the lads ready. Hopefully we’ll get a good following in our first game at step five. It’s history but can’t keep dwelling on that. We’re a step five club on merit now and we want to keep doing as well as we can.”
Joe Conneely
Key information
Eynesbury play at the Alfred Hall Memorial Ground, Hall Road, Eynesbury, Cambridgeshire, PE19 2SF.
Adults: £6
Concessions: £3
Under 18s: £1
