Hinckley AFC’s first home game at step five sees the exciting visit of local rivals Aylestone Park on Monday evening.
After Saturday’s opening win at Eynesbury Rovers, Hinckley return to Kirkby Road for their first home game of the season and their first at step five.
Both sides will be looking to keep up their 100% records after opening weekend wins, but tasks don’t get much tougher than this, according to joint-boss Joe Conneely, who says the title favourites are coming to town on Monday night.
The opposition
After the disappointment of losing in the play-off final last season, Aylestone got off to the best possible start as a thumping 7-1 win over Coventry United quickly put their near miss behind them.
A trio of high profile signings from step four saw them bring in Jake Duffy from Harborough Town, Corey Armeni from Anstey Nomads and Pearson Mwanyongo from Shepshed Dynamo over the summer – the latter two were both on the scoresheet on Friday night.
So too were Corey Bucalossi, who scored against Hinckley for Birstall United last season in the Leicestershire Senior Cup, and Andres Articolo, who was sent off in the same game.
Previous meetings
The two sides were league rivals in 2021/22 in the UCL Division One. Both were competing towards the top that season, as Hinckley edged both games 2-1.
Overall, the sides have met five times with Aylestone’s last win coming in the most recent cup meeting – a Leicestershire Challenge Cup tie in October 2017.
From the dressing room
“They’re a very good side. Doddsy’s done a cracking job to take them from where they were to where they are now. They’ve strengthened over the summer, they’ve got plenty of good footballers but they’re savvy and streetwise as well.
“It’s a really good challenge for us early on. It helps having picked up three points on Saturday, we can go into Aylestone and enjoy it. But we’ll try and win the game. We don’t do anything to accept draws or narrow defeats, we’ll go toe-to-toe with them. We’ve had plenty of good battles with Doddsy over the years. There should be a good crowd in and it’s a fantastic game for us to look forward to.”
Joe Conneely
Key information
Kirkby Road has a large on-site car park, and we have both cash and card turnstiles available.
Adults: £7 members, £8 non-members
Concessions: £5 members, £6 non-members
Under 16s: Members go free, £2 non-members
