Hinckley AFC play the second of three games this week with the short trip to Lutterworth Town’s Dunley Way ground to face GNG Oadby Town.
Ahead of Friday’s visit of Malvern Town in the Emirates FA Cup, Hinckley face a league trip to Lutterworth to take on an Oadby side who have had to move venues for this game due to pitch issues.
This is also the first ever meeting between the sides, who have never met before despite always previously playing one level apart in the same county.
Hinckley will be forced into at least one change from Saturday’s draw with goalkeeper Divin Emmanuel out due to the dislocated finger he picked up late in the first half against Easington Sports.
The opposition
Those aforementioned pitch issues mean Oadby have only played one league game so far. Their opening day game against St Neots was postponed, and the odd number of teams in the league meant they had no fixture in the opening round of midweek games.
But their start to the Premier South season couldn’t have gone much better when it finally did get underway – a 5-2 win away to Northampton Sileby Rangers on Saturday got them off and running. They were knocked out of the FA Cup by Grimsby Borough the week before.
From the dressing room
“It’s not ideal (having to sign another goalkeeper). But that’s just us in August. Every year seems to be ridiculous for injuries and red cards. It’s frustrating. We might have to sign a couple of players because we’re missing a few bodies and our return so far hasn’t been fantastic.
“We want to make sure we pick up a result. We want to push for the play-offs and we firmly believe in what we’re doing. We believe we can win every game. It’s a tough turnaround and a difficult schedule, but that extra game on Friday is what it is.”
Courtney Hunter-Belford
Key information
The match will be played at Lutterworth Town FC, Dunley Way, Lutterworth, LE17 4NP and will kick off at 7.45pm.