Hinckley AFC’s final cup competition this season is the League Cup, which sees a home tie with Rainworth Miners Welfare on Sunday.
Hinckley will be looking to extend their excellent recent run in League Cups, having won the tournament and reached the semi-finals in the last two seasons in the Midland League.
Now switched to the United Counties, our first round tie sees a meeting with Rainworth who will be looking to become the fifth Division One team to upset Premier Division South opposition in this competition this season.
There’s mixed news on the availability front for Hinckley – Jack Edwards is suspended, Isa Abraham injured and Sam Lockley cup-tied, with Joe Conneely hopeful over Ky Green and George Atwal who both missed Monday’s Challenge Cup tie with Quorn. New signing Keelan Fallows is in line for a debut in goal.
The opposition
Rainworth came through a preliminary round tie with Gedling Miners Welfare to set up a visit to Kirkby Road.
They have had an up and down start to their league season, with some big wins (including putting six past West Bridgford) mixed in with some heavy defeats, losing 7-1 at Retford United in midweek.
In total, they have won five and lost seven of their 12 league games – a considerable improvement on last season when they faced a relegation battle for much of the campaign.
Seven-goal Callum Brooks and Tom Bedford, with six, have been their biggest attacking threats.
From the dressing room
“The League Cup takes on bigger priority now that it’s the final cup competition we’re in. We’ve always had a good record in League Cups since I’ve been at the club. Everyone likes playing midweek games, but we said to the lads on Monday that we need a cup run for that to happen.
“You’ll always take a cup tie at home to a team from the league below, but Rainworth have had a decent start and they’ll set up to try and beat us. We’re at home, we’re playing better now and we’re confident of going through as long as we keep going with the progress we’ve seen in the last couple of weeks.”
Joe Conneely
Key information
The tie will progress straight to a penalty shoot-out if the match is a draw at the end of 90 minutes. The winners will progress to the last 16.
Kirkby Road has a large, free on-site car park, and we have both cash and card turnstiles available. Membership discounts and season tickets are not valid for this game.
Adults: £8
Concessions: £6
Under 16s: £2
