Three goals in each half condemned Hinckley AFC to a heavy defeat as ruthless Daventry Town punished them on the opening day of the new season.
Hinckley’s optimism going into the new campaign evaporated by half time as a catalogue of defensive errors helped the hosts to a 3-0 lead.
And it got no better after the break for AFC whose season starts with their heaviest ever defeat.
Hinckley were missing seven players through either injury or holidays and it left the opening day squad threadbare, with youth teamers Keaton Blackbird and Caleb Yeboah and Assistant Manager Sam Belcher on a four-man bench.
Hinckley got an early sighter of the threat Daventry’s front three would pose – with less than a minute played, Sam Jackson crossed low but Nathan Burrows’ stretched effort went comfortably over.
Lewis Rankin, equalling a club record with his 151st appearance, had the game’s first shot on target, a curling one that was held by Lewis Patching as Hinckley made a few forays into the Daventry box without posing too much threat.
Daventry’s early attacks were also more jabs than knockout blows – but that all changed over the next half hour where every sighter they had ended up in the back of the net. Shortly before the half hour mark, Simeon Cobourne picked the ball up on the left and cut inside, his shot bouncing awkwardly in front of Keelan Fallows but the ‘keeper will still feel he should have kept it out as the ball bounced over his outstretched palm.
Just five minutes later, it was two – Burrows nudged Ky Green off the ball and took aim from 25 yards with a fierce shot that Fallows got a hand to but couldn’t keep it out.
And with the floodgates opened, Jackson took advantage of a heavy touch by Nick Brandish and stroked home from the edge of the box to make it three.
Quick as a flash, the game was out of reach for Hinckley. But if Joe Conneely wanted a response after the break, he’ll have been frustrated even further within two minutes. A Hinckley free kick was floated straight into the hands of Patching, the goalkeeper’s long launch up field wasn’t dealt with and the ball ended up with Cobourne, in space, who scored his second with Hinckley all looking at the assistant referee for an offside flag that never came.
By the hour mark, Daventry had made it five and they’d scored all of them inside a 32-minute spell either side of the break. Jackson and Burrows combined again, a cross from the right stood up to the back post and Burrows was left unmarked to head home his second. It was a simple goal that summed up Hinckley’s defensive lapses of the night.
There was some light relief for the 465-strong crowd when Daventry ‘keeper Patching fell foul of the new laws around only holding the ball for eight seconds. When he exceeded that time, brought in to curb timewasting, Hinckley were awarded a corner but the delivery came to nothing.
AFC did threaten late on through Bryan Kohyrelon, the substitute showing great feet on the edge of the box before scuffing his shot, but more of the action continued at the other end. Cobourne was twice denied his hat-trick, once by a fine Fallows save one-on-one, and then by Brandish’s goalline clearance.
But Daventry did get a sixth when Hinckley failed to deal with a long throw, Fallows made an excellent stop from George Mitchell-Gears’ initial effort but the same player reacted fastest to the rebound and made no mistake at the second time of asking.
It was a chastening night for Hinckley, and Conneely has plenty to assess before Wednesday’s trip to another of the sides expected to compete for the title, in Coventry United.
Daventry: Lewis Patching, Dan Cassidy (Callum Westwood 67), Merson Styles (Tom Walton 67), Tom Wood, Lewis Burgess, Gez McGahey (Carter Price 55), Luke Knight (Calvin Green 63), George Mitchell-Gears, Nathan Burrows (Tommy Kruck 63), Simeon Cobourne, Sam Jackson.
Goals: Simeon Cobourne (28, 47), Nathan Burrows (33, 60), Sam Jackson (39), George Mitchell-Gears (83)
Hinckley: Keelan Fallows, Lucinee Donzo, Nick Brandish, Zaki Evans, Ky Green, Oli Szymanski, Lewis Rankin, Billy Snaith (Caleb Yeboah 75), Chandler Pegg, Jared Bradshaw (Keaton Blackbird 75), MJ Semahimbo (Bryan Kohyrelon 60).
Attendance: 465
