Lewis Rankin will break Hinckley AFC’s appearance record if he plays in tomorrow night’s United Counties Premier South trip to Coventry United.
Rankin equalled Luke Richards’ tally of 151 appearances for the club with a start in Saturday’s match at Daventry Town, and our longest-serving player will set a new record if he features at the Butts Park Arena.
Since joining in 2020, Rankin has captained the side and been part of our Midland League Cup and Division One winning teams, scoring 56 goals in that time.
And he could break the record against his former club, having played at Coventry United in 2017/18.
Hinckley go there with both sides still looking for their first points of the season after opening day losses, but Joe Conneely will be boosted by the returns of Matt Dawson, Luke Jones and Reece Massey to his squad, while Oscar Marshall’s dead leg will be assessed. Will Harris (knee), Ethan Flaig (hamstring) and Sam Lockley (abroad) remain out.
The opposition
Hinckley and Coventry United finished just two places apart last season, with the Red and Greens finishing seventh and just a point outside the play-offs.
And they have shown their ambition to better that this campaign by bringing in a host of players, including ex-Hinckley forwards Ryan Harkin and Brady Middleton.
They went down 1-0 in their Friday night opener to fellow fancied side Aylestone Park, in front of a crowd of 490, a rare defeat at the Butts where they lost just once after the end of August last season.
Both sides comprehensively won their respective home games last season, United winning 4-1 in October and Hinckley returning the favour by the same scoreline at Kirkby Road in March.
From the dressing room
“They’re a good team. It’s always end-to-end at the Butts because the pitch is so big, there’s just so much space for everyone. They’ll be there or thereabouts, Ellis (Alleyne, United manager) has put a good squad together and they’ve spent a lot of money so they’ll be favourites to beat us. They’ll want to bounce back from losing on Friday and we’ll want to do the same.
“We’ve got to be so much better than on Saturday but we know that, it’s blatantly obvious. It’ll be a tough game but a good one to try and respond.”
Joe Conneely
Key information
Hinckley will be playing in our new purple away kit for the first time in this match.
Coventry United play at the Butts Park Arena, Butts Road, Coventry, CV1 3GE.
Adults: £7
Concessions: £4
Under 16s: £1
