Hinckley AFC’s new management team will take charge of their first home game with the visit of Northampton ON Chenecks to Kirkby Road on Bank Holiday Monday.
Ross Innes, Adam Davies and Chris Tullin saw their first game in charge end in a penalty shoot-out loss following a 1-1 draw at Pershore Town in the FA Vase on Saturday.
Now, Hinckley will return to United Counties Premier South action after a two-week break, looking to build on four points from their last two league outings.
But as they look to keep that run going, they’ll come up against a Chenecks side off the back of their best result of the season so far.
The opposition
Chenecks and Hinckley have run remarkably similar courses over the past few seasons – both lost home play-off ties in 2022/23, before winning their respective step six divisions a year later and then settling nicely at step five with a mid-table finish.
And that continued when their manager, Dave White, stepped down just a couple of days after Joe Conneely did likewise – with his backroom team, led by Ant White, remaining at the club.
And they oversaw a superb come-from-behind win at Atherstone Town on Saturday for their third win in five league games to start the season, that lifted them into the play-off places early on.
Last season’s top scorer Lewis Irwin, who scored at Kirkby Road last September, grabbed their 88th-minute winner while they have also won away to GNG Oadby Town and Newport Pagnell Town.
Hinckley had the better of the two meetings last season – coming from 2-0 down to draw the home game courtesy of Jared Bradshaw’s debut brace, before winning 4-1 in Northampton in November when Luke Jones netted twice.
From the dressing room
“We’ll re-group, and try to bring one or two more into the building to hopefully get a reaction from the boys. We only got appointed on Thursday evening and the deadline for registering players for the Vase on Friday at midday, so we had a lot to do in not much time!
“It’s important that the players know exactly who they’re playing with. We’ll try and get a steady ship, and come the end of the season we’ll see where we are.”
Ross Innes
Key information
Kirkby Road has a large, free 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
