After last week’s postponement, Hinckley AFC will try again for our first away game of 2026, this time with a local derby visit to Aylestone Park.
Hinckley’s trip to Easington Sports last weekend was called off because of the freezing temperatures so it’s a short trip up the M69 to take on Aylestone that will now mark AFC’s first road trip of the new year.
And they will do so boosted by a double-signing last week as Alex Dean and Alex Lock both joined the squad ahead of the final three months of the campaign, hoping to replicate the performance and result from the last time the two sides met in the League Cup in late September, when Hinckley edged an entertaining encounter 2-1.
The opposition
Both games between Hinckley and Aylestone have been thoroughly entertaining this season – a pulsating 2-2 draw at Kirkby Road in the league in August before Hinckley’s Cup win six weeks later.
And Aylestone will hope to avenge that defeat especially having dropped from second to 10th in the last two months following a run of seven consecutive defeats to end 2025.
In early November, they were well in the title race having lost just once in the league but that recent run has seen them knocked out of two Cup competitions and fall six points back from the play-offs.
They haven’t played since the day after Boxing Day, when they went down 3-0 to Leicester Nirvana, so will hope that a three-week lay-off has given them chance to put those defeats behind them.
Last week, Hinckley were expecting to go up against their former manager but Joe Conneely left his role as joint boss at Aylestone this week to take up the vacant role at Coventry Sphinx, putting Lee Barratt back in sole charge.
They still have plenty of talented players, including Louis Samuels who has top scored with 14, and Tayo Tucker who’s also into double figures.
Key information
Hinckley will be in our purple away kit for this fixture.
Aylestone Park play at Saffron Lane, Aylestone, Leicester, LE2 6TG.
Adults: £7
Concessions: £4
