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| January 2008 | |
| Monday 28th January | |
| Vauxhall hit and run | |
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Hinckley United lost their fourth consecutive game, to relegation rivals Vauxhall
Motors at the Marston's Stadium. The 0-1 defeat leaves Hinckley staring at relegation
as a very real possibility and only a drastic turn in form could deter otherwise.
The match was captain Rich Lavery's 200th appearance for Hinckley United, but it
won't be one he will want to remember. Despite having plenty of possesion and
creating the better chances, a second half goal from Vauxhall defender Russell
Hitchen, followed by determined 10 man defending, saw the points go to the Wirral
club. The result means that Vauxhall go above Hinckley in the table, and Hinckley
are now 4 points from safety. Click here for: Vauxhall Motors match details |
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| Saturday 26th January | |
| Pilgrims progress past Hinckley | |
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It just goes to prove that the luck is never with you when you're down the bottom.
Boston United won 0-1 on their first visit to the Marston Stadium, thanks to a David
Gailbraith second half goal. The fact that goalkeeper Simon Raynor was Boston's man
of the match though shows how much Hinckley tried to win this game. Raynor made three
excellent saves, from Luke Edwards, Callum Lloyd and Tom Bonner respectively. Then
when Raynor was eventually beaten, twice the post came to the rescue and the third
time the goal was ruled out for offside. Boston's winner was scored after Jon Stevenson
broke down the left on 50 minutes and crossed into the area for Gailbraith to score.
To compound Hinckley's misery Rich Lavery was shown his second yellow card for dissent,
after the match had finished. Click here for: Boston United match details |
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| Tuesday 22nd January | |
| Player merry-go-round round up | |
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It's been a busy few days with players coming and going so I thought I'd best do
a round up. Michael Byron has returned to Notts County at the end of his loan period, and as a replacement we have Gavin Hoyte on a 3 month loan from Cambridge United. Hoyte was formerly at Bedford Town, with Tom Bonner and Nick Platnauer, before being signed by the U's at the start of the season. Young striker Ryan Charles has been recalled by Luton Town, but has been replaced by Brian Quailey, from Nuneaton Borough, who was signed on Monday. Quailey spent his main professional career playing for Scunthorpe and Halifax Town, and has also made appearances for his national side, St Kitts & Nevis. |
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| Monday 21st January | |
| No really, if only games lasted 85 minutes! | |
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It was same old story at the Marston Stadium as yet another last minute goal meant
Hinckley United conceded the win to Gainsborough Trinity. In a game of zero quality
due to the extreme wind, Gainsborough's Liam Needham scored first shortly before
half time whilst kicking with the wind. Hinckley equalised in the second half when
they were kicking with the wind, thanks to a Kyle Storer penalty. That was it until
the final minute when a soft penalty was awarded to Gainsborough, which Lewis McMahon
stepped up to score. Click here for: Gainsborough Trinity match details |
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| Saturday 19th January | |
| If only games lasted 85 minutes! | |
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Hinckley United again succumbed to a goal in the last 5 minutes as Redditch won
3-2 at the Valley Stadium. With new loan signing Gavin Hoyte making his debut,
Hinckley got off to the worst possible start going a goal down within 4 minutes,
when Howard Forinton scored for the Reds. Hinckley were back on level terms in the
16th minute after Tom Bonner was fouled in the area and Kyle Storer despatched the
spot kick straight down the middle to make it 1-1. Graham Deakin put Redditch back
into a 2-1 lead with a direct free kick on the half hour, but Tom Bonner equalised
for Hinckley with a header just before half time. Redditch won the match with a goal
Hinckley will feel aggreived by. In the 85th minute a Redditch corner was played
in, and Hinckley felt that keeper Sean Bowles was subject to a foul, however the
referee saw no incident and Damien Markman was on hand to finish and win. Click here for: Redditch United match details |
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| Saturday 12th January | |
| Linnets wings clipped | |
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Burscough's first visit to the Marston Stadium ended in a defeat for them as Hinckley
United won a game full of incidents 1-0. Hinckley started the better team and Mike
Byron had a header from a corner go wide in the 6th minute. Leon Jackson, making
his 200th appearance in a Hinckley United shirt, then beat
the offside trap in the 13th minute and lifted the ball over Tony McMillan, but saw
it drop on the roof of the Burscough net. Hinckley forced a number of corners on
18th minutes, and from these Richard Lavery headed down goalwards and saw his chance
just cross the line before being cleared away by the defender. The Burscough defenders
claimed it wasn't a goal, but thankfully the lino saw it had crossed the line and
the goal was awarded. A second moment of controversy followed shortly in the 24th
minute. Leon Jackson and Brian Moogan both jumped up contesting a 50/50 high ball,
but Moogan came off worse in the challenge after Jackson landed on Moogan's chest.
Moogan had to be substituted with his chest injury, but Jackson received a yellow
card for the challenge. Burscough had had a couple of wayward long shots, but their
first real goal effort came at the end of the first half. In a goal mouth scramble
Sean Bowles initially lost the ball and two Burscough players couldn't force the
ball into the goal before Bowles eventually dropped on the loose ball, keeping the
half time score 1-0 to Hinckley. Hinckley should've extended their lead shortly
after the start to the second half when Owen Story ran with the ball on the right
and crossed into the centre of the area, to Kyle Storer, who's header powered past
McMillian, but rebounded off the crossbar. Even then with McMillan on the floor
the ball fell back to Luke Edwards, but the ball was still going too fast for him
to control and his snap shot deflected away off his shin from 8 yards out. The next
moment of controversy happened on the hour. Leon Kelly and Sean Clancy jumped for
another 50/50 high ball and Kelly caught Clancy as they jumped. Unbelievably the
referee didn't hesitate and showed Kelly a straight red card. However being down
to 10 men didn't stop Hinckley and in the 65th minute Callum Lloyd played in Kyle
Storer, and his shot from a tight angle went into the side netting even though most
of the crowd thought he had scored. Story again had the run of the right wing moments
later and he crossed to far side of the penalty area where Luke Edwards was just
unable to connect with the cross on the edge of the goal area. With the extra man
Burscough began to get into the game more, though Sean Bowles was nearly embarressed
by a spinning ball that was fired in straight at him, but as he knelt to receive
the ball bounced and skidded off the turf, deflecting off him, and just past the
right of goal. Hinckley were beginning to sit deeper and deeper and Burscough
created more chances, but without really forcing Bowles into many saves. Bowles
however couldn't get near a Sean Clancy effort in the 78th minute, after he was
on the end of a cross, unmarked on the left of the area, only for the Burscough
defender to rush his chance and balloon the ball over the bar from 8 yards. With
Burscough pushing forward in the last minutes, Hinckley caught them on the break,
McMillan cleared a through ball, but only fell as far as Harry Harris, who measured
his shot and placed it to the far right of the goal from 25 yards. Tony McMillan
recovered brilliantly and scrambled across his goal area and just managed to tip
the ball away for a corner. From the corner the ball was played central to the edge
of the area and Leon Jackson provided the final piece of controversy. Jackson's
shot from the edge of the area beat McMillan but for a second time in the game the
ball rattled the crossbar, only this time for it to bounce down, appear to be over
the line before the spin took it away from goal. This time the lino and ref were
too far away to validate the goal and it remained 1-0. In the end it didn't matter
as the 10 men of Hinckley held out to the final whistle to take the three points. Click here for: Burscough match details |
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| Friday 11th January | |
| Big surprise in striker shake up | |
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Hinckley United boss Dean Thomas has rung the changes ahead of this weekends game
with Burscough. This season's leading striker Colin Marrison has left the Marston's
Stadium in a surprise swap deal, moving to Tamworth permanently. Young striker Luke
Edwards, who was on loan at Hinckley before Christmas, has moved back to Hinckley
on loan until the end of the season. Thomas said: "Colin is a good player, but he has not been scoring enough goals while Luke Edwards scored three goals in four games before Tamworth took him back." Edwards will make his full debut against Burscough tomorrow as part of a 'new look' strike force. Alongside him will be teenager Ryan Charles, who is on loan from Luton Town and is fit again after being sidelined through injury. Charles is highly regarded as an exciting prospect for the future at Kenilworth Road (which might only be a few months now anyway!) and has been loaned out for experience. There have been changes at the other end of the pitch also with central defender Tom Bonner signing for the club from Corby Town. Bonner lists Northampton Town, Nuneatin Borough and Rushden & Diamonds as some of his previous clubs. To make way for Bonner, Hinckley United have cut their losses on defender Jamie Hood who they paid a small fee for from Gresley Rovers. Hood made a diastrous debut against Nuneatin at Liberty Way then failed to impress again in his other County Cup match. In what can only be described as a great bit of business by Gresley, Hood returns to the Unibond One club permanently. |
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| Saturday 5th January | |
| Same Old Worcester Woe | |
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In yet another game against Worcester City, Hinckley concede a goal in injury time,
this time to suffer a 2-1 defeat at St Georges Lane. Jamie Price had given Worcester
a second half lead after his free kick out wide evaded everyone in the area and
ended up in the back of the net. With 10 minutes remaining Leon Jackson equalised
for Hinckley after heading in a Lavery cross, but Emike Nwadike headed home for
Worcester in the second minute of injury time, to send me off looking for a noose. Click here for: Worcester City match details |
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| Friday 4th January | |
| Fans' collection for the O'Donnell family | |
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From Leicester Mercury Online:
http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk Calls were today made for the screening of athletes for heart problems after the latest death of a football player on the pitch. Motherwell captain Phil O'Donnell collapsed while playing for his side against Dundee United on Saturday. A post mortem examination found the 35-year-old father had suffered heart failure. Hinckley United fans today said it was "a bleak reminder" of Matt Gadsby's death in September 2006, while playing for the side. Mr Gadsby, from Donisthorpe, near Measham, was 27 when he died during a match against Harrogate Town from an undiagnosed heart condition. In the weeks afterwards, bosses and supporters at the club launched an appeal and raised over £50,000 for his widow, Sarah, and their daughter, Millie. On New Year's Day, fans from Hinckley and Nuneaton, reminded of his tragic death, helped raise more than £500 for Mr O'Donnell's young family in a collection during a match at Hinckley's Marston's Stadium. Simon Blyth, who runs the club shop, and helped organise the half time collection, backed calls for screening of footballers and other athletes to prevent any more sudden deaths on the pitch. Mr Gadsby's widow Sarah and his father, Andrew, have previously supported a call by the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (C-R-Y) http://www.c-r-y.org.uk/ for screening. Mr Blyth said: "There are charities out there such as Cry trying to get things moving. There are ways and means of this type of thing being avoided but obviously there's lots of money involved. It's the funding that's required. The collection we did is a gesture more than anything, but it shows the strength of feeling." Dave Riche, Hinckley United commercial manager, said: "To get £523 from a crowd of about 1,600 was tremendous. It was a great donation from fans at both Hinckley and Nuneaton. The death of Phil O'Donnell really pulled on the heart strings of our supporters, who were deeply affected by what happened to Matt Gadsby. It must be absolutely terrible for his family but you can see how the football community has really come together to help - from the highest levels of the Premiership right down to non-league level, people are talking about raising awareness. Any money that can be spent on research into what is happening is money well spent. There's got to be more research." Hinckley United press officer Andy Gibbs said: "It brought back a lot of bad memories. Matt's death is still touching a lot of people's hearts and at the time we were overwhelmed by the support we had from clubs." A spokeswoman from C-R-Y said: "It makes a lot of sense that athletes should be screened to detect undiagnosed heart problems. The Italians have been doing it for 20 years in sport and have more or less eliminated this problem in Italy. Sport doesn't induce the problem, it exacerbates the problem. The impact of an athlete dying on a pitch like that is absolutely phenomenal." |
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| Tuesday 1st January | |
| Generous Donation for the O'Donnell family | |
| In a bucket collection at the New Year Day derby game against Nuneaton, £523.47 was raised for a donation to the family of Phil O'Donnell, who tragically died whilst playing for Motherwell. Thanks to both sets of supporters and officials for all the donations. | |
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| Tuesday 1st January | |
| Hinckley prove a point and gain a point | |
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Hinckley United proved a point to themselves and the fans by drawing 0-0 with
Nuneatin Borough at the Marston's Stadium. With the Boxing Day battering at Liberty
Way still very fresh in their minds, Hinckley put in a much more spirited and
competitive performance. There were still chances for both sides to win it and both
goalkeepers made good saves thoughout the match, Andy Brown hit the post for Nuneatin
and Hinckley's Owen Story had a shot cleared off the line by Tom Curtis. Both sides
were also guilty of missing clear chances in the second half when no Boro player
could get on the end of a ball across the penalty area with Bowles beaten, and then
Colin Marrison managed to scoop a ball over the bar from 10 yards out when it looked
easier to score. Nuneatin finished the stronger of the two sides, but Hinckley's
defence were in no mood to be as charitable as they were on Boxing Day, and the game
finished 0-0. Click here for: Nuneatin Borough match details |
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