Hinckley ended 2014 with a gutsy, character driven victory at Sandbach – a place where they have faced extremely difficult games in the last 3 years.
This certainly wasn’t Hinckley at their best, with the fluency of last week’s win over Old Hales lacking, however if anything this makes this victory more impressive as the team really had to dig in to get the result, and one which earlier in the season probably would have gone the other way.
Credit must also go to players who gave strong performances well out of position – hooker Jordan Goddard had to play 50 minutes at openside, loose head Liam Warren most of the second half at blindside and back row Tom Morris also having to move to 13 when the side lost Matt Loveday to injury. These strong performances all contributed to a win leaving Hinckley in 4th at Christmas and 5 points off the play-off spot, with the lack of bonus points collected being the factor keeping then out of that position currently.
Hinckley won the toss and played into a strong wind in the first half. Sandbach used this to their advantage as predicted, kicking a simple penalty after 4 minutes, and then scoring under the posts with 12 minutes on the clock – the first try Hinckley had conceded since the 15th November. It was converted for a 10 – 0 lead.
When Hinckley regained the ball from the kick off, Dylan Weddle made an excellent break to work into the home 22, with Hinckley ending up with a scrummages ending with the referee disappearing under the posts for a penalty try. Dave Weston converted.
Both sides had opportunities to score again in the half, with Hinckley being relatively happy with the return on the half, now playing with the wind and only being 3 points behind.
Early in the half, with the kicking game now much more of an effective option, another period of pressure in the right hand corner led the referee going under the sticks again, Weston again converting.
Hinckley’s defence, which was loose in the first half, had tightened up and managed to take what Sandbach through at them, and with Sandbach trying to play from deep a knock on inside their 22 leading to a scrummage and a try to Matt Fearn (although Dylan Weddle will try to claim it). Weston converted.
Sandbach gave themselves an opportunity with a try with 4 minutes to go, however Hinckley held out for 4th league win in a row, completing an impressive December having also beaten Old Hales and Nuneaton.
The bonus point opportunities where clearly there, and that needs to be a big work on in the new year, but from where the side where on the 11th October, where the side performed terribly at home losing 27 – 3 against Bromsgrove and relegation looking like more of a possibility than promotion, a run of form which was seen the team win 9 out of 10, the only defeat being a last minute kick against Lichfield, means the squad can look forward to the new year in a positive manner.
Merry Christmas to all, and see you at Leicester Road for the fixture against Scunthorpe on the 3rd January.