As usual Hinckley had to make changes due to unavailabilities for the latest league game versus Dudley Kingswinford in the Black Country. Mitch Lamb and Ewan Bartlett started their first league game of the season, while Ben Avent, Mark Deaville and Sam Greasley were welcomed back. Liam Warren, Jordan Goddard and Alex Norris made up the bench.
The pitch at Heathbrook was in good condition albeit a little soft on top as the teams ran out into the winter sunshine. A nice touch was the introduction of both teams and the referee over the tannoy system.

Unusually, Hinckley were straight into action as Matt Loveday ran a good line, but was upended illegally by DK flanker Hawkins to earn himself a yellow card. Mark Lord kicked for the corner where the lineout was won - a maul and a ruck later Dylan Weddle was over the try line for Hinckley’s first try with only a minute on the clock. Lord routinely converted.
The game settled down with the hosts beginning to gain territory and putting Hinckley under some pressure. From a Hinckley offside DK fly half Jamie Hearn converted a straightforward penalty to take the score to 3-7 after the first quarter of the game.
Hinckley responded well with successive drives into the DK half causing the home side to make mistakes. A short range scrummage enabled the dynamic Hinckley pack to push their opponents back over their own line for Alex Salt to touchdown. Lord’s conversion dropped short.
More of the same followed after Ben Avent had broken away and nearly scored himself. Pressure forced DK to make further mistakes and from another scrummage Salt claimed his second try after the DK pack disintegrated. Lord made no mistake with the conversion to take the visitors out to a 3-19 lead.
Disaster then struck as both Avent and Salt had to leave the game through injury to be replaced by Goddard and Warren, both to play out of position on the flanks.
Not to be outdone Hinckley attacked again with quick hands by Lord, Loveday and Josh Smith giving Sam Greasley the space to sidestep the DK cover and score the try of the day, proving that Hinckley are quite capable of moving the ball to score wide out when the opportunity arises. Lord converted on the whistle for the interval with Hinckley in the ascendancy leading 3-26.

The second period started with the home side upping their game and attacking Hinckley at every opportunity. However, the leagues meanest defence kept the DK threat at bay and made good breaks out of defence lead by Dave Weston, Lamb and a thundering run from prop Bartlett.
The cohesion Hinckley showed in the first half gradually dissipated and basic handling mistakes crept into their game as they struggled to make headway against a resurgent home side. They did make a break out into the home red zone on the hour forcing DK to touch down behind their own line after a Ben Marshall charge down. From the series of untidy scrums the referee lost patience with the home pack and awarded Hinckley a penalty try routinely converted by Lord for a 3-33 margin.
Alex Norris replaced Greasley who came back on later for Lord as the visitors closed out the game in a hail storm!

A somewhat average display, especially in the second half by Hinckley. Probably reflected in the enforced changes and the scrambled,scrappy, but effective approach by the home side to disrupt the visitors at every turn. A bonus point in the bag by half time, probably brought some complacency into the visitors play which needs to be guarded against in the future.
The five league points accrued and Peterborough’s loss at Scunthorpe moves Hinckley into second place in the league - the challenge now is to stay there!

Sutton Coldfield visit Leicester Road next week - kick off 2.15pm.