Hinton Football Club

20th February Hinton 0 v 2 Wellington Res

The season finally looks to have restarted, but the selection problems remain as Danny Gagg was withdrawn injured late Saturday morning and Ben Williams had the late call up to wear the gloves for Hinton in a season that has seen the first team have more matches without a recognised goalkeeper than with? What may have happened if a regular goalkeeper was available, we will never know?

The visitors arrived as league leaders on a wet day that threatened to make the Broomy hill pitch a slippy challenge, and it was not long until this occurred.

The first half of the match required some time to settle into a flowing contest which is not a surprise with the recent lay off in matches, but Hinton edged the performance with some good patterns of play that exposed the wellington defence as lacking the speed to match Cooper, Matthews and Powell, but the finishing touches to secure goal ward efforts were missing from this creative play that was often orchestrated by the front man Walmsley. Hinton were forced into a change when Marsden needed to be replaced by Chris Price to made his first team debut, and then secure a solid display in midfield with Birch and Blackburne. As the rain fell the conditions became very slippy for the midfield trio and defenders Hawkes, Cuss and Ditchfield who all looked controlled in front of a largely uncalled on Williams.

After the break the tie warmed up when the visiting fullback remained on the pitch without a caution following a double handed grab on the throat of young Powell the ground spectators were amazed, but the officials saw nothing act on, even if every player was sure the red card was justified. So when the said player then is involved in the opening goal, the scene was set for lively half. A hopefully punt was being marshalled by Ditchfield back to Williams and between them the communication failed and the par were robbed by the visiting striker to then score a simple goal, that was against the run of the play. Hinton rallied with a steady flow of attacking plays without responding with a clean strike on the goal, only to be sucker punched when Powell slipped and rose to see the wellington player scamper down the flank to cross well to meet the advanced wellington players head and the ball evade Williams hand to double the lead.

With Trattell and Priday joining the match for Cooper and Matthews the lads continue to hunt for the goal to let the match be chased, but with chances going begging it was not to be at the final whistle

21st November Hinton 1 v 1 Pegasus Reserves

A change in the squad yet again with Jon Hopkins returning to fill the keeper position and the management team opting for youth due to normal squad players not being available and soon that change in selection was rewarded when JJ Spencer cruised through from left back and surprised everyone with a goal scoring opportunity that was then swiftly followed up with his debut senior goal. In a good game against a strong Pegasus Res team, this could have easily been a Hinton victory with many chances being created but the strong Pegasus defence panic cleared many chances. In the second half the Hinton combination of Luke Semple, Darren Birch, Neil Walmsley and debutant Nick Blackburne provided many glimpses of gifted playmaking and so nearly found the winning sequence when Liam Powell hit the post in the final minute

13th October Hereford FC 7 v 0 Hinton

Follow this link for more reports on this match

3rd October Hinton 2 v 3 Orleton

The same starting outfield players from the previous week started the fixture this Saturday for Hinton , and that was the first time that has occurred in two seasons so with some expectation the match started with Hinton strongly dominating the passages of play. the striking combination of Walmsley and Matthews were linking up well, it was soon that combination that saw the visiting keeper brought in action with a fine save from Matthews who struck a perfect Walmsley freekick with venom straight the keeper to parry away.

This started the onslaught on the visitors goal in a period that saw little pressure on the Hinton goal that Gagg, Hawkes, Cuss, Ditchfield and Powell could swiftly resolve. The positive attacking play saw Ditchfiield attempt a curling shot that was push around the post when an opening goal looked never to appear, but then it did when Ditchfield placed a pass over the centre backs heads and released Matthews in to run down on the goal and fire past the keeper GOAL Hinton!

With some confidence restored the team flooded forward with New, Cooper and Powell providing sustained options for support to Walmsley and Matthews. it was looking like how many chances will the team create before they scored a second goal and Cooper was the most unlucky when a fine cross by Matthews saw Cooper arrive in the penalty box at speed and side foot the ball past a rooted keeper only to see the ball crash off the crossbar similar to Geoff Hurst, but no goal! Cooper then minutes later was again released and hits a powerful shot across the keeper to hit the far post and bounce across the goal.

10 minutes in the second half sealed this match, when Hinton started the second half with a little less focus that desired and soon a gap between the defenders was found by the visitors and the Hinton bench called for improvement, and it came when Birch found New wide on the left to cross to an unmarked Walmsley to claim an easy tap in. This should have sealed the game but with tiredness appearing, changes of players occurred for both teams and despite Hinton controlling the majority of the play, the visitors found a route through to score 2-1, and then quickly a second levelling strike occurred!

Disappointed to see a potential 3 pts becoming 1pt, attention returned winning the match and chances went awry from Cuss, Marsden, Minnett, New, Walmsley, and then following a mistake by Hinton, the next challenge to recover the ball resulted in a penalty to give the final score line 2-3.

26th September Hinton 4 v 1 Leominster Town

Normal service returned to the team, this Saturday as Trattell and Andrews returned to full management duties, and through a mix of injuries and availability a younger aged team was selected for this fixture. The ongoing goalkeeper problem saw Ben Williams between the pot for Hinton and despite being a little busy in the opening minutes when a speculative strike was pushed over the bar and flurry of corners in the second half that Williams dealt with well, there was little to trouble the debut appearance.

The start of game saw Hinton in fleet of foot and attacking frequently and at speed and chances appeared readily before Brad Matthews squared a byline cross for Neil Walmsley to fire firmly into the net for the opening goal, but despite plenty of efforts the young visiting keeper a stalwart for the opposition until half time. The visitors restarted well and Hinton were forced into defending the attacks for a good 15 minutes the score levelled to 1-1. This raised the dugout to their feet and soon the dugout made the tactical changes that the saw an instant result, when Walmsley defeated the highline defending and squared the ball to Kyle New to score a second for Hinton.

From this point the flow of the game was only one way and New supplied Jake Cooper with a free run on goal to claim the third, soon to followed by a second goal for Cooper with a great run to the front post to defeat the Town team again.

As the game closed Matthews was felled and from the resulting spot kick as unlucky to see the ball just clear the bar with the keeper well beaten again. This was great return to form for the team, and saw many players establish a great claim to retain their starting positions, and players return to availability.

29th August Hinton 8 v 1 Westfields Res

Matt Hamilton made his first team debut in this match as manager Graham Andrews decided that putting a stand in keeper wasn't working out, and on whole young Hamilton could have bought a book with him to read during the game as the players contained the young Westfields Res team to only a handful of half chances until the final stages on the game were a well taken chance was taken.

This game was over with the opening ten minutes with Lewis Davies and Matt Myles both scored to allow Hinton a dominate position in the match. This should have been increased when Myles was felled in the penalty box and the usual reliable Rod Haslam saw his spot kick hit the post, however Daz Minnett soon got the mood back in order with fine goal, and swiftly followed up my Pete Myles who applied the finishing touch to a great header by Haslam

The half time break was short and with the request for focus ringing in the players ears from Andrews, the flow of the game continued to be one way when Luke Semple was found running through the defence by Haslam to find the top corner of the visitors net with a fine strike, Jordan Cullen was fouled in the penalty area to get up and fire in the sixth goal. The seventh was secured by Steve Cuss from close range and then Cullen secured his second with the third penalty of the game.