Honours shared at Hinckley
Andrew Delaney15 Oct 2023
Sutton earned a well-deserved point in an entertaining match at league leaders Hinckley AFC.
The point dropped Hinckley down to third in the MFL 1 after a challenging few weeks for the Leicester based club, now with no wins in their last three league fixtures.
In contrast, Sutton came into the match having taken 13 points from their last six league matches and they produced another strong performance to earn an impressive point on the road.
Sutton took an early lead when Sef Semlali delivered a corner kick that fell to Tom Massey at the back post and when his shot was blocked, he laid the ball off for Matt Bishop to find the net with a low strike, for his second goal of the season.
United then had the better of the opportunities, with Kieron McConville having an effort blocked, Joe Gildea skimming the wrong side of the upright with a shot across goal and Sam Price shooting from distance over the crossbar.
Hinckley had only seen a couple of half chances before they equalised just before the break; Brady Middleton was fed the ball down the left flank to run into the box and beat Reiss Wagstaff with a clinical finish into the far side of the goal.
Hinckley picked up their tempo in the second half, but they came up against a strong Sutton defence and when Tom Armitage did find space to shoot from the edge of the box, Wagstaff did exceptionally well to save the deflected shot at the bottom corner of his net.
A free kick for Sutton in the 64th minute saw Price’s effort blocked before Bishop won the challenge to the rebound only to be fouled in the box by Hinckley keeper, Brandon Bache. United’s leading goal scorer, Gildea, stepped up to bury the spot kick and regain the lead for Sutton.
However, it wasn’t long before the home side pulled level again as Jack Edwards rose to head home Tom Weale’s free kick.
With the match drawing to a close, excitement erupted in added time, as both teams almost grabbed a late winner. A break for Sutton saw Price through on goal, only for his final shot to land comfortably for Bache, and this was followed by a counterattack from Hinckley, that saw Joe Obi’s effort in front of goal finish in the safe hands of Wagstaff and the match ended with what was probably a fair result in the end.
Next up for Sutton is the first match in their defence of the Fazeley Charity Cup, when they take on MFL 2 side Hampton FC on Tuesday evening at Coleshill Road.
Team: Hinckley AFC
1. Brandon Bache
2. Matt Dawson
3. Tom Armitage – 87’ Adam Barber
4. Zaki Evans – 60’ Joe Obi
5. Ky Green – 60’ Sam Walton
6. Jamie Hood (c)
7. Lewis Rankin
8. Tom Weale
9. Brady Middleton – 77’ Danny Fraser
10. Dec Somel
11. Jack Edwards
Substitute unused: Jack Beasley
Management/Assistants:
Joe Conneely
Courtney Belford
Aaran Cheshire
David Gunn
Dan White
Shay Durkin
Dan Kasaryzyk
Team: Sutton United
1. Reiss Wagstaff (c)
2. Jonny Grigg
3. Will Jones
4. Lewis James – 65’ Tion Pearce Copeland
5. Matt Bishop
6. Kye Billingham-Belle – 84’ Lewan Tobin
7. Sef Semlali – 81’ Ethan Hanks
8. Tom Masey
9. Kieron McConville – 73’ Shane Smith
10. Joe Gildea – 89’ Mark Moore
11. Sam Price
Management/Assistants:
Richard Heath
Liam Burke
Chris Bratt-Rose
Matt Gough
Amelia Small
Match Officials: Shaun Currall, Daniel Hill, Andy Collin
| Hinckley AFC | Statistics | Sutton United |
| 2 | Goals | 2 |
| 11 | Attempts | 14 |
| 8 | Attempts on Target | 8 |
| 67% | Possession | 33% |
| 6 | Corners | 4 |
| 11 | Fouls Committed | 8 |
| 3 | Yellow Cards | 2 |
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 |
| Opp Man of the Match | Reiss Wagstaff |
| Player | Appearances | Goals | Assists | Opp MOTM |
| Joe Gildea | 14 | 12 | 2 | 4 |
| Leyton Hines | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
| Sef Semlali | 14 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| Sam Price | 9 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| Matt Bishop | 9 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Tom Massey | 14 | 1 | 5 | 1 |
| Joe Delaney | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Jon Grigg | 15 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Shane Smith | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Brad Gregory | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Thomas Cullen | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Kieran McConville | 10 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Lewan Tobin | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Kaine Donald | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Ryan Delport | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Will Buchanan | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Kye Billingham-Belle | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Reiss Wagstaff | 14 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Lewis James | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tion Pearce-Copeland | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jake Murrell | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mark Moore | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Will Jones | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ethan Hanks | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Harrison Coe | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Remi Bell | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sam Simmonds | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Daniel Cooper | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Louis Malin | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Matt Hurrell | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 28 | 25 |