Tomlinson Delighted with Opening Day Performance

Hinckley AFC coach Paul Tomlinson was pleased to record the club’s first league win at the first attempt when they beat Southam United 3-0 on Saturday.

Second half goals from Luke Richards, JJ Melligan and Mark Bellingham secured the victory after Southam’s goalkeeper, Matt Oliver, was sent off towards the end of the first half.

Speaking after the game, Tomlinson said that the Hinckley players adapted well to playing against ten men.

‘You always have a big build up in pre-season, but you never know how the first game’s going to go, so it’s nice to get a win under our belts.

‘Their goalkeeper being sent off has probably made it a little bit more comfortable than we first thought, but you need to take advantage of those sort of situations and we did that well today.’

The match also saw Hinckley keep their first clean sheet – something that eluded them during pre-season. Tomlinson said that the coaching staff had been discussing at length how to restrict the opposition, and that Greg Webb and Tyrone Clarke-O’Connell deserve a lot of praise for the way they played.

‘We’ve been talking, and discussing how we start keeping clean sheets. Today, the wing backs (Webb and Clarke-O’Connell) tucked in a little bit more and weren’t so free flowing going forward. I think that helped the defence.

‘The last 20 minutes or so of the game the other night (at AFC Rushden and Diamonds) was the first time that I saw something that we could work with in that regard. Today, I think the two wide men deserve a lot of credit because the way they played significantly helps the back three.’

Out of a crowd of 171, over 100 travelled from Hinckley, and Tomlinson knows that the players will be given a huge boost by the travelling numbers.

‘The lads are buzzing in the dressing room. That support is going to get the momentum going – the fans were absolutely fantastic. Thank you to everyone that supported us today, from all the players and staff.’