Hinckley AFC manager Carl Abbott reflected on his side’s season as a successful one after it came to a conclusion with a 2-0 win at Heath Hayes yesterday.
Hinckley finished a club-high second in the Midland League First Division and also recorded their best ever runs in the Buildbase FA Vase and Polymac Packaging League Cup.
And although they finished a long way behind eventual league champions Bromsgrove Sporting, Abbott looked back with pride on his side’s performance this year. He said: “It definitely has (been a successful season).
“There have been times when I’ve felt quite low and we’ve had to get ourselves back up but when all is said and done there’s progress been made in the last three years.
“There’s been a year-on-year improvement and we’ve stayed on that flight path which will eventually take us to the league. It might be next year, hopefully it is, or it might be longer.
“This year we’ve got more points, fewer games lost, fewer games drawn and more games won. This is the best group of players we’ve had to date. We’ll try and add a little bit but we’ll keep what we’ve got and hopefully come back with an even better side.
“I’ve got no doubt that we’ll improve in every area so we’ll see where that takes us. “Eventually we’ll get there organically but this has been a good season with some great cup runs.”
Abbott said his side were never truly in a position to compete with Bromsgrove, who won 33 of their 38 games as they romped to the title with several games to spare.
And the former Wolves Casuals boss was full of praise for his counterpart at The Victoria Ground, Paul Smith, and his staff and players.
“We take our hats off to Bromsgrove, it’s a remarkable achievement. Not only have they won the league and taken that away from us this year, but they went further in the Vase and they won the league in a fashion that will probably never be repeated.
“I’ve got nothing but admiration and respect from Bromsgrove’s players and staff and no-one was ever going to compete with them this year.
“Whatever formula they put together it was the right one and next year we’ll try and do something special ourselves.”
Reflecting on some of the ups and downs of the season, Abbott admitted that the better his side do, the worse he feels with a defeat.
“The higher the highs, the worse the lows! You can’t have it both ways.
“You take the League Cup, where we were devastated after the St Andrews game. If we’d have got knocked out at Coleshill in the first game, which everybody expected we should have done, we wouldn’t have felt like we did after St Andrews. It’s the same with the Vase run.
“But all in all you reflect on it and it’s been a great journey.”
