Abbo: A Good Workout

Hinckley AFC manager Carl Abbott said his side’s Jelson Homes Senior Cup First Round tie at Ashby Ivanhoe Reserves was ‘a good workout’.
Abbo’s men ran out comfortable 4-0 victors as they progressed to the next round without any real concerns, and the former Wolves Casuals manager said it was good to have an exercise in breaking a side down.
He said: ‘It was a good workout for us tonight. We paid them full respect and came in with a very strong line up, and gave a few opportunities for a few boys to come into the side.

‘But we treated it with the greatest of respects and we went for the game full-blooded. It was a really, really good workout for us.

‘Taking into context the strength of the opposition, with the greatest respect to them, gave us a chance to set up in shape and have a lot of attacking phases of play and keep the ball moving sharply and quickly, and have an exercise in breaking a side down.

‘They were intent on sitting back in numbers and trying to stop us scoring, so it was a really good, useful workout.’

Abbo also reserved praise for his side’s back four. Jamie Newton, Oli Basham, Kristian Ramsey-Dickson and Liam Smith kept a first clean sheet in four games, and the gaffer said they ‘did well’.

‘A clean sheet is always a nice thing. We’ve defended well today with the set up that we’ve put out. Young Oliver’s been fantastic and shown what a good young talent we have at the club in him. Kristian looked after him really, really well, Jamie’s come in and done great and Liam has put in a brave display really because he had a torrid time on Saturday.

‘It’s difficult to come back from a performance like that but he’s gritted his teeth and come back to give a pretty solid display. The guys at the back did well.’