REPORT | Hinckley LR 1-0 Quorn

A Patrick Zito own goal separated the sides in a lacklustre Bank Holiday clash at Hinckley’s Leicester Road stadium.

Neither side looked much like scoring in a match between two sides that had played just 48 hours previous. Charlie Woods was by far the busier of the two keepers, making early saves from Dom Brennan and Aaron Nuttall.

The Reds took control of the match for a spell after absorbing the early pressure. Charlie Marzano looked lively on the right hand side and Tyrell Shannon-Lewis was finding space in behind the defence. Paddy Webb had an early shot blocked and Cain Noble fired a dangerous ball across goal, but it just wasn’t quite happening for the visitors.

Noble came with millimetres of opening the scoring as he met a Jack Samples corner with a thunderous header that crashed off the back post and out to safety for Hinckley. The early pace and energy fell away as the half wore on and the match was further slowed by injuries that saw Shannon-Lewis have to depart as well as Hinckley’s centre forward, Tendai Daire.

Hinckley should have opened the scoring in eight minutes of first half injury time as Zito brought down Nuttall from behind in the area. Andre Williams smashed his penalty off the bar though and the sides went in level at the break.

Woods was busy again at the start of the second half, denying Ben Humphreys with his feet at the near post. The Coventry-born shot-stopper came to the rescue again just before the hour mark. Silvio Bello missed his clearance but displayed enough pace to narrow the angle for Nuttall. The young forward still unleashed a strong shot on goal that required an excellent save from Woods.

There was nothing Woods could do in the 73rd minute though as Brennan’s ball in to the box hit an unlucky Zito and rolled into the net. Quorn pushed for an equaliser but rarely came close to making Will Highland sweat in the Hinckley goal. Webb had a good shout for a penalty in stoppage time when he was forced to the ground in the area, but the Referee was unmoved as the Reds fell to their first defeat in the league.

There’s no time to stew on the defeat though as Rich Lavery’s men need to pick themselves up for the visit of Walsall Wood on Saturday afternoon.