Yellows Put To The Sword By The Pinchbeck Knights

 HUCKNALL TOWN 0 PINCHBECK UNITED 5

UCL PREMIER NORTH 

SATURDAY 2ND SEPTEMBER 2023 3 PM KO

MATCH REPORT

TEAMS:

Hucknall Town

1 Alfie Smith-Eccles 2 Raife Poplar 3 Kieron Lane 4 Sam Sims 5 Aaron Short (Capt) 6 Connor Whiles 7 Jamie Crawford 8 Kai Wilson 9 Niall Towle 10 Joe Ashurst 11 Louis Czerwak

Subs: Trevell Lindo, Callum Orange Michael Banister, Jack Smith

Pinchbeck United: (in no particular order)

Elliott Burell, Harry Cranfield, Sam Edwards, Jake Henderson, Taylor Jaine, Harry Johnson, Ben Robson, Flynn Slater, Nathan Stevens, James Stuffins, Andre Williams

Subs: Kelvin Ibeneme, Joe Melson, Logan Tate, Dan Wright

Officials: Neil Smith, Al Parker, Lee Harrison

Attendance: 204

A day that started full of optimism ended in disbelief and huge disappointment as bottom club Pinchbeck nicknamed the Knights put the Yellows to the sword in ruthless fashion.

The visitors only had to wait 5 minutes before opening the scoring. The old adage of playing to the whistle came to the fore as the entire Hucknall side stopped believing there had been a handball. The official thought differently and Pinchbeck carried on. It was still a good finish from the pinchbeck player from outside the box.

Hucknall's response was a cross from the lively Czerwak but no one was there and Ashurst put one over from distance. In truth there was nothing to bother the visiting keeper and indeed the visitors doubled their lead on 34 mins. The Hucknall defence misjudged a through ball giving the Pinchbeck attack acres of space. Johnson applying the final touch into the net.

Worse was to follow 4 minutes before halftime as Slater tapped home from close range to make it 3.

Manager Ingle elected to keep the Hucknall players out on the pitch at halftime.

Hucknall had plenty of possession for the first 25 minutes of the second half but never tested the visiting keeper. Czerwak and Ashurst blazed shots over. Aaron Short perhaps came closest with an angled header that went narrowly wide.

74 mins saw Lindo and Orange enter the fray replacing Towle and Lane but any hopes of a comeback lay in tatters moments later as the visitors made it 4.

Pinchbeck broke quickly after a Hucknall corner and Tate finished off the move.

Hucknall had visibly gone and the visitors quickly made it 5 a minute later through Johnson. 

Jack Smith who had resigned for Hucknall in Midweek came on and to his credit did well nearly catching the visiting keeper off his line but the ball went over. 

It took until the 92nd minute for the visiting keeper to make a save of any note. Sam Sims angled shot cleared by the keepers legs.

The referee blew the whistle to end the game and while the visitors rightfully celebrated a huge win for them the Yellows replaced them at the bottom and became the only team to not register a win in the league. 

I have rarely seen a Hucknall crowd so shocked at a result on home soil. The players and management seemed equally as shocked.

I waited for a while before writing this report and people including myself have made their feelings known on social media. I admit I don't know the answer but I do believe that it is a culmination of factors. Whilst I never expected to be winning the league I certainly didn't think we would struggle to this low. However like the gaffer says it is early days and there is time to turn this around. The reaction to this defeat is what matters going forward  I truly believe that the players we have got are capable of much better than this.