For the second match running, City came away from high flying opponents with a point under their belt. While it was a point won at Stafford, it was a case of two thrown away at Hinckley following Louis Riddle’s failure to convert a spot kick just before half-time.

Despite an injury scare surrounding Stuart Niven, he took up his usual midfield role. The City side showing only one change from that which took the field at the weekend with Louis Riddle back from suspension, Matt Nolan missing out due to a knee injury.

On a cold night in Leicestershire, the home side were quickly out of the starting blocks, Matt Lewis producing a weaving run, cutting inside and finding Leon Jackson lurking on the edge of City’s penalty area, however, as he shaped to shoot he was impeded by a team-mate and completely fluffed his shot and the City defence cleared. Hinckley continued to press as the opening minutes passed and lanky defender Andy Penny was not a million miles away from connecting with a dangerous inswinging cross in the 4th minute.

Young gun, Robbie Simpson takes on the home defence

City hit back a few minutes later after Robbie Simpson showed good strength to set up Lewis Baillie for an effort on goal. The defender’s low shot from 20 yards took a slight deflection on it’s way through which gave home ‘keeper Thomas Whittle cause for concern, the stopper throwing himself to the foot of the post as the ball fizzed behind. The resulting corner was only partially cleared by the home defence and was returned into the danger area by Rob Miller, Simpson reacting first to aim a header goalwards but it was miscued and bounced harmlessly through into Whittle’s hands.

Despite City’s threatening foray forward, it was Hinckley who had the better of the opening exchanges as they controlled the ball well and created some pressure on the City rearguard. Penny really should have done better when he made a good connection with Neil Cartwright’s free-kick, but his downward header bounced up and over the bar without seriously troubling Martin Davies in City’s goal. Moments later Hinckley produced a nice passage of passing to fashion another opening. Lewis played a clever pass inside to Chris Smith who whipped in a cross which was headed away by Lee Chaffey, Jackson picked up the loose ball and shaped to shoot but before he could do so he had the ball whipped off his toe by a very alert Riddle.

City steadied their ship and began to get a foothold in the match as the minutes ticked by. After 23 minutes Simpson was clearly fouled by Penny, the referee allowed an advantage and Miller burst forward, a quick lay-off put Carl Wilson Denis in with a good sight of the target but his attempted curling shot failed to trouble Whittle who fielded the ball. City continued to press and Niven’s pinpoint pass sent Simpson racing in behind the home defence. Wrestling all the way with Brad Piercewright, Simpson got to the byeline and thumped in a low near-post cross that Whittle did well to grab a fraction of a second before Wilson-Denis arrived on the scene.

Jackson fired well over the bar from 18 yards before another chance fell City’s way. Niven was again the instigator finding Miller on the edge of the area with a lofted pass, the midfielder chested down the ball and shot in one movement but it lacked power and rolled wide of the target. Chances ending with a whimper were a bit of a feature during the first half and that was the case ten minutes from the break when Cartwright’s right wing free-kick picked out Piercewright, the defender timed his header poorly, the ball looping high into the night sky and landing on the roof of the net.

With half-time fast approaching City finished strongly. Riddle robbed Piercewright in centre field before racing forward and planting a shot wide of the upright. Riddle was again to the fore when his diagonal pass sent Wilson-Denis sprinting clear, he advanced on the home goal and hit a cross-shot that looked sure to test Whittle but for a timely intervention from Stuart Storer, racing in to divert the shot away. City retrieved the ball and twice delivered it back into the area. The second time saw Niven clip the ball into Simpson’s feet, he controlled and turned but was brought to earth by a sprawling tackle from Penny, the referee had no hesitation pointing to the spot. Up stepped Riddle who planted a well hit shot to the ‘keeper’s right, however, Whittle guessed correctly and produced a full-length dive to turn the ball onto the post, Cartwright sweeping the ball behind for a corner before City could react.

Hinckley attempted to change their fortunes by making two changes as the second-half got underway, replacing Smith and Piercewright with Dave Sadler and Gavin Stone respectively but it was City who picked up where they left off. Whittle produced a poor goal-kick that fell straight to Wilson-Denis, his first touch found Simpson but the youngster’s return pass was a fraction too far in front of his strike partner and Whittle was allowed to atone for his error, coming off his line to claim the ball.

Simpson receives close attention from Andy Penny

A rare mistake from Baillie saw Sadler get away in the 50th minute. He found Lewis out on the left, the striker sidestepping Craig Pope before finding the mid-drift of Martin Davies.

Simpson had been a constant menace to the home defence throughout the match and he was at it again as he bamboozled Stone on the flank before whipping in a low cross into the area. Riddle strode up and would have probably found the target but for a brave piece of defending from John Burns who deflected the ball behind at the expense of an injury to himself. The corner came to nothing and play switched to the other end, Cartwright making ground up the flank to produce a telling cross that saw Jackson head narrowly over the bar with Davies at full stretch.

Just after the hour, Wilson-Denis was withdrawn from the action to be replaced by top scorer Danny Bloomfield.

With twenty minutes left, Hinckley produced the miss of the match. Shaun Murray charged down Chaffey’s clearance, quickly getting the ball under control the former Kettering man picked out Cartwright, his trademark cross found the head of Jackson who headed across goal to Sadler, three yards out with the goal at his mercy, but somehow he contrived to put the ball out of the ground, much to the dismay of the home fans in the sparse crowd.

A minute later and it was City’s turn to come close. Simpson’s sliding tackle robbed Penny and sent Bloomfield racing clear. As he entered the box and cut inside Storer it seemed only a formality to find the back of the net but Whittle came to the home side’s rescue again, standing tall to produce a fine block.

Not long after, Hinckley again wasted another good opportunity. Lewis managed to get past Pope on the left hand side as he chased Penny’s long clearance. The striker’s cross should have been easily cut out as it bobbled apologetically along the uneven surface, but somehow it squirmed through Matt Langston’s legs and found Jackson unmarked twelve yards out. Fortunately for City, the midfielder made a hash of his shot and screwed the ball well wide of the goal.

The two sides continued to trade chances as the game entered the final ten minutes. Lewis’ header forced Davies to save on his line as the striker latched onto Jamie Lenton’s looping cross, then City applied a brief spell of pressure ending with Carl Williams knocking in a nice near-post cross that was poked away by Penny, only as far as Simpson who cracked in a goalbound rocket only to see it strike Penny and go behind.

City must have finally known it was not going to be their night when with only five minutes left, a quick throw-in allowed Riddle to get the better of Cartwright, The winger fired in a low centre only to see it agonisingly run just behind an inrushing Simpson who would have had a tap-in to secure the points.

Post match reaction