City failed to capitalise on a stunning Rob Nightingale strike in the opening minutes to surrender the lead and all the points to a Hinckley side who enjoyed almost complete control in this dull and disappointing Milton Road encounter.

The Lilywhites welcomed back Louis Riddle after his injury lay-off and with Carlin Itonga and Jamie Godbold retaining their places after coming off the bench in midweek Michael Gash, Robbie Simpson and Stuart Niven surrendered their respective positions in the starting line-up (the latter two named as substitutes). In addition new signing Matt Langston made his debut at the centre of defence in place of the now departed James Quilter.

The Hinckley defence repel a City attack

The Knitters gave an early indication of their neat and inventive approach play as early as the third minute with a well worked quick free kick routine from the left which saw Wayne Dyer fire over from Dave Sadler’s lay-off.

However, City showed initial signs that they had addressed some of deficiencies that have dogged recent performances and were rewarded with an goal which ought to have given them the platform to go on and carve out a result. Jamie Godbold, making a bright start showed good vision to play in Danny Bloomfield with an early pass down the left flank. Running purposefully at the Knitters’ back-line he combined with Itonga who held up play intelligently on the edge of the box before laying the ball inside to an advancing Nightingale who made full use of the time and space at his disposal to send a rising right footed drive into the top corner of the net and wide of the flailing Tom Whittle from fully twenty yards.

Hinckley looked for a quick response, Scott Voice collected the ball in centre field and sprayed a pass wide to Dave Sadler on the right flank. The former Hereford striker continued his run and was only prevented from converting the return pass from close range by the attentions of Craig Pope.

Visiting sweeper Stuart Storer, troubled by the pace of Bloomfield conceded a free kick on the edge of the box after impeding the former Bournemouth striker. Rob Miller played an angled ball in behind the wall to Riddle whose shot on the turn was forced behind for a corner.

Carlin Itonga gives Stuart Storer the slip

The City strike duo made further inroads into the visitors defence when Bloomfield collected a pass from Rob Miller and played a one-two with Itonga before seeing his drive deflect off the head of the former Arsenal striker and over the bar.

Hinckley suffered a further setback on 25 minutes when Voice, who appeared to have picked up a knock when firing over early on, had to retire from the action, Chris Smith taking his place.

Far from disrupting the visitors’ momentum they went on to control the remainder of the half. Taking a stranglehold on the midfield they dictated play, with Wayne Dyer and Shaun Murray highly influential, forcing a series of corners which kept City pinned down. On a positive note the Lilywhites rearguard looked more assured than of late, Matt Langston’s accomplished performance appearing to bring the best out of Lee Pluck. Aside from Alan Calton being forced to scramble at the feet of Smith on 40 minutes, before Rob Nightingale completed the clearance, the home goal was rarely under threat.

It seemed inevitable however that if City allowed this pattern of play to continue they would allow the visitors a way back into the game. With the second half starting as the first had finished it was no surprise therefore when the volume of pressure delivered an equaliser. A good passing move featuring Shaun Murray saw play switch from left to right. Having created space for the delivery Neil Cartwright lofted the ball over the Lilywhites back line allowing Leon Jackson to ghost in from the right of the box where he was in ahead of Calton and on hand to finish as the ‘keeper was unable to gather.

City's goalscorer Rob Nightingale gets up for a high ball

Hinckley maintained control, Gavin Stone connected firmly with Jamie Lenton’s right wing corner on the hour but headed over the bar. City were confined to playing on the break. Rob Nightingale’s measured clearance picked out Itonga advancing through the inside right channel but with Danny Bloomfield free in the area the Congo international chose to shoot and sliced disappointingly wide of the target.

As play switched to the other end of the park Cartwright exchanged passes with Jackson the right, collecting the return ball the wing-back was denied by Nightingale’s block tackle. It was Jackson again who was at the heart of the next attack, riding Nightingale’s challenge in centre field he played the ball wide to Wayne Dyer but the Montserrat international saw his fierce cross-shot gathered in by Calton at the second attempt.

Gary Roberts looked to provide a much needed outlet for the pressure by introducing Robbie Simpson in place of Louis Riddle who had faded after the interval. However within minutes of the change Hinckley scored a second and decisive goal. The execution was simple but City will wonder how they allowed an unmarked Murray to collect Lenton’s right sided corner on the edge of the area and fire unchallenged through a crowd of players into the bottom left hand corner of the net.

The Lilywhites showed some increased urgency. From a right sided free kick the ball found its way back to Rob Miller whose far post cross was met by Matt Langston whose powerful downward header flashed narrowly wide with Whittle struggling.

Danny Bloomfield shows some athleticism

Briefly, the game opened up, Smith shook off the attentions of Lewis Baillie wide on the Hinckley right but his shot hit the outside of Alan Calton’s near post. At the other end Langston played in Bloomfield with a perfectly weighted angled pass but as City’s leading scorer homed in on goal he was denied by Storer’s brave sliding block.

However a City comeback never materialised and aside from Itonga putting the ball in the net after being flagged offside the final 10 minutes was notable only for a series of substitutions. Visiting boss Dean Thomas introduced Justin Jenkins for Chris Smith and Brad Piercewright for Shaun Murray respectively. Gary Roberts belatedly withdrew Carlin Itonga who made way for Lee Chaffey, which allowed Lee Pluck to play out the remaining minutes in attack, however City were forced to reorganise for the final moments when the unfortunate Chaffey picked up a nasty looking knock which allowed Stuart Niven a brief run out.

None of these changes made any difference to the inevitable outcome however as, worryingly, City recorded a fourth successive home defeat. Gary Roberts will hope that the trend is reversed on Tuesday when Stamford come to Milton Road for a Doctor Martens League Cup tie.