Hinckley Athletic 3 Kidsgrove Athletic 1

FA Cup adventure short lived

This report was first published in the Kidsgrove Athletic v Chadderton matchday programme, 12th September 1995

Our first ever FA Cup tie was a long journey away to Hinckley Athletic. New signing Steve Norris, the former Leek Town player/manager came in to replace Blair and Damian Grocott, Ant Green and Mark Massey all returned. Steve Oliver and Peter Hall reverted to the bench.

This was a match which showed a huge gulf in class, with the free-spending Hinckley side overrunning our midfield and our defence coping superbly under siege. It was no surprise that we went behind to a Dave Stringer goal, but we fought back and went in level at half time after Craig Brookes had beaten a hesitant home keeper to the ball and lobbed into an empty net.

Hinckley continued to apply all the pressure and deservedly won 3-1, but their goals had a touch of fortune about them. Hill, a former Luton Town player of vast experience, had a shot deflected into the net by Norris and Dave Bennett, who had a wealth of First Division experience and an FA Cup Winners medal with Coventry City, earned a dubious penalty.

However, it was a measure of Hinckley's superiority that we were only able to win one corner - and that was late in the game.

Team: Holmes, Royall, Norris, Nicely, Evans, Grocott (Oliver), Green, Massey, Brookes (P Hall), Wright, Booth. Unused sub: Heath.