Ryan strikes as AFC Seal Copse win

A RYAN Seal tap in and a Dale O’Donnell own goal gave Hinckley AFC a 2-0 win over Coventry Copsewood at St John’s Park on Saturday writes Liam Gibbs.

In a win which kept Hinckley second in the Midland Football League Division One table, they had plenty of the ball but couldn’t break Copsewood down before half time.

But once Seal gave AFC the lead, they never looked like dropping points and Hinckley secured the points shortly afterwards when O’Donnell turned into his own net.

Carl Abbott made three changes to his Hinckley side who beat Southam United on Tuesday, with Haydn Whitcombe, Francino Francis and JJ Melligan all coming in.

AFC had the bulk of possession early on, creating their first chance eight minutes in when Paul Sullivan drew O’Donnell into his first save after good work from Javia Roberts.

Then Sullivan, a thorn in Copsewood’s side throughout, went close again, firing narrowly wide after good link up play with Seal.

As Hinckley continued to press and sought to find the goal that would open the game up, Sean Williams whipped a ball across the box but Francis couldn’t convert, before Sullivan fired just past the post again.

It was the visitors, though, who had arguably the best chance late in the half. David Akinuli raced through on goal after an error at the back, but Whitcombe bravely denied him with a low save.

Copsewood had the first chance of the second half too, Whitcombe tipping over Joe Taylor’s header, before Hinckley resumed their control of the game.

They came close to breaking the deadlock when Seal struck the bar after a cleverly worked free kick, but did take the lead just a couple of minutes later.

From a regulation ball across the box, O’Donnell spilled into the path of Seal, who tapped home one of the simplest of his 49 goals this season.

Ten minutes later, Hinckley doubled their advantage. AFC broke forward down the right and Roberts squared across the box, where O’Donnell deflected the ball into his own net.

As Hinckley sought the goal that would truly kill the game off, Melligan missed a one-on-one and Roberts was denied strong penalty shouts after being dragged down by George Whitelaw.

They couldn’t add more emphasis to their win, but it was a comfortable three points for AFC.