Solid away win for Leicester Road
HINCKLEY’S Leicester Road FC registered a comprehensive 0-4 win in their first away fixture of the new season.
The shape of the team was excellent, giving Coventry Alvis little space to exploit and they struggled to get behind LRFC’s well-organised defence, but Alvis are a good young side who never gave up and will surprise some this season.
LRFC skipper Greg Downes had the first chance on 13 minutes when put through, but although his deft lob beat the keeper it just cleared the crossbar.
Then on 26 minutes great interplay between Joseph Lyne and Sam Munton resulted in a crisp snapshot from Munton that flew just wide.
Almost immediately Munton found Downes in space and his fierce drive was well palmed away by the Alvis keeper, but the LRFC skipper made no mistake on 31 minutes when he headed in powerfully from a pinpoint cross from Lyne.
Leicester Road were squeezing the life out of their opponents now and just three minutes later wingback Jarred Acton calmly side footed into the bottom corner following great work down the right hand side from Munton.
A precise and professional first 45 mins from the Road ended with Leicester Road 0-2 up.
Rather than Leicester Road easing up, Coventry Alvis came out really fired up at the start of the second half and for the first 15 minutes applied lots of pressure.
They played it quicker to the front and got more bodies forward, but LRFC defended very well as a team - lead by skipper Downes and fellow midfielder John Grady, who both seemed to be everywhere.
Munton had a couple of half chances and centre forward Matty Langham turned sharply and fired just wide with the keeper flat footed, but any thoughts of Alvis getting a goal back were dashed on 73 minutes when LRFC were awarded a penalty for a foul on the edge of the box.
A few of the home fans thought it a bit soft, but the assistant referee made the call and he was nearest - and Downes made no mistake from the spot to record his fourth goal in three games.
This third goal gave Leicester Road the luxury they needed and they started playing with supreme confidence and looked dangerous every time they went forward.
Jake Holt replaced Grady on 75 minutes and brought even more energy to proceedings and while the quality of football played by LRFC was good all night, the final goal summed up the performance.
On 88 minutes Munton showed a burst of pace going past of couple of Alvis defenders and he played it to Holt, who engineered a lovely one-two with Matty Langham.
He buried it into the far corner of the net – a perfect present on his 24th birthday.