Coleshill see early lead vanish in eight goal epic
COLESHILL TOWN 3 HINCKLEY LRFC 5 Northern Premier League Midland Division
COLESHILL let a two goal lead slip away as they lost an eight goal thriller to play-off hopefuls Hinckley LRFC.
Four goals from Aaron Nuttall and a curler from Dom Brennan, cancelled out a James Spruce hat-trick to seal the three points for the visitors.
On an incredible windy afternoon in South Birmingham, Hinckley elected to kick against the wind in the first half in what started as an incredibly poor opening 10 minutes.
The Colemen, who were looking to avoid three straight defeats, took the lead after just three minutes when a set piece from the half way line fell to Spruce who was able to fire it past Will Highland.
Things got worse for Hinckley when 10 minutes in, deep in the Hinckley box, a pass from Louie Gill was intercepted by Spruce who slot it into an empty net with Hinckley shellshocked.
But then Hinckley started to find their way into the game, creating momentum and dominating proceedings.
Six minutes later, Neil Lyne’s side got one back when Nuttall received the ball on the far left, cutting inside dribbling past several defenders before firing a shot on his weaker foot level with the penalty spot taking a deflection on the way through and past the Coleshill keeper.
Hinckley then got back on level terms when Nuttall again received the ball, cutting inside his man before driving deep to the byline and smashing the ball from an incredibly tight angle into the roof of the net.
They nearly took the lead just four minutes later when Ben Humphreys was played through inside the area in a similar position to Nuttall’s second goal, out strengthening his man before narrowly dragging his shot across goal and wide.
Seconds later with Hinckley now completely in control, Dom Brennan picked up the ball on the edge of the box, firing a shot through a crowd of players with the Coleshill keeper making a save with his outstretched leg.
In the second half, Hinckley picked up where they left off and deservedly took the lead just moments after the restart.
The Coleshill keeper received the ball in his own box and despite looking like having all the time in the world, he was closed down by Nuttall who intercepted the clearance, getting ahold of the second ball and slotting it into an empty net sealing his hat-trick.
Then nine minutes later, in a moment of pure comedy, a short corner from Brennan to Nuttall, saw the latter fire in a cross which looked like it was going to be gathered by the keeper, but saw him completely misjudge it as it flew past him into the back of the net securing Nuttall’s fourth of the game.
Coleshill did half the deficit 73 minutes in when Spruce got a hat trick of his own after picking up the ball on the penalty spot and slotting past Highland.
It looked like it was going to be a nervy final 15 minutes for Hinckley as the hosts struck the post on a couple of occasions.
But the three points were sealed two minutes after Coleshill’s third when Dom Brennan picked up the ball deep into the opposition half, firing a curling effort from outside the box into the top right corner.