KNITTERS HAVE THE KNACK OF SCORING
JOINT-boss Joe Conneely insists he will never shackle Hinckley’s swashbuckling centurions – even if that call has proved costly in the past.
The Step 6 Knitters smashed through the 100goal barrier long before Santa’s arrival, beating Smethwick Rangers 5-1 earlier this month.
The Midland Football League Division One leaders started the weekend having netted each time they have played so far this season, recording scores of one to 10 and every number in between along the way.
They went into yesterday’s home clash with Wolverhampton Sporting Community on 428 goals from 129 competitive matches since the start of the 2021-22 season and no team has shut them out since a 2-0 defeat at Droitwich Spa on February 4.
The last team to stop them scoring at home was runaway champions Dudley Town on January 7 last season and scoring in Saturday’s showdown at home to Wednesfield would take that record beyond one calendar year.
They have shared the wealth, too, with 26 different scorers and four players – Brady Middleton, Lewis Rankin, Matt Dawson and Tom Weale – in double figures already.
“We just score goals from everywhere,” said Conneely.
“We play free-flowing, attacking football that people like to watch. We don’t go from back to front, we like to play and get our tidy players on the ball in good areas.
“This is our third full season now and we have scored in every year me and Court (Courtney Hunter-Belford, joint manager) have been together.
“They are insane stats but they don’t get you anywhere unless you go on to win things. We have to make sure we finish it off this year and get promoted, hopefully we can.”
It is an approach that carries risk – Conneely admitted it had played a part in the past two campaigns ending in play-off heartbreak – but with Hinckley leading the way this time, hopes are high that they can unlock the potential of regularly attracting crowds of more than 200 despite groundsharing on the outskirts of the town at Barwell.
“It is built into us and unfortunately, that is why we are still at this level,” he added.
“We have lost games at key stages because we have been a bit naive. When your full-backs are as attacking as ours are, if you try to nullify them and get them to defend first then you get no real flow.
“They are so key to what we do going forwards, what is the point in taking away that strength, maybe leaving yourselves at 0-0 or 1-1, scratching around to try to get a winner? Let them go and attack.
“We are always going to concede goals – and poor goals – because we are so attacking but I’ll never take that away from them and strip it back because our best way is to outscore teams.”