Atletico gave league leaders Coventry United a shock at Sphinx Drive, thanks to goals
from Ryan Seal and Sean Williams, but a 96th minute equaliser for the hosts scrapped
a draw for the home club.
In an open end to end game of football played in the right way, it would've been a
great spectacle for a neutral as the game had everything that makes football a joy
to watch. AFC started the brighter and were first to create chances, Sam Agar making
his league debut played in Lee Thomas on the left who crossed for Javia Roberts though
his shot was not powerful enough to beat Dave Allen. Ryan Seal then fired a warning
shot forcing Allen to make the save, before Seal gave Hinckley the lead on 21 minutes.
Darious Darkin spotted Seal making a diagonal run and played a great through ball to him
from the midfield, with Seal taking the ball into the area and when one on one with Allen
slotted it past him into the goal. At the other end Josh O'Grady fired straight at Tom
Cross and Rob Briscoe thought he should have had a penalty when tackled in the area, but
the ref waved play on. Hinckley thought they'd added a second just before the half hour
when Sam Agar headed in Lee Butler's corner, but the goal was disallowed for pushing
in the area. To add insult Coventry then equalised just after the half hour, when O'Grady
saw his corner defended but not cleared and Callum Burgess on the right of the area tried
a cross/shot that neatly dipped over Cross into the back of the net. Coventry finish the
half the stronger of the two teams with effort from Brisoe and O'Grady but half time
with the teams level.
Coventry started the second half where they finished, thinking they'd equalised right
from the restart after Matt Brown put the ball in the goal, however the linesman's offside
flag cuts short their celebrations. Then Tom Glasscoe saw his long range effort drift over
the top, Cross saved well from Brown, and when Cross was beaten Thomas was on the line to
clear Rich Blyth's goalbound shot. With 15 minutes remaining, AFC having already used all
three substitutes, were down to 10 men as defender Alex Penny was forced off through
injury, however this didn't change the AFC attacking philosophy and Coventry were stunned
with 5 minutes to go when Atletico took the lead again. A Jackson through ball had released
Greg Pearson who's initial shot was well saved by Allen, but Pearson played the rebound back
to Jackson who teed the ball up for Sean Williams 25 yards out to hit a thunderbolt of
a shot into the top corner. This is followed up by Agar who forces Allen into another good save
as AFC were not content to sit deep and see out the game. As the match moved into injury time
O'Grady raced clear into the Hinckley area and was clipped by Thomas, resulting in penalty
for Coventry. Blythe stepped up to take the spot kick, but Cross dived the right way and saved
the shot, but more drama was to follow as the injury time continued. A further three minutes
into time added and Blythe again had a second chance to equalise, though as he bundled the ball
into the net from a Briscoe knock down the linesman again had his flag up for offside. And yet
another further three minutes into injury time, O'Grady took a corner, but as it was cleared
for some unknown reason the referee made O'Grady take the corner again? This time it was played
central and as the clock ticked to 96 minutes Blythe took his third opportunity and forced
the ball into goal from close range equalising for Coventry United with the last kick of the match.
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Coventry United match details
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