Atletico got back to winning ways against basement club Littleton with 2 late goals, but
made it hard work having to play an hour with 10 men after keeper Adam Harrison was sent off.
New signing Cameron Gilchrist was making his debut in central defence and player manager James
Jepson brought himself back into the starting line up. And as usual games between Hinckley and
Littleton are rarely pretty, with this being no exception. The closest either side got on target
early on was hitting the woodwork. Grant Ryan flicked on a header from a Tom Maddison cross that
grazed the top of the bar, then Ryan Reeves for Littleton fired an effort against the AFC bar
when it seemed easier to score, before Ryan again fired goalwards hitting the base of the right
post. The game's major talking point came on the half hour when Sam Beddoes was released through
the middle and Adam Harrison raced out of his goal, Beddoes getting to the ball just before him
and the Hinckley keeper brought down the player outside the area. The referee rightly blew for
the foul then allowed the AFC keeper to set up his defencive wall, before deciding that even
though the ball was going away from the goal, it was a goal scoring opportunity and showing
Harrison a red card. George Warren the Under 18s keeper came on for his first team debut, with
Sam Belcher unfortunately being sacrificed as a substitution. However the young keeper was rarely
tested and made a couple of regulations saves before half time.
The second half was a pretty much non event until the closing stages. AFC having one fewer player
in the midfield were struggling to keep possession and Littleton didn't really do anything with
the possession they did have. With the game in the final minute Jordan Wilson danced around the
Littleton defence and won a free kick on the edge of the area that Jepson took responsibility
for, with the ball clipping the top of the wall and sailing into the top right corner of the goal.
Then immediately from the kick off, Wilson found himself played into the left corner but instead
of playing for time, he saw an opportunity and took the ball into the area, dribbling around four
challenges and squared the ball to Ryan in the goal area to simply tap into goal sealing the points.
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