Town’s “Community Day”, which offered free admission, attracted a near 1500 crowd to the CNG Stadium and resulted in a morale boosting thrashing of bottom club Hinckley United.
Town manager, Simon Weaver,paid tribute to the character and resilience of his players as they bounced back from Thursday’s Hastings F A Cup disappointment.
The pitch survived a mid morning inspection,and although tacky, didn’t prevent Town from playing some excellent football.
The result was decided in the first twenty minutes as Town got off to a flying start.
Within a minute, Ben Everton pulled down Chib Chilaka in the box,and although keeper Robert Peet saved Chilaka’s penalty, Chib reacted quickest to knock in the rebound.
The cheering had hardly stopped before Adam Nowakowski’s header from Dave Merris’s cross made it two.
The youthful Hinckley side battled back bravely, with Max Harrop shooting over and Aaron Cole firing at Town keeper Craig MacGillivray.
Tom Platt hooked over the bar from close range,but soon made amends when,after twenty minutes his defence splitting pass was turned in by Chib Chilaka.
It was business as usual after the break with Lee Elam missing a great chance to stretch the lead when he sliced Chilaka’s cross well wide.
Hinckley forced a series of corners but never really looked like scoring,and it was Shane Killock who put the result beyond doubt shortly afterwards when he shot in through a crowded defence.
It was one way traffic with Peet making two full length saves to deny Platt.
However, it was only a matter of time before the visiting defence was breached again,and this time it was Platt who drove into the roof of the net, after Chilaka’s initial shot had been blocked.
Hinckley never gave up and Matt Bloomer was called into action to stop the dangerous Aron Wint with a tremendous tackle.
In spite of Town’s new youthful fans baying for a sixth, Hinckley defied Town’s later efforts and kept it down to five.
Town 1 MacGillivray, 2 Samuels, 3 Merris, 4 Bolland (c), 5 Bloomer,6 Killock, 7 Platt (Beesley 69), 8 Nowakowski, 9 Chilaka (Allan69), 10 Elam (Forrest 75), 11 Clayton.
Unused Subs 12 Bolder,17 Hardy.
Scorers Chilaka 2,19, Nowakowski 4,Killock 55, Platt 67. Bookings nil
Att.1440
