WEEKLY BULLETIN – 11TH OCT

FIXTURES

  • Saturday 12 October home to Bromsgrove Sporting League kick-off 3pm.
  • Tuesday 15 October away to Royston Town League kick-off 7.45pm. There is no coach to this game.

NON-LEAGUE DAY
We’re delighted to announce that Sky Sports will be coming to Top Field this Saturday, to cover our Non League Day fixture against Bromsgrove Sporting.

Don’t forget to use promo code CANARY25 for 25% off adult and concession online tickets. The promo will also provide under 20s with free admission. Tickets can be purchased until 11am on Saturday 12th, so don’t delay, click here to purchase today.

Also the Canary Club have introduced a Non-League Day special offer for Saturday’s home fixture versus Bromsgrove Sporting. We’ve got a series of special ciders ready to try, all of which are available for just £2 a pint.

The bar will be open from 11am on Saturday. Click here for more info.

Non-League Day is the perfect occasion to persuade your friends, family, work colleagues, Premier League and Championship supporters to come and sample the delights of non-league football. With our team boosted by recent new signings and an excellent performance at Maidstone and Bromsgrove having scored 13 goals in their last two games an attractive and entertaining match can be anticipated. Top Field remains a unique ground to visit and provides a great alternative to segregated all seater stadiums and it really does showcase the alternative that non- league football can offer.

PLAYER NEWS

  • We welcome new signing Alex Marsh who has joined from Biggleswade and goes straight in to the squad for the Bromsgrove game. Manager Mark Burke was alerted to the potential of Alex last season and then after he destroyed Hitchin with his performance in the pre-season fixture at Biggleswade he went to the top of Mark’s wish list.
  • Dan Webb and Jhai Dhillon return to the squad for the Bromsgrove game after missing the Maidstone game due to work commitments,
  • Ben Walster and Bradley Bell return to the squad for the Bromsgrove game having been cup-tied at Maidstone.
  • Lewis Barker serves the second of his three game suspension and misses the Bromsgrove game.
  • Harry Draper remains sidelined due to injury.

FIXTURE CHANGES

  • Our league visit to Leiston has been rearranged for Saturday 19 October kick-off 3pm.
  • Our league visit to Peterborough Sports has been rearranged for Tuesday 29 October kick-off 7.45pm.
  • Our Herts Charity Cup match at Berkhamsted has been rearranged for Tuesday 19 November kick-off 7.45pm.

SUPPORTERS AT MAIDSTONE
I really must thank and congratulate our supporters for their magnificent support at Maidstone. There were about 70 Hitchin supporters present but they made more noise than the 1,200 Maidstone supporters and never relented in their support. I was as proud of our supporters as I was of the team performance!

FA TROPHY
Hitchin will be in the draw for the first qualifying round of the FA Trophy which will be available on the FA website from 1.00pm on Monday 14 October.

FA YOUTH CUP
Our under 18 team host Kings Lynn Town this Wednesday 16 October kick-off 7.45pm in the third qualifying round of the FA Youth Cup. Please come along and support our youngsters. It is a game that seems to promise goals as we won 8-4 in the last round and King’s Lynn won 6-4.

Admission prices are £5 for adults, £3 for concessions and £1 for teenagers. Under 13’s get in free.

EJA NEWS WITH NICK CARR
Only two of our EJA teams were in action at the weekend as the U18s had a free week and the U14s League Cup tie at Woodbridge Town in Suffolk was postponed due to the pitch being unplayable. Unfortunately for our U14s, the decision to postpone wasn’t taken until after the team had completed the two hour, 95 mile journey! Worse still, they have to undertake the journey again this Sunday in the rearranged fixture, 2pm kick-off if anyone fancies the day out!!

The U15s fared better following their short trip to near neighbours Barton Rovers. It proved to be a case of clear heads and stout hearts from our boys as they came away battered and bruised in the face of some x-rated challenges and intimidating tactics but with all three points in a 3-1 win. From the first whistle Barton seemed determined to prevent our boys from playing their usual brand of football however, goals from Cathal Fee, Lavel Davis-Thomas and Harry Forde who netted his first for the club, were enough to see the boys continue their 100% start to the season.

The boys are in cup action on Sunday with another short trip, this time to Sandridge Rovers FC, where they will take on St. Albans City U15 EJA in the EJA League Challenge Cup, kick-off is 10:00am.

Whilst our U17s lost their own 100% record on Sunday, they did keep their unbeaten record going with a 3-3 draw at Saffron Walden Town to stay top of the EJA U17 London Division. Nathan Wing, after his impressive performance in the club’s FA Youth Cup win on Tuesday, continued his good form with a brace with Ajay Lidder scoring the other goal. The boys are in league action again on Sunday when they host Kempston Rovers Colts in a 10:30am kickoff at The Arena, Baldock.

The U18s complete the fixtures for our EJA section on Sunday when they play St. Albans City EJA U18 at Top Field, in another 2pm kick-off.

HITCHIN TOWN LADIES
The Ladies first team were without a game last Sunday but the reserves drew 1-1 at Bedwell.

MANAGER’S NOTES WITH MARK BURKE

MAIDSTONE

Our Emirates F A Cup journey came to an end last Saturday but we went down fighting and I was very proud of the players and their performance. The squad was down to the bare bones and we lost Dan Webb on Saturday morning to add to our woes. We could only field five substitutes which included two under 18’s and two goalkeepers.

However despite these problems we made a dream start and scored after just six minutes and you could see from our celebrations how much we enjoyed the moment.

Maidstone to their credit came back strongly and scored two quick fire goals in a couple of minutes. This could have seen us capitulate but we weathered a major storm and were able to get to half time with just the one goal deficit.

At half time we stressed to the players that it was important that we stayed in the game as long as we could by continuing with the initial game plan. We always felt we would get at least one chance to score and had decided to go for it in the last 15 minutes if we kept the deficit to one goal. This is what happened and we hit the post , missed a penalty and in the dying seconds a chance went just wide.

Maidstone’s head of football John Still congratulated us on our performance after the game and said we did not deserve to lose. While we suffered defeat I was a proud manager and as Roy has said I too thought our supporters were absolutely brilliant on Saturday and on behalf of the players and management I would like to thank them all for their great support.

HEMEL HEMPSTEAD

The Hemel manager Sammy Moore contacted me on Sunday evening to see if we wanted to play a friendly at Hemel on Tuesday. It suited us as I wanted the players who could not play at Maidstone to get a game and not be inactive for two weeks.

I enjoyed the game and thought we played good football and it was a worthwhile exercise. It was good to meet Isaac Galliford who played for Hemel and I would like to thank all at Hemel for laying on the game.

BROMSGROVE SPORTING

Bromsgrove will arrive full of confidence having scored thirteen goals in their last two games with eight scored at Rushden. This will be another tough game and indeed all fixtures in this league seem to be due to the quality of the teams. But we go in to the game heartened by our recent performances and the positive effect of the new signings.

I hope there will be a large Non-League Day attendance at Top Field on Saturday and I am sure it will be an entertaining game.

ROYSTON

Royston are having an excellent season both in the league and Emirates F A Cup and we will need to improve on our recent performances at Garden Walk. All local derbies are hard fought and this will be no different but I am really looking forward to the game.

BY ROY IZZARD