WEEKLY BULLETIN – 11TH OCTOBER
FIXTURES
- Saturday 12th October League Home to Spalding kick-off 3.00pm.
- Tuesday 15th October League Home To Leiston kick-off 7.45pm.
Tickets
For lowest prices and quickest entry into the ground please purchase your tickets online here:https://hitchintownfc.ktckts.com/brand/match-tickets
The online box office remains open until 30 minutes after kick off.
If you do still wish to buy your tickets in person, the matchday ticket office is open from 13.30-15.15 on Saturday and from 18:15-20:00 on Tuesday and can be accessed from the rear car park (behind the Canary Club). Once you have purchased a ticket at the Canary Club you will then need to present your ticket for entry at the Turnstiles on Fishponds Road.
MANAGER’S NOTES BY BRETT DONNELLY
Mixed performances for us this week. Saturday at Hashtag I was disappointed with our overall efforts. We seemed a bit lethargic and not quite at it like we had been in our previous 4 games. Maybe it was the 10 days off or just the fact that the game was played in front of a very small crowd in a pretty soulless bowl. Either way we never got going. We lost to a dubious penalty in a game no team really deserved the win. Saying that I did think we were the better team but that’s cup football. It means we now have no distractions going forward with cup games on a Saturday.
Tuesday saw us play St Albans in the Charity Cup. Kyle Forster injured himself at work meaning he needed to get in early to assess how bad it was. Sadly it was bad and meant we had no keeper signed on available to play. Thankfully, with it being the Charity Cup the Herts FA and St Albans helped us out by allowing Brad Shaw to play in goal for us. Brad has been training with us for a couple of months and done well in helping Nathan at training by assisting Kyle. Brad got down and jumped in goal and did really well. Credit to him and Nathan for being prepped and ready to go. As a team, we did really well first half and gave a good account of ourselves all over the pitch. We could have had a couple more goals. Second half we dug in and stopped them getting too close to our goal until the last minute when a great run and finish did for us. As soon as it went to pens, we all knew that MJ would have a say in it and so he did. Thought it was a good game between two sides that have had a sticky start to their seasons.
Saturday sees us up against a Spalding side that is probably in a false position. With their new manager, Jimmy Dean, now in charge they will be looking up not down. It’s going to be a very difficult game. Jimmy’s teams are always on the front foot and he’ll be looking to come and get 3 points. His Peterborough Sports team have given us lots of tough games and a few hidings over the years so I expect nothing less tomorrow. Hopefully we can continue our good league form and pick up some more points. It’s a busy week as we host Leiston in a reversed fixture Tuesday night. They beat us at the end of last season in a game that I was embarrassed to be part of. That was the lowest point for me, even including Barwell this season. We offered nothing that day and quite a few of their lads let me know how bad we were. I look forward to the challenge again and hope we can finally get the win at home. It’s been too long since a home league win and I will admit it’s a monkey on our back I want to shake off. Hopefully by next Friday I can say that has been taken away.
Just a note on the squad. This week saw Soloman Sambou join us. He’s been out the game for a year but has a proven track record at the level and level above. He’s a steal for us and I hope to see him hit the form we know he has. We also had Enock start Tuesday. He has been training with us for a month and we finally had a chance to see him. After a slow start he got going and was superb Tuesday night. He will bring serious competition to our squad. Players going out are Glee’s and Snee this week. Both are going to Biggleswade Utd to get more minutes and gain some fitness. Both should be back in a couple of weeks. Other than that it’s a pretty clean bill of health this week. Long may it continue.
As always thanks for the support and stick with us.
Donners
ACADEMY UPDATE BY MICHAEL JONES
On Wednesday 9th October our league fixture was cancelled so the players trained instead.
We had a really good training session where we worked hard on our key principles of play in preparation for next week’s fixture.
After training we treated the lads to table tennis and a FIFA tournament followed by some Pizza which the lads all enjoyed.
JUNIOR CANARIES BY MICHAEL JONES
Our first competition was released last week and we have already had some good entries and we are really excited to receive more from the rest of our Junior Canaries.
If you wish to sign up as a Junior Canary, please email juniorcanaries@hitchintownfc.club with the following details:
Name, Date of birth, Address, School, Club Team (if applicable), Team you support, Parent/Guardian Name, Email, Contact Number.
We look forward to welcoming you all to the Junior Canaries.
HTWFC UPDATE BY CALLUM ELLIS
Results:
- HTWFC 0 – 2 MK United
- Harpenden Colts 7 – 1 HTWFC Canaries
Fixtures
HTWFC v Everett Rovers Ladies FC
St Christophers School, Letchworth Garden City, SG6 3JZ
Bletchley Scott v HTWFC Canaries
Scott Sports and Social Club, MK3 5BX
We are still recruiting for our teams. We train Wednesday evenings at The Arena, Norton Road, Baldock, between 19:30-20:30. Get in touch today ! hello@hitchintownwomenfc.co.uk
COMMUNITY UPDATE BY MARK BURKE
Brandles School
We have been working with Brandles School in Baldock delivering a Sports Leadership course for its pupils and we received some positive feedback from staff member Gary Wiggins.
Gary said ‘For several years Brandles School have worked with Hitchin Town FC at the Baldock Arena on various football projects. Our pupils have gained many skills from communication, pro-social and team building skills. This has all been achieved through football and fitness from the coaches and their expert guidance.
We currently have 12 pupils working towards their Sports Leadership Award, which will be a massive achievement for them all, the coaches have already helped to raise their self-esteem and confidence through football, which is a massive achievement for our pupils, who all attend a Social, Emotional and Mental Health School.
Without such great opportunities within the community our pupils would not experience these chances to benefit their mental health and well-being through sport.
Mark and his team have always provided additional support to our pupils to help them to reach their potential and raise their aspirations.
October School Holiday Camps – Open for Registration
We have released the dates for 2 School Holiday Camps that we will be running over the October half term and registration for them is now open on our website https://www.Northhertsarena.co.uk/holiday-courses
We will be hosting our normal Football Holiday Camp at The Arena in Baldock and following on from our successful Summer Multi Activity Camps at Preston JMI School we will be returning to host another camp.
Both camps will run from Tuesday 29th to and including Thursday 31st October and are open for girls and boys aged from 5 – 14 years old.
The camps operate from 9.30am to 3.30pm each day and costs £25 per day or £60 for all 3 days.
The Arena
We are still taking on children that wish to sign up to our coaching clinics at the Arena.
Monday evenings from 5-6pm we host a Junior Ability Counts session for children aged between 7 and 16 years old with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). The course runs for 7 weeks.
Wednesday evenings from 5.30-6.30pm we host a specific goalkeeping course called Safe Hands for children of all ages and abilities.
FORTHCOMING EVENTS AT CANARY CLUB BY KATE DELLER
Two great events coming up in the Canary Club. Keith George the critically acclaimed Boy George impersonator will appear on 19th October. He is funny and has a superb voice, come and enjoy a warm night of music and laughs.
BY ROY IZZARD