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WEEKLY BULLETIN – 18TH AUGUST

22

FIXTURES

  • Saturday 19th August Home to St Ives league kick-off 3.00pm. Tickets must be purchased online.
  • There is no midweek game.

MANAGER’S NOTES WITH MARK BURKE

LONG EATON

We had a very enjoyable first ever visit to Long Eaton on Saturday. Before the game we knew very little about them so we approached the game with caution. We spent the first 10 minutes eyeing them up to see how they would play. From there the players began to take the game to Long Eaton and I felt we edged the first half on chances created but reached half time all square.

We made the perfect start to the second half when Layne Eadie provided an excellent finish to a very good move.. Long Eaton did not give up and got an equaliser from one of their long throws which I felt we could have defended better. However we reacted positively to the equaliser and took the set back in our stride . We went on to control the game and got a second goal which proved to be the winner. We could have scored more and all in all it was a very good day at the office.

NEEDHAM MARKET

We travelled to our nemesis club but we went with confidence after two wins. I thought we started the game very well and could easily have taken the lead. Had we done so the game would have been very different but Needham Market rode the storm and then settled in to the game.

I had made a couple of changes from Saturday as I looked to use the quality we have in our squad. It will be a long season and I am going to need to protect the players and manage their minutes on the pitch as it is a fairly thin squad because I opted to go with quality over quantity. It will be up to me to manage the situation as I also have to keep all the players happy despite only being able to play eleven which means quality players will be on the bench.

Another reason for the changes is that we had a long coach journey on Saturday and another one on Tuesday and this does take a toll on the players. But back to the game and after spurning those early chances we then made a couple of mistakes that led to the concession of two goals and we were 2-0 down at the break.

We were a lot more positive in the second half and defended far better restricting chances for Needham Market whilst creating several opportunities of our own.. Ultimately Needham Market won because they took their chances and we did not.

ST IVES

St Ives had a good win at Nuneaton last Saturday and followed this up with a 1-1 draw with AFC Sudbury. Games with St Ives are invariably exciting contests and I am expecting Saturday to be no different. Our support has been fantastic in recent times and I hope we attract another big crowd to Top Field on Saturday to witness an attractive game.

Jack Snelus did not train last night and is a doubt for the St Ives game.

MARK BURKE

THE CURSE OF NEEDHAM MARKET
Our record is so poor at Needham Market it was suggested next season we let Needham have the points and save the coach bill! Bur seriously the 6 visits have resulted in 5 defeats and 1 draw and a goal difference of 5-21.

These are the results–

  • 2.10.10 2-4
  • 14.8.18 1-8
  • 13.8.19 1-1
  • 22.1.22 1-3
  • 2.1.23 0-3
  • 15.8.23 0-2

FA YOUTH CUP
Michael Jones has provided a report of our 2-1 win over Arlesey (see below). But I was pleasantly surprised by the attendance which at 149 was higher than some Southern League Division 1 teams get for first team games. Many thanks for your support and I hope we can attract as many when we play Royston in the next round after they beat Ampthill 2-0.

FA CUP
We will be in the draw for the first qualifying round of the FA Cup on Monday. The FA will release the draw at 1.00pm and details will be on our social media outlets.

MERCHADISE UPDATE BY PAUL SPRAGUE
Whilst visiting Top Field please call in to the club shop for Hitchin Town merchandise, your matchday programme & team sheet or a selection of chocolate bars and pick & mix sweets. We also have a huge range of historic programmes from across league and non-league.

We have had a restock of Hummel items this week so if you have been waiting for a particular size of something we hopefully now have this in stock.

We have also updated our online shop – so if you live further afield all clothing items should now be back available online.

Finally, if you can’t make it to Top Field on matchdays remember we have a selection of items available from the Hitchin Information Centre, 1A Churchyard, Hitchin.

YOUTH UPDATE BY MICHAEL JONES

FA Youth Cup
We are looking for another FA Youth Cup run after last year’s experience which saw us progress through from the extra preliminary round, to the third qualifying round where unfortunately the run ended at home to Chesterfield.

On Wednesday 16th August we started our FA Youth Cup journey for this season with a home game against local rivals Arlesey Town FC.

The game was a close encounter wither neither side really able to create much. In the second half an early penalty saw Hitchin take the lead through captain Bentley Assiedou and then later on in the game extended the lead with the help of a goal from substitute Jonathan Balango. Arlesey did create chances and in the 95th minute scored a goal which made the last few minutes of the game interesting but Hitchin managed to hold on for the win.

Hitchin will now host Royston Town in the next round after their 2-0 win on Tuesday.

Male & Female Academy
If you would like to join the academy or want to find out more information then please register your details here – https://www.northhertsarena.co.uk/next-trial-dates

BY ROY IZZARD