FIXTURES

  • Saturday 19 October away to Leiston League kick-off 3.00pm. Coach leaves 11.00am.
  • Monday 21 October home to Coalville League kick-off 7.45pm.

PLAYER NEWS

  • Lewis Barker has completed his suspension and returns to the squad for the Leiston game.
  • Josh Bickerstaff faces a fitness test ahead of the Leiston game.
  • Harry Draper is still injured.
  • New signing coming this evening.

RADIO COMMENTARY
North Herts Radio will be at Leiston on Saturday to bring you full, live commentary of Hitchin Town’s next league game.

Marac Alionic and Brian Gray will be your hosts from 2:45pm as the Canaries look to build on some recent good results and search for their first league away win of the season.

We are on the ‘North Herts Radio Extra’ channel on the North Herts Radio website – click here to access.

If you are using a mobile device the latest North Herts FM Android App is available to download from the Play Store which will give access to the ‘North Herts Radio Extra’ channel.

North Herts Radio is also available as an Apple App and on Alexa.

NON-LEAGUE DAY
Thank you to all of you who attended our Non-League Day game with Bromsgrove. The attendance of 633 was the second best in our division and it was an excellent atmosphere. The Sky Sports team enjoyed their visit and went away with plenty of material which they are currently editing. They will advise us with details of when any material is broadcast.

FA TROPHY
We have been drawn at home to Bedfont Sports with the game taking place at Top Field on Saturday 26 October kick-off 3.00pm. This will be our first meeting with Bedfont Sports.

HITCHIN TOWN UNDER 18’S
The under 18’s were knocked out of the F A Youth Cup on Wednesday when Kings Lynn Town scored an injury time winner to secure a 4-3 victory. It was another entertaining game watched by an excellent attendance of 124. The Hitchin goals were scored by Liam Campion, Nikolay Rusev and Devonte Simms.

Kings Lynn will travel to Ipswich in the first round proper.

HITCHIN TOWN LADIES FC WITH CALLUM ELLIS

League Cup Action

It was the return of the League Cup this weekend with both teams being drawn away.

Division Two side Sherrardswood hosted our Reserves team. Sherrardswood had played the Reserves during preseason and beat them 6-2 so fingers were crossed that it would be a better result.
This report is from Jez Davies –‘It was another step forward for the newly formed reserve side who were solid throughout and only conceded with 5 minutes of play to make the final score a respectable 1-0 to the hosts. Despite losing this match the reserves can take plenty of positives going into their next league match’

Division Two side Watton At Stone hosted the high flying Division One Hitchin Town Ladies FC first team. Watton dumped the first team out of the League Cup in the semi-finals at Top Field back in the 16/17 season and they were looking to extend their unbeaten run of 3 games against Hitchin. The Ladies enjoyed early possession and were knocking at the door early on. A flick on by Chaffey to Gash was fired past the keeper to put the Ladies in front. We attacked again and this time Chaffey doubled the lead. Watson added another goal and Thompson scored with a 35 yard lob over the keeper. The second half chances came to the Ladies but they hit the woodwork on multiple occasions with other shots just glancing wide or over the bar. Chaffey doubled her tally and then Cain-Murnane from 30 yards lobbed the keeper. The game ended 6-0 to the Ladies who finally found their feet in the League Cup again.

FIXTURES
County Cup
HTLFC Firsts v Watford Ladies FC
13:30 Kick Off – Ickleford Recreation Ground

Division Three
Kempston Rovers FC v HTLFC Reserves
14:00 Kick Off – Kempston Rovers FC

EJA NEWS WITH NICK CARR

The bad weather leading up to Sunday caused two our EJA fixtures to be postponed with the U15 and U18 squads missing out on games.

The two teams who did see action last Sunday had mixed fortunes. The U17s continued their unbeaten start to the season with a 4-3 league victory over Kempston Rovers Colts with the goals coming from Nathan Wing, Jack Hewitt and a brace from Tyler Lowden. However, the U14s came back from their long trip to Woodbridge Town having suffered their first loss of the season in a 2-1 defeat in the EJA Challenge Cup with our goal coming from Deric Sarpong.

The U15s travelled to Cockfosters Youth on Wednesday night in the EJA Midweek Cup and came away with an impressive 2-1 win to continue their 100% start to the season. Goals from Brandon Owen, direct from a corner, and Lavel Davis-Thomas were enough to see them through to the next round despite a late consolation from Cockfosters.

This weekend sees all four teams having to travel. The U18s kick things off tonight with a long journey to Witham Town for an EJA Midweek Cup fixture, kick-off is 7:45pm.

Next up are the U14s who make the short trip to the Valley in Stevenage on Sunday in a league fixture against Biggleswade Town, kick-off at 10:30am. At the same time, the U17s are away to Grays Athletic Youth in a league fixture, hoping to extend their unbeaten run to stay top of their division.

The U15s complete our EJA fixtures for the weekend with a Challenge Cup fixture against St. Albans at Sandridge Rovers FC, kick-off 2pm.

MANAGER’S NOTES WITH ADAM PARKER AND MARK BURKE

BROMSGROVE SPORTING – ADAM PARKER REFLECTS

I thought we played well and overall a draw was a fair result. The team was picked to do specific jobs and we were well aware of the threat that Bromsgrove presented, particularly their front two. The balance of the team was good and we are now putting square pegs in square holes. The defence did well against probably one of the best forward pairings in the league while the midfield was competitive and creative. Steve Cawley did a good job up front holding the ball well and bringing other players in to play.

We created chances and should have been ahead and I would have been very disappointed if we had lost the game. I think we made the substitutions at the right time and the team showed great character to come back after Bromsgrove’s second goal.

The team is now taking shape and the four new signings have improved us. It has helped the confidence of the other players and it is noticeable that the standard of training has also improved as there is now genuine competition for places. I am confident we will pull away from the relegation zone and I think we should be looking to push to finish mid table or above.

ROYSTON TOWN – MARK BURKE REFLECTS

After the good performance against Bromsgrove we were looking to continue to build our confidence and set out to attack Royston from the start. I was very happy with the first half and felt we should have been 2-0 if not 3-0 ahead at half time.

In the second half Royston changed their shape and employed Adam Murray at centre forward. Whilst Royston had the majority of the possession and Murray proved a real handful I thought we defended well and limited their opportunities. We were given a good chance to seal victory when Royston were reduced to 10 men and then hit the post from a one on one chance. Then an unfortunate mistake led to an equaliser and by the end of the game I was a little deflated.

However if I had been offered a point before the game I would certainly have taken it.

LEISTON & COALVILLE – MARK

Our next two games in quick succession see us play teams bottom and top of the league table. Leiston is obviously a very important fixture despite it being early in the season. We really do want to win this game to move us further away from Leiston and nearer to the teams above us.

Both fixtures will be very difficult for different reasons and I am going to have to manage the squad with this in mind. Games are coming thick and fast but there has been a definite improvement in recent weeks and we now need to turn good performances in to winning performances.

BY ROY IZZARD