WEEKLY BULLETIN 1ST AUGUST

Upcoming Fixtures

Saturday 2 August vs Stevenage U18 (H)

Our pre-season fixtures come to an end and we are at Top Field once again this Saturday as we welcome Stevenage U18s.

Please note we will be using the side gate for entry rather than the turnstiles. This is adjacent to the matchday ticket office in the rear car park.

Tickets
Where possible we advising purchasing online. As well as being cheaper, it will ensure your quick and easy entry into the ground through the gate.
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 need to buy your tickets in person, our Matchday ticket office will be open from 13.30-15.15, and can be accessed from the rear car park (behind the Canary Club). Once you have purchased a ticket at the Matchday Ticket Office you will then present your ticket at the side gate for entry. More details here: https://hitchintownfc.club/admission-prices/

Turnstiles open at 14.00

Parking
Unfortunately supporter parking is not available in the club car park (unless you are a registered blue badge holder and have made prior arrangements).

Food and Drink
The Canary Club bar is open from 11.00 with some of the lowest prices in Hitchin! Drinks can be taken into the ground in a reusable plastic cup. (£1 deposit required). You can exit to the bar during the match and will be re-admitted via the side gate by showing your hand-stamp.

Mad Squirrel Brewery are now a permanent fixture at Top Field matches serving a great range of craft beers. They are located adjacent to the main stand.

Canary Kitchen will be open from when the turnstiles open serving a great range of food and soft drinks including our signature HTFC Pies. They also have ice creams on offer!

Club Shop
Get your matchday programme, teamsheet, chocolate bars, sweets and HTFC merchandise from the club shop.

For full details on the facilities at Top Field see our Matchday Info page here:
https://hitchintownfc.club/matchday-info/

We look forward to welcoming everyone to Top Field and hope that everyone has a great afternoon.

There is no midweek fixture this week as we gear up for our first league game of the season at Hadley away from home next Saturday (9 August).

Manager’s Notes

Victory Versus Royston Town

Saturday we travelled to our local rivals Royston Town FC for Adam Murray’s testimonial match. It was great to be asked to be involved with the day in honour of such a great opponent and a Royston legend.

Although this was a friendly and a testimonial we were treating this game as seriously as we could, in preparation for the start of the season.

From the start of the game I felt we had the edge over our Step 3 opponents. We were moving the ball well and looked comfortable in possession and when we did not have the ball we worked extremely hard to win it back and be defensively organised. We created a few good chances but were unable to convert these into goals. The game took a turn just before the 30th minute when Toby Syme received his second yellow card and was sent off. I know a lot of people will have different views on red cards in friendlies but I am of the belief that pre season friendlies are to practice for the season and unfortunately Toby made two rash challenges and fully deserved to be sent off. This did ruin the game as a spectacle but it gave us a chance to work on a situation we have not faced so far in preseason and one we may face during the season.

I felt we continued to control the game for the remainder of the half and still managed to create some goal scoring opportunities. We managed to limit Royston to long range shots which were all off target or completely routine for Josh in goal.

At half-time we spoke about ways we could still be an attacking threat, our organisation when we did not have the ball and emphasised the fact that this was a great opportunity to practice playing a man down.

In the second half Royston had more possession but were struggling to find ways through our hard work, organisation and defensive structure. We then scored a goal to take the lead and it was a well worked goal with Billy Heaps playing a great through ball for Callum Kane who finished superbly. We then started to make the changes to try and freshen the team up. We limited Royston to scraps and when they did break through we had Josh Bowler to thank with some really good saves, to maintain a clean sheet.

Although this was only a friendly it was great to get a win and a clean sheet while also learning so much about the group and the character we have within it. I am delighted with the work of all the players within the group and they fully deserved to win this game.

Playing with 10 men for 70 minutes was great practice but the worst preparation for Tuesdays competitive match to Ware FC.

I would also like to thank the travelling support as always, it’s great to see so many of our loyal supporters and all the Hitchin flags and shirts in the crowd.

Herts Charity Cup Win Over Ware

On Tuesday we were back to competitive action in the Herts Charity Cup when we hosted Ware FC. It was great to be back at Top Field for competitive football again.

We knew Ware had recruited well in the summer, would be hard working and well organised. We also knew we had exerted a lot of energy on Saturday and would have to really push ourselves to be at the same level again, despite all of this we were looking forward to the challenge of playing a team in our division.

I felt we started the game well and it looked like we were carrying on from Saturday. We created a few chances in the opening 15 minutes but were unable to test the opposition keeper. We then started to make some really sloppy passes and the mistakes started to creep into our game, also our decision making with the ball was very questionable and when we did attack, we lacked quality with the final pass or cross. This then made the players play safer passes and because of this we invited unnecessary pressure which then allowed Ware to get a foothold in the game and for the next 30 minutes they looked the more comfortable team in possession and looked organised without the ball. They also did not work Josh in goal and the first half finished at 0-0.

At half-time we spoke about the standards we have set which were currently not being met, our energy without the ball and our quality In the final third.

We started the second half with more energy but lacked our intensity with our press as well as our organisation, meaning we were a yard off winning the ball. Our defensive organisation needed to be better. Ware did create one really good chance early on but Josh Bowler made an excellent save to keep the scores level. We then introduced fresh players and adapted our shape slightly. This meant for the last 25 minutes we had more of a foothold in the game. We created some good chances with the opposition keeper making an excellent save from Taylor Rhiney, Plamedi Bomolo missing a 1-1, Charlie McDonald just dragging wide of the post and Josh Jackman missing a very good chance at the back post. As we were unable to convert these chances the game finished 0-0 and went straight to pens.

The pens we took were excellent, well apart from the one the trialist missed and we had Josh to thank again for saving the last Ware kick to win the game.

I know everyone who attended this game will be disappointed and deflated with the performance of the team as was I on Tuesday when I left the game but I actually think we have quite a few positives to take from this game as well as plenty of areas to work on.

We all now know the standard of the league and how competitive it will be come the 9th August as it’s a league where everyone is capable of beating everyone. It has shown the group of players that when we do not meet the standards we have set then it will be very difficult to win football matches. We have also now kept two clean sheets in a row and Tuesday we managed to keep one when not being at our best, last season we would have lost this game 1-0 and it has also highlighted that our end product needs to be better.

I would have liked a better performance but we have once again learned more about the group which we can now work on in training and put into practice for our final friendly on Saturday.

I also learnt that Saturday’s performance took more out of us than I imagined and this will be something we can now address in the season with squad rotation if we are in a similar situation.

We also have to look at the game and the objective in cup football would have been to get into the next round and despite being way off the level we want, the group has achieved that.

We have now completed our non-league pre-season and it has allowed us to try new ideas and concepts and continue to learn more about the group. We played four games against two teams from Step 3, one from Step 4 and one from Step 5. We scored 5 goals and conceded two and have also achieved two clean sheets. This will help us during the season.

I would like to thank our excellent support again, 246 for a Tuesday night Herts Charity cup game is excellent and despite the performance, I hope you all enjoyed the fact we won the game and we have progressed into the next round.

This Weekend’s Game With Stevenage U18s

On Saturday we play our final friendly of the preseason, this has been a slight change of plan to our original schedule but due to Ware FC being in the FA Cup this weekend it meant we needed to find a new team to play. I would like to thank Stevenage for helping us out by bringing a team to Top Field for a much needed fixture for our group.

Stevenage will be fit, energetic and well coached due to being in full time training. I am expecting them to play good football, be very intense to get the ball back and well organised when they are defending.

We will be looking at ways we can improve on our performance from Tuesday’s game and I know the team will be desperate to score a home preseason goal.

I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible on Saturday.

Academy Update

Will McNeill and Blue Joy have both been involved for Biggleswade United in their first two games of the season. On Tuesday night Will scored a goal and received the man of the match award in their 1-1 draw with Baldock Town.

Tyrese Kamara has also dual registered with London Colney for game time. This is a great opportunity for Tyrese to continue to adapt into non-league football

If you would like to be part of the academy or would like to find out more information on what we offer please register your details using this link – https://extranet.wearescl.co.uk/ToolkitNew/webenrolment.aspx?page=~/webcontrols/courseapply.ascx&OfferingId=85258

Michael Jones

Attendances

Attendances for our pre-season games have been very encouraging. The four home friendlies have seen an aggregate of 2,147 compared to 2,157 last season which was inflated by the Arsenal game.

2024/25
Barnet – 411
Luton U21 – 654
Arsenal U18 – 826
Edgware – 266

2025/26
Barnet – 590
Luton U21 – 514
MK Dons – 730
Real Bedford – 313

Our Herts Charity Cup game with Ware saw an attendance of 246 compared to 192 for the game with Hertford in the corresponding round last year. 

We have also had  over 100 supporters at both Potton and Royston so many thanks for your great support.

Community Update

Summer Holiday Camps: Week 1

We held our first Summer Holiday camps at the Arena and Preston Junior School this week from 9.30am – 3.30pm on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

The camps are open to children aged 5-14 years and this week we had 39 children attend the Football Camp at the Arena with 25 children enjoying the activities at Preston Junior school.

Remaining Summer Holiday Camps

The Arena, Baldock – Football Holiday Camps

We have 4 more weeks of our football holiday camps at the Arena, Baldock 5^th August to 26^th August.

Preston Primary School – Multi-Activity Holiday Camps

There will be 3 more weeks of the multi-activity holiday camps at Preston Primary School between 5^th August and 21^st August.

Oughton Junior School

End of Term Assembly

Oughton Junior School held their last assembly of term last week with first team manager Michael Jones and Stephen Gleeson presenting Dakota Johnson with her personalised Hitchin Town warm up top. This was her prize for designing the shirt in a competition staged by the football club for local children.

Dakota pictured here Michael Jones, Stephen Gleeson and Head Teacher Mrs Clayton with her shirt.

Mark Burke

HTWFC Update

It has been a fantastic start to the pre-season schedule, several new faces training and a lot of our previous seasons players returning.

So do you fancy yourself as the new Hannah Hampton or the new Chloe Kelly or one of our own, Emma Chaffey!?

Well you can, we run our sessions weekly on a Wednesday at the Baldock Road Rec on Baldock Road, Letchworth between 19:00-20:30. If you cannot make it till 19:30 it’s not an issue still pop down and take part. 

Contact us today on hello@hitchintownwomenfc.co.uk

Callum Ellis