WEEKLY BULLETIN – 20TH DECEMBER
FIXTURES
- Saturday 21st December League Home to Stamford kick-off 3.00pm. Below is the full preview of this game—
Its back to Top Field again this Saturday for a Southern League match against Stamford. In the reverse fixture in August Stamford came out 2-0 winners. When Stamford last visited Top Field in November last year they also took all 3 points with a 2-1 win, Hitchin Town’s goal courtesy of Layne Eadie.
Manager Michael Jones looks to build on the effort and quality of football we all enjoyed in the last few games but ensure we can add some more clinical finishing to secure a result.
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 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 need to present your ticket for entry at the Turnstiles on Fishponds Road. More details here:
https://hitchintownfc.club/admission-prices/
Turnstiles open at 14.00.
Remember our flexi tickets are also available. This allows you to buy a pack of 5 adult or concession tickets at a discounted rate. You can then login to your Kaizen account and decide which league games you want to use these tickets for. You can use as many as you like per game. Buy yours here:
https://hitchintownfc.ktckts.com/merchandise/hit2425flexi/flexi-ticket-202425-5-matches
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 will be in attendance serving a great range of craft beers. They will be 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.
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 another big crowd and hope everyone has a great afternoon at Top Field.
On Boxing Day we make the short trip to to Bedford Town. Please note this fixture now has a 1.00pm kick-off after a change of heart from the hosts who originally wanted a 3.00pm kick-off.
The Barwell game on New Years Day remains a 3.00pm kick-off.
A SPECIAL CHRISTMAS MESSAGE FROM OUR CHAPLAIN MAXINE HOWARTH
This season has been a difficult one in many ways. We have suffered a high number of defeats, a reasonable number of draws and a couple of wins of late. We’ve had a change of manager along the way which seems to be taking us in a better direction now. Throughout all of the ups and downs that have come our way, as a club and as a fan base we never lost hope. We continued to belive that hope would win out over adversity – and there are signs that we didn’t hope in vain.
The message at the very heart of Christmas is hope. The story as you know it – Jesus being born to Mary and Joseph and delivering humankind from their sins is one of hope that is celebrated the world over at Christmastime. There is much to hope for this Christmas – for peace in Gaza and Israel and for an end to the war between Russia & Ukraine; hope that we might have a stable government, and, dare I say it, a Church of England that is also stable – it’s been a turbulent year for many of us. But hope came into the world at Christmas to remind us that a light shines in the darkness and the darkness could not overcome it.
On behalf of all at St Mark’s may I wish you the happiest of Christmases and a peaceful and blessed new year.
THANKS TO SHEFFORD AND CAMPION
Many thanks to Shefford for hosting us in a friendly on Tuesday. Our only previous encounter with Shefford was in the FA Cup in September 1956 when we won 6-2. I hope it will not be another 68 years before we meet again. Manager Michael Jones was able to give valuable game time to a number of players who were short of match fitness and a 6-1 victory with goals from Liam Brooks, Luke Stokoe, Henry Snee, Bradley Bell, Dan Stokoe and Kye Tearle showed that we took the game seriously. I would have estimated that half the crowd had come from Hitchin which was great testament to the loyalty of our followers.
MANAGER’S NOTES BY MICHAEL JONES
AFC Sudbury
As mentioned in last week’s bulletin, this is one of the hardest away games as things stand due to their impressive home record with their last home defeat coming all the way back in March.
We got off to a good start where Rio Deall raced through 1-1 but the keeper made a good save to deny him. Sudbury then went up the other end and some poor positional play on our part allowed them an easy finish. I was extremely annoyed about this goal as it was very preventable. Sudbury then had the next 10 minutes while we were adjusting to being 1-0 down. I felt after this we had good control of the game which allowed us to keep things tight at the back and minute by minute ease our way back into the match. We lacked quality in the final third, as we had plenty of chances to create goal scoring opportunities and had more than enough crosses but we just struggled to have any real conviction in our play.
Second half I felt we controlled the game from start to finish and made Sudbury defend with all 11 players deep in their own half, with the hosts only posing a threat on the counter attack. The game looked like it was going to be an undeserved 1-0 defeat but Henry Snee popped up with a late equaliser. I still felt we had plenty of time to win it but we then put ourselves in a terrible situation, a free kick in the last minute was poorly taken to allow Sudbury one last counter attack, some naïve defending followed by a foul in the box resulted in a 96th minute penalty. I felt the game was done then but for once luck was on our side with the penalty being smashed over the bar with the last kick of the game.
Some people will say Sudbury may not have been at their best and if this was the case, I strongly believe it’s because our group of players did not allow them to be and despite a 10 minute spell at the start we made it extremely difficult for them to get into their rhythm.
I am disappointed we did not do enough in the final third to get the win, despite dominating the game and I am extremely annoyed we gave away such a preventable goal early on which made an already tough game, even tougher for ourselves. I am happy however we had a bit of deserved luck with the last-minute penalty miss.
Shefford Town & Campton
Tuesday night we travelled to local side Shefford Town & Campton. This was a great opportunity for us to get some much-needed game time for some players while also having a look at some new players. This game also allowed us to work on our end product in the final third and this would be much more beneficial for everyone involved than training. I felt the first 30 minutes we should have been out of sight with some of the chances we created but only had a 2-0 lead after some excellent finishes from Liam Brooks and Daniel Stokoe. Fair play to Shefford they stuck in the game and the final 10 minutes of the half came on stronger. Second half we got off to a sloppy start and Shefford scored from a Chris Khoo deflected shot. Although I am annoyed we conceded a goal in the fashion we did, I am pleased for Chris. He is a former Hitchin Town Academy player as well as a Hitchin Town community coach and he also made a few appearances for our first team last year and now he is gaining much needed experience at step 5 with Shefford. This woke us up and a few minutes later Henry Snee scored. We then went on to be ruthless in front of goal and added further goals from Brad Bell, Luke Stokoe and Kye Tearle to finish a good night’s work with a 6-1 win. We were also able to play current academy player Blue Joy who came on for the last 30 minutes of the match and did not put a foot wrong. Blue will now be invited in to train with the first team on a regular basis.
I would like to thank everyone at Shefford Town & Campton and in particular Jim for arranging this fixture. As a club we wish them all the best with the remainder of their season.
I would also like to thank all the Hitchin Town supporters who came out to show their support for the group. I know a friendly away on a cold December night is the last thing on everyone’s priority list but it was great to see the support. It was also extremely pleasing to see a group of young supporters at the game who made plenty of noise of encouragement for the group. We thank you for your continued support and we look forward to seeing you all again on Saturday.
Stamford AFC
Our recent record against Stamford will tell you how hard this fixture is. In our last four meetings in all competitions, we have lost all four. Stamford missed out on the playoffs last season on the final day and they are in and around the playoffs again this season. They are a big physical team, well organised and have some great individual talent with some good experienced players. This gives them an excellent balance throughout their squad.
We go into this fixture looking to build on the positive performance last week while looking to add some more points to our total.
Everyone will be looking at the fixture as a winnable game but we all need to remember everyone connected with Stamford will also be looking at us in this fixture in the same way. This should make for an excellent game with both teams going for the win!!!
Player News
- Billy Heaps played for Baldock Town last weekend and also played 60 minutes for us on Tuesday against Shefford Town & Campton as he looks to build up his fitness levels.
- Bradley Dixon – Smith is now back fit and will be involved in the busy Christmas period.
- Liam Brooks is building up his fitness levels and will also be involved more over the Christmas period.
MERCHANDISE UPDATE
Saturday 21st is your last chance to do your Club Shop Christmas Shopping. We will be open from mid-day for anyone not attending the Stamford game that still wants to call in to the shop. Our evening opening’s this week both proved popular. Thanks for your support.
We have good availability on replica shirts with nearly all sizes in stock. We also have all sizes of hoodies in stock. We have re-stocked the snoods and have plenty of hats and scarves so call in to have a look. If you really aren’t sure what to get then remember you can also now purchase a Gift Card that the recipient can then use in the Club Shop.
MATCHDAY 50/50
Just a reminder that you can now purchase your matchday 50/50 tickets by card as well as cash – so lets make the jackpot at the Stamford game a new record!
ACADEMY UPDATE BY MICHAEL JONES
William McNeill Is playing for Pro:Direct 11 this week In their fixture against Arsenal at their training ground. Will has been excellent since he joined the academy and we are delighted he has made an 18 man squad from over 1000 players to choose from in the country.
Blue Joy played 30 minutes for Hitchin Town first team on Tuesday in their away friendly against Shefford Town & Campton. Blue is another player who has joined the academy this year and has been brilliant since he arrived. He came on Tuesday and did not put a foot wrong on the pitch, the other first team players were impressed with his performance and now Blue has been invited in to train with the group on a regular basis.
Tyrese Kamara has also been invited in to train with the first team on a regular basis.
We also held an open training session on Wednesday evening. This was a success where we were able to look at some new players who are interested in joining the academy while also inviting back some from our previous open training session back in October.
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
JUNIOR CANARIES UPDATE BY MICHAEL JONES
Issue 4 will be released on Friday 3rd January 2025.
If you would like to receive this issue please register your details by Wednesday 1st January 2025.
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.
MARK SMITH
Walking down Bancroft on Wednesday I bumped into legendary ex-Canary Mark Smith who played 234 games and scored 31 goals between 1989 and 2011. He still follows our results from his home in Spain. He has come back home for Christmas And he will try to get to Top Field.
HTWFC UPDATE BY CALLUM ELLIS
There was only the one team in action last Sunday —
HTWFC Canaries 0 – 0 Welwyn United
It’s a wrap for 2024, what a year it has been!
Have a lovely Christmas, from all of us at Hitchin Town Women FC.
As this is the last bulletin before Christmas on behalf of all the Hitchin Town FC officials players and volunteers can I wish all our wonderful supporters a very merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year.
BY ROY IZZARD