FIXTURES
Saturday 22nd December – Kettering Town Away – 3pm kick-off.
Wednesday 26th December – Biggleswade Town Home – 1:30pm kick-off.

PLAYER NEWS

  • Wealdstone have recalled Matt Lench for their fixture at Truro City.
  • Noah is expected to make a full recovery and be available for selection.
  • Matt Nolan will be back in the squad.
  • Alex Anderson faces a late fitness test.
  • Scott Belgrove will be back in the squad.
  • Edwin Mensah has been training with Colchester United this week. He made an appearance from the bench during their Under 23s match versus Cardiff City on Monday and will be unavailable for selection.
  • Mark is currently looking at one or two further additions to the squad in order to bolster the numbers ahead of the busy festive schedule.

UNDER 19s
There was no game for the under 19s this week.

BOXING DAY KICK-OFF TIME
Please note that the Boxing Day home league fixture vs Biggleswade Town will kick-off at 1:30pm instead of the usual 3pm.

ROY IZZARD
Apologies for the slightly reduced weekly bulletin this week. Club stalwart Roy Izzard has been unwell, spending some time at Lister Hospital undergoing a few tests. In fact when we spoke on the telephone earlier this morning, he was far more concerned with potentially missing the trip to Kettering than his health, something which very few of you will be surprised to read. Roy has since been discharged and is recovering at home.

Roy really does eat, sleep and breathe Hitchin Town Football Club, devoting a large proportion of his social time to the club and we’re incredibly fortunate to have such a devoted volunteer amongst our ranks. We of course wish Roy all the best in returning to full fitness.

MANAGER NOTES

ST IVES TOWN
I thought we made the perfect start to the St Ives game with Michael Cain showing his continually increasing sharpness but opening the scoring early on. St Ives were very difficult opposition and particularly dangerous on the counter throughout the remainder of the half. We suffered the blow of losing Noah Chesmain to injury during the break, which meant a positional reshuffle for three players, which took a little time to settle and knocked our momentum. During this period St Ives came into the game and it took a couple of outstanding saves from MJ to keep the score at 1-0.

I have to say I was particularly pleased with our defending as the lads put their bodies on the line to secure the win. This for me is as positive as scoring a winner. I was a great team effort and I was delighted to continue our winning run.

KETTERING TOWN
Kettering is a tough, tough place to go to. In fact I’m not sure we’ve ever won there! But we’re in good form so we’ll go there confident. I’ll be delighted to head into the Boxing Day derby fixture with Biggleswade with our unbeaten run intact.

STEWART CURTIS