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WEEKLY BULLETIN – 23RD FEBRUARY

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FIXTURES

  • Saturday 25th February Away to Leiston League kick-off 3.00pm. Coach leaves at 11.00am.
  • Tuesday 28th February Away to Cheshunt Herts Senior Cup semi-final kick-off 7.45pm. There is no coach for this game.

MANAGER’S NOTES WITH MARK BURKE

NUNEATON/BARWELL

Our two matches against Nuneaton and Barwell were very similar. Both were very tight affairs and it is hard not to argue that a draw was the right result in both games. Space was at a premium as each team worked really hard to close down their opponents and defences were on top. The games were a good reflection of the league this season with the majority of games closely fought affairs.

I was pleased that we did not lose either game and kept our strong home league record in tact with just 2 defeats in 17 games. I would have liked to get 4 points out of 6 but these points could prove valuable and moved us nearer to our safety target.

LEISTON

We travel to Suffolk on Saturday to face Leiston who are second in the league table and also second in the last 6 games league table. In the home game back in October we more than matched Leiston in the first half but at the time we were fragile and conceding too many goals and Leiston went on to score 3 goals.

We will travel with a positive attitude and will aim to come away with maximum points.

CHESHUNT

On Tuesday we look forward to meeting Cheshunt in the semi final of the Herts Senior Cup. We went out to Cheshunt at the same stage last season and will be looking to make amends and aim to have a cup final to look forward to at the end of the season. I hope we have a good following and the supporters can help us over the line.

MARK BURKE

PLAYER NEWS

  • Steve Gleeson is still on the injured list and will miss Leiston.
  • Cieran Jones will also miss Leiston due to injury.
  • Toby Syme will return to the squad for Leiston.
  • George Devine has been back in full training for the last 2 weeks and will be in the squad for Leiston.
  • Josh Allen has extended his loan spell to 22nd March.

LEISTON
Leiston are having an outstanding season sitting in second position in the league table. They have only lost 3 league games all season and two of these took place on 27th August and 29th August. Since then they have only lost one of their last 25 games. This is quite an achievement and shows great consistency.

MERCHANDISE UPDATE BY PAUL SPRAGUE
The response to our merchandise offering over the past two years has been outstanding both Online and at Top Field in the Club Shop. We are delighted to have now added a third way to purchase some of our merchandise items; the Hitchin Information Centre at 1A Churchyard, Hitchin.

This offers you the chance to buy a selection of our range on non-matchdays without incurring any postage charges. This is also another way the Information Centre are helping to promote the brand to the wider Hitchin community and visitors to the town.

Thanks so much to the team at the Information Centre for their support.

Please call in and have a look at their new display as well as the many other items they have on offer from local businesses and organisations.

ACADEMY UPDATE BY MICHAEL JONES
On Wednesday 22nd February we had two away games on our first week back after the half term break.

In the first away game we travelled to Ware and a strong performance from start to finish saw us run out 7-0 winners with goals coming from Uriah Brewster x3, Melsion Sykaj, James Campbell, Jack Trickett and Joel Jolly.

Head coach Stephen Gleeson said “All the players worked extremely hard and were brilliant from start to finish. They have carried on the good work in training and the performance levels we have been consistently hitting during 2023. It was also the most ruthless we have been in front of goal as normally we create plenty of chances each game but fail to turn these into goals.”

In the other away game we went down to a disappointing 5-0 defeat, which replicated the Coalville away game where some poor defending/finishing cost us dearly in what was a fairly competitive game for large parts.

HTWFC UPDATE BY KARLA CHAFFEY
Sadly the Canaries game got cancelled at the last minute so there are no fixtures to report on. We are pleased to announce that our First team will be at Top Field this weekend!

Fixtures on Sunday 26th February 2023, 14:00 kick off
HTWFC Firsts v Kempston Rovers FC
Top Field, Fishponds Road, Hitchin

HTWFC Canaries v LGCE Ladies
Ickleford Sports & Recreational Ground, Chambers Lane, Ickleford.

We are looking for new players to join our progressing teams. We train weekly at The Arena, Norton Road, Baldock. We train 19:00 – 20:30 each Tuesday and you have to be 16 years old or over.

We are also looking for new sponsors for the women’s set up. We are looking for sponsorship for training kits and tracksuits. If this is something you are interested in please get in touch with Callum on HTLFC.ClubSecretary@gmail.com.

BY ROY IZZARD