FIXTURES
Unfortunately I heard at 5pm last night that our FA Trophy game with Bedfont Sports has been postponed pending an FA investigation in to an alleged breach of Trophy rules by our opponents. We will let supporters know the outcome of this investigation as soon as we find out. The FA have informed me that the postponement will not affect the Peterborough Sports game on Tuesday.

  • Tuesday 29 October away to Peterborough Sports League kick-off 7.45pm. There is no coach to this game.

OLD FRIENDS AT THE COALVILLE GAME
As usual our Monday evening game saw plenty of old friends (and rivals) among the crowd. It was good to see Canary legend Gary Williams at the game. He scored 79 goals in 216 games for us between 1992 and 2002. He emigrated to Australis but still keeps in touch and follows our results. Gary looked really well and he was asked if he had brought his boots with him!

Also present were Michael Johnson, Kane Smith, Lucas Kirkpatrick and Tony Fontenelle together with three local managers in Ian Allinson (St Albans), Lee Allinson (Biggleswade Town) and Jason Valentine (Letchworth Garden City Eagles).

PLAYER NEWS

  • The loan period of Steve Cawley has been extended for a further month.
  • Josh Mollison played for Biggleswade United in midweek.
  • James Verney scored two goals for Cockfosters in midweek.

GET WELL SOON
Two of our volunteers have been incapacitated recently. Both Roger Pennie and Frank King are currently recovering after being in hospital. We wish them a speedy recovery and thank Kate Deller, Steve Maxted and Roger Berry for their help in covering for Roger and Frank.

HITCHIN TOWN LADIES FC WITH CALLUM ELLIS

Hitchin Town Ladies FC v Watford Development Under 19s – Hertfordshire County Cup

It is the first time in three seasons Hitchin Town Ladies FC have participated in the County Cup. We have focussed on rebuilding and restructuring the club and were not ready to compete. Also injuries in previous seasons caused us to cancel fixtures . Our first draw was against tough opposition in Watford Development U19s. The Ladies got the game under way but Watford hunted in numbers and quickly fired three goals past Hitchin in the opening 20 minutes of the game. Tactical changes were made and Day got a goal back after being put through by Gash. Hitchin enjoyed great spells of football but Watford’s structure was difficult to break down. The half time whistle went and the Firsts regrouped and pulled together. They took the game to Watford throughout the duration of the second half and battled away. Watford then extended their lead finding a gap in the defence. Watford were at breaking point but the Firsts had just run out of time and the final whistle went. Congratulations to Watford and good luck to them in the next round.

The Firsts play again on Sunday 27th October at home to Royston Town Development at Ickleford Recreation Ground, 14:00 kick-off.

Our Reserves were away to Kempston Rovers and got the game under way. Spang went close on a couple of occasions but shot just wide. Just before the half time whistle a sloppy back pass in the defence gifted a Kempston Rovers striker the chance to make it one nil . The second half kicked off and Kempston Rovers grew in confidence from their opening goal and scored two more goals. Hitchin got a consolation goal when Colyers linked up with Spang who netted past the onrushing Kempston keeper. The final whistle went and the game finished 3-1 to Kempston.

The Reserves go again on Sunday 27th October 2019 away to Stotfold Ladies FC at Etonbury Academy, 14:00 kick- off.

I am now delighted to announce our new website https://www.hitchintownladies.co.uk

EJA TEAM NEWS WITH NICK CARR
All four EJA teams were in action last weekend with our U18s kicking off proceedings on Friday night with a win away at Witham Town in the EJA Midweek Cup. With the score 1-1 at the end of extra time with Shaun Dowler scoring our goal, the tie went to penalties with Josh Adams, James Thompson, James Hannan and goalkeeper Harvey Moss all holding their nerve to send us through into the next round 4-2.

Our U15s weren’t so lucky on Sunday when going out 2-1 to St. Albans after extra time in the EJA Challenge Cup, a competition that they got to the final of last season. It was a difficult game for our boys with a catalogue of hard to understand refereeing decisions culminating in us finishing the game with only eight players following a first half red card and a further red card, three yellows and a sin bin in the second half of extra time whilst St. Albans were dealt just a single yellow card!! Richard Kusorgbor scored our goal from the penalty spot.

Our U17s had better luck when extending their unbeaten start to the season with a 4-2 win at Grays Athletic with Jack Hewitt grabbing a brace and Nathan Wing and Henry Brown scoring the others to maintain their position at the top of the league.

Our U14s drew 1-1 away at Biggleswade Town with Sol Campbell scoring our goal and the Biggleswade Town goalkeeper earning the man of the match award for his performance between the sticks.

All four teams are in action again this Sunday. The U14s are away at Saffron Walden Town, 10:30am kick-off and the U15s are also away, in a local derby at Stotfold, kickoff 11am at RAF Chicksands.

Our U17s and U18s are both at The Arena, Baldock with the U18s kicking things off against Wingate & Finchley with a 10:30am start, whilst the U17s follow them when they entertain Grays Athletic at 2pm.

HITCHIN TOWN UNDER 19’S
There was no game this week but next Wednesday they are away to Crystal Palace.

MANAGER’S NOTES WITH MARK BURKE

LEISTON

Up until the start of this match I had been very pleased with our improvement in recent performances against Stratford, Maidstone, Bromsgrove and Royston. We had been playing well and gained valuable points particularly against high flying Bromsgrove and Royston where we arguably should have taken four points instead of the two achieved. With this in mind we were then presented with a good opportunity to turn those promising performances in to a victory with a visit to bottom of the table Leiston.

Myself Brett and Adam had however warned the players not to take Leiston lightly and how they needed to be fully focused. They had signed new players and had scored four goals midweek. But despite our warnings I feel that complacency cost us the match. We did not approach the game in the right manner showing a lack of desire in the opening period. In contrast Leiston understood the importance of the game and this was shown in their urgency as they took a two goal lead.

We responded with an undeserved goal but this seemed to spur Leiston even more and they produced a well taken third goal before half time. During the interval the players were told in no uncertain terms that the first half performance was unacceptable. The only credit I can give the players for the second half is that they worked hard and did not give up but we were still reeling from the first half.We lacked ideas despite a lot of possession and there was poor decision making with both passing and crossing. This meant we did not create much and Leiston fully deserved their victory.

The players were going out that night and this may have played a subliminal part in the complacency shown during the game. But I do feel team bonding evenings are very important and do build team spirit that will benefit us in the long term (as has been the case in previous seasons). I believe the night out did focus the players who were bitterly disappointed at letting down the management, officials, supporters and themselves and it resulted in a very different performance on Monday evening.

COALVILLE

In the dressing room before the game I asked the players why they had produced such a poor performance at Leiston and there seemed agreement that complacency had been a big factor. I expected them to respond as they are good players who I believe in. What they have to do is be consistent and with this display against Coalville they have set the bar high and we need to maintain this level week in week out.

I enjoyed the game which was entertaining. I felt we defended well throughout the team and also created chances whereby we could have been two or three goals ahead at half time. I was also impressed with our work rate for the whole game and we deserved the much needed victory.

BEDFONT

It is obviously frustrating that the F A Trophy tie with Bedfont Sports has been postponed on Saturday as we wanted to take the momentum from Monday in to this game but it is out of our hands and we must wait for the F A to decide what will happen.

PETERBOROUGH SPORTS

This is another difficult fixture as Peterborough Sports are doing well in the league after their promotion last season and also had a good run in the Emirates F A Cup. But we must bring the positives from the Coalville game to make sure we compete just as strongly. We are now out of the relegation zone and must make sure we keep it that way.

BY ROY IZZARD