FIXTURES

  • Saturday 27th January Home to Kettering League kick-off 3.00pm. We recommend buying tickets online.
  • At the Kettering game there will be the introduction of our matchday ticketing option with the opening of the Matchday Ticket OfficE

If you cannot buy your ticket online or wish to purchase a ticket in person on the day then the ticket office will be open for Saturday matches from 13.30-15.15 and for evening games from 18.30-20.00. Tickets purchased from the Matchday Ticket Office are:

  • Adult £15
  • Concessions £11
  • Teen £5
  • U13 £3
  • Over 80 Free

The online ticketing box office will continue to operate as normal with online sales available until 30 minutes after kick off. Purchasing online will secure you your Hitchin Town tickets at the lowest price, enable the quickest entry into Top Field and help the Club.

Whilst we are pleased to introduce this new facility for those that need it, if at all possible please continue to buy your tickets online whenever possible.

  • There is no midweek fixture.

PARKING AT THE KETTERING GAME
On Saturday for the Kettering game car parking will be limited to players and officials of both teams, volunteers plus any disabled requests and any VIP’s we are notified of in advance for this match.

As all Kettering players are travelling in cars, and with no grass parking all parking spaces will be occupied by the above listed.

There will unfortunately be no spaces available for supporters of either team.

MANAGER’S NOTES WITH MARK BURKE

Kettering Town

We have already met twice this season with honours even as both teams won away from home, within a few days of each other. We won the League fixture 4 nil but succumbed to a narrow 1 nil defeat in the FA Cup.

Kettering are a huge club and have some very experienced players in their squad and have added to this recently, securing the services of numerous former Nuneaton players after their demise.

This will be a difficult match and we are going to have to be at our very best if we are going to earn points today and make sure we edge our way to safety.

Thank you, once again for your tremendous support and our average gate is something to be proud of and I just hope we can reward you for your loyalty.

Alvechurch

We started the day with some good news with Josh Popoola returning to the Club from Stockport County, however this was tempered with the bad news that we had lost Dan Idiakoah to Covid and Bradley Bell to injury.

I was pleased with our 1st half performance, and we took the lead through Josh Popoola from a corner.

The second half saw us come under a lot of pressure, but we defended well, and we had a great opportunity to make it 2 nil. Unfortunately, we did not take this, and their star man Dan Sweeney scored a very good goal to equal things up with 15 minutes to play.

We then lost Stephen Glesson and Toby Syme to injury which stretched our squad even further and we eventually conceded a second goal that turned out to be the winner.

This was another disappointing result to add to our current form, but we have to stay strong and united, and we will come through the other side.

Player News
I would like to welcome back Josh Popoola to the club after his spells with Bournemouth and Stockport County. Josh left us at the end of the 2021/22 season to join Bournemouth and made numerous of appearances for their U23’s including a match against Luton as pictured.

I would also like to welcome back Nathan Frater after a 18 year hiatus. Nathan was a product of our very successful college programme and made 2 appearances for the first team at a very young age before going on to play for number of local teams in the area.

I was very impressed with his recent display for Berkhamsted against us at the end of the year where he scored twice, and I am looking to employ Nathan in a similar role that was adopted by Simon Martin and Digger Donnelly for us in previous seasons.

I would like to thank Arnie Matshazi for his services to the Club and wish him the best of luck at AFC Dunstable. I was surprised and rather disappointed at his decision to step down a level but I will respect it and I hope he gets the personal development he is looking for.

I am hopeful, Stephen Gleeson, Toby Syme, Bradley Bell, and Dan Idiakoah will be available tomorrow to boost our depleted squad.

Ex Canaries Watch
A couple of ex Canaries had a good weekend last week as Ashley Hay scored for Brentford B against Burnley and Jake Hutchinson played against Scottish Premier League side St Mirren in the Scottish Cup for Queen of the South.

Finally, I would like to thank Acorn Developments and Fergie Doyle for remaining loyal and sponsoring my column in the programme tomorrow.

I hope they enjoy the Triple P Hospitality Package that the Club now offers.

ROY IZZARD TESTIMONIAL GAME V LUTON TON ON FRIDAY 8TH MARCH KICK-OFF 7.30PM
I was really honoured to be awarded a testimonial game to celebrate my 50 years working for Hitchin Town FC. I am somewhat embarrassed as I have never wanted any reward for what I do for Hitchin and I have been really proud to have held the positions of treasurer and secretary for the club I love. I am first and foremost a supporter who just happens to be an official.

My father took me to my first game when I was 6 years old and I started watching every game home and away in the 1968-69 season and have subsequently seen over 3,000 Hitchin games. My whole life has been dominated by HTFC and I have had so many great moments and the lows I have endured have only made me appreciate the good times even more. I have been lucky to meet so many people through football and I think I should be thanking Hitchin Town rather than the other way round.

I am so grateful to Luton who have agreed to send a team and the coverage on their website announcing the game was incredible. On their twitter feed I was intrigued to see that the posting announcing Luton coming to Hitchin was followed by a posting about Manchester United coming to Luton—it is not often we are on the same thread as one of the biggest clubs in the world.

I will not take any money from the match receipts which will go to the club with a charity donation as well.

ANTHONY HUGHES
The Southern League chairman Anthony Hughes sadly passed away this week after a long battle with illness. He was very well respected in football circles and I always enjoyed his company when he was at Merthyr Tydfil. We send our condolences to his family and friends. There will be a minute’s applause before the Kettering game in memory of Anthony.

CLUB SHOP
Please visit the club shop tomorrow where you can still take advantage of the reduced prices on sale items as well as all the normal merchandise items as well as the match day programme, team sheets and sweets and chocolates.

ACADEMY UPDATE BY MICHAEL JONES

VAR Tournament
On Thursday and Friday last week the following players Chris Khoo, Joel Jolly and Frankie Webster were invited up to St Georges Park (England’s Training Ground) for a two day tournament to represent Pro:Direct.

All three players performed well against some very good opposition teams. All games were officiated by Premiership officials and VAR was in use throughout the day. Unfortunately for Chris Khoo he was given a red card via VAR after the referee had originally not even given a foul for the tackle, he now understands the frustrations of the premier league players on a weekly basis. The Pro:Direct team were just pipped to top spot over the two days by a very strong Aldershot Town team.

Development Fixture
On Wednesday we hosted Ipswich Development in a league fixture. This was the first meeting between the two teams and after both teams have had a good season so far this was going to be a hard match to call. Fortunately for the young Canaries they played exceptionally well from start to finish and were ruthless in front of goal. At half time the Canaries were in a comfortable 3-0 lead thanks to a Lewis Holt hatrick. In the second half they could have eased off but thanks to some excellent play and good finishing they added to the score, with Henry Silver scoring the next 5 goals and Asher Banton finishing off the scoring meaning the Canaries ran out with an impressive 9-0 win.

We now host top of the league YDP on Wednesday, hoping to build on this impressive performance

Player Update
On Tuesday.23rd January Chris Khoo played for Eynesbury Rovers in the cup against Step 3 St Ives Town, it was great for Chris to continue his development and this time against a team in Hitchin Town’s league.

Caleb Wright made his debut for Step 6 Eaton Socon in their 3-2 win against Burton Park Wanderers. Caleb came on at half time and with the scores level at 2-2 he went and scored the winner with a header from a corner. We would like to thank Mark Garwood for giving Caleb the opportunity to experience men’s competitive football.

Caleb has had a very good week this week as he also scored a hatrick for St Neots Town under 18s in their 3-2 win, helping them come back from 2-0 down to gain all 3 points.

Boys & Girls Open Training Session
We have our next open training session on Monday 19th February 2024 at The Arena, Norton Road, Baldock, Hertfordshire, SG7 5AU on the all weather pitch between 11:30am – 2pm. If you want to register your details or for further information please use this link – https://www.northhertsarena.co.uk/next-trial-dates

HTWFC UPDATE BY KATA CHAFFEY
Our Firsts game againstt Buntingford Town Women fell to the weather conditions last Sunday.

The next round of fixtures on Sunday 28th January 2024 at 14:00 are as follows–
BHWFL Chris Renshaw :
Colney Heath Ladies v HTWFC Firsts
Colney Heath Football Club, The Recreation Ground, High St, Colney Heath, Hertfordshire, AL4 0NP

HTWFC Canaries v Garston Ladies FC
St Christophers School, Barrington Road, Letchworth Garden City

We are recruiting for our First Team. We also have a number of positions available in our club. Please get in touch with Callum via our website. Keep up to date with all our news, fixtures, results and so much more on https://www.hitchintownwomenfc.co.uk

BY ROY IZZARD