WEEKLY BULLETIN – 27TH JANUARY

FIXTURES

• Saturday 28th January Home to Bedford Town League kick-off 3.00pm. Tickets must be purchased online.
  All players and officials from Bedford will be travelling by car and there will be no parking on the grass area, which is currently waterlogged so parking at the ground will be limited for supporters. There are two public car parks, both less than 10 minutes walk away Lairage car park (next to Waitrose) in Old Park Road and Bancroft car park.
• The rearranged dates of the postponed games with Coalville and Barwell have not yet been decided. Please watch our social media platforms for details when the dates have been agreed.

MANAGER’S NOTES WITH MARK BURKE

Roy had warned me that Coalville would need a pitch inspection last Saturday and that their secretary was not optimistic of the outcome. I therefore set up a training session for Saturday afternoon and when the inevitable phone call came to say the Coalville game was postponed the players were ready to train instead. It was a good productive session. We also sent a scout to watch Barwell on Saturday as their game went ahead on their 3G pitch.

The same scenario happened on Monday. The pitch inspection was a formality as the ground was frozen solid and again I had arranged a training session at the Arena so the players kept active.

BEDFORD TOWN

I am very much looking forward to our local derby clash with Bedford on Saturday. I expect there will be a big crowd with plenty of Bedford fans likely to be present and I am sure our supporters will really get behind us. We will be looking for revenge because back in September we were well beaten 3-0 and it was a very poor performance from us.

Both teams have had an enforced rest due to the freezing weather and will be raring to go so it should be an exciting game. Amazingly for this stage of the season I am pleased to report an almost injury free squad to choose from with just Steve Cawley on the injured list. This creates a nice headache for me but it does create healthy competition for places.

It will be good to see Callum Donnelly return to Top Field and together with Graeme Tomlinson he is currently in joint interim charge of Bedford after the departure of the previous manager.

PLAYER NEWS

• We are pleased to welcome Josh Allen on loan from Luton Town. He is a 19 year old striker who has recently returned from a loan spell at Cray Wanderers who are doing really well in the Isthmian League.
• Ciaren Jones has extended his loan from Brackley for a further month.
• Malaki Black has signed on dual registration with Corby.
• Dempsey Thomas has signed on dual registration with Soham.
• Kye Tearle has signed on loan with Potton for one month.
• Malaki, Dempsey and Kye remain very much part of our squad and these moves are to ensure they get vital match practice.

EX CANARIES AT TOP FIELD ON SATURDAY
There will be a reunion of Hitchin players from the 1980’s and 1990’s on Saturday. There is a Whats App group that was set up to remember ex Canary John Woodward who sadly died far too young and it is this group that will be at the Bedford game. Among those expected are Tony Luff, Ian Lindsay, Stuart Harding, Steve Fountain, Alan Cosby, John Hawkins, Bill Baldry, Matt Baldry, Micky Nunn and Rob Keane. Mark Burke and Adam Parker are looking forward to meeting their old mates.

CLUB SHOP
Please come and visit the club shop tomorrow and see our wide range of merchandise for sale. You can also buy your sweets, programme and team sheet.

ACADEMY UPDATE BY MICHAEL JONES
On Wednesday 25th January we travelled away to YDP All Stars who are top of the league and with 100% winning record so far this season.

We knew going into the match that the players had to be extremely hard working to stand any chance of being competitive against a team with such a good record. We were looking to build on last weeks strong performance in the 2-1 home win.

The match started off even in the opening encounters with the hosts looking to sit in and play on the counter attack which allowed us to control possession and dictate the tempo of the game. The early chances fell to the host but some strong saves from Tyrese Kamara kept the score at 0-0. Midway through the first half a long-range effort from Frankie Webster gave us a 1-0 lead and we kept this going into the half time interval.

Second half started in similar fashion but we created a few more chances against a very compact defensive team. The game was extremely competitive throughout but the young canaries kept their standards and discipline as well as giving their all for each other. In the 90 minute a free kick from the hosts made the score 1-1 going into added time. This did not dampen the spirit of the team and they kept pushing for the winner and after some fine work down the right hand side by Melison Sykaj he crossed the ball for Joel Jolly who slotted the ball away with a really composed finish. Final score 2-1 to the young Canaries.

A really strong performance against a very good opponent that dropped their first points of the season.

We now have a home game next week looking once again to build on another strong performance.

Open Training Session
We have our next open training session on Monday 13th February at The Arena, Norton Road, Baldock, Hertfordshire, SG7 5AU on the all weather pitch between 12noon – 2pm.

If you wish to be a part of the Academy or for further information please register your details here – https://www.northhertsarena.co.uk/next-trial-dates

Please let me know if you need anything further.

HTWFC UPDATE BY KARLA CHAFFEY
Sadly the weather played havoc with our games on Sunday cancelling both fixtures. But finally eight weeks of no fixtures we are back in action this weekend. Both fixtures are 14:00 kick- off’s.

The Firsts are away to Oaklands, at Oaklands College, Hatfield Road, St Albans, AL4 0JA.
The Canaries are away to Bury Rangers, at Richard Hale School, Pegs lane, Hertford, SG13 8EN

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