WEEKLY BULLETIN – 27TH SEPTEMBER
FIXTURES
- Saturday 28th September No game and players are training.
- Tuesday Ist October Save Top Field Cup Home to Biggleswade United kick off 7.30pm
The admission prices for this game are adults £5, concessions £3, teenagers £2, under 13’s £1, over 80’s free. We are also giving free entry to all season ticket holders. Tickets can be bought online as usual but you can also buy tickets from the match day ticket office on the night (card payment only). The turnstiles will not be open and we will use the side gate by the office for entry.
SAVE TOP FIELD CUP
The Save Top Field Cup has an interesting history and has its origins back in 2015 when we were fighting to save Top Field from being sold and replaced by a Tesco’s supermarket. Our protest campaign was in full swing and out of the blue Biggleswade United offered to help us by hosting a game with Hitchin with all the proceeds going to the campaign fund. I am going to reproduce an article that appeared on Biggleswade United’s social media sites at the time which gives full details of the Save Top Field Cup—-
Wednesday 4 February 2015
UNITED HOST HITCHIN TOWN IN “SAVE TOP FIELD” GAME
from biggleswadeunited.com
Biggleswade United will host Hitchin Town FC at Second Meadow on Tuesday 10th February, to help fund raise the Canaries “Save Hitchin Town/Top Field” Campaign.
Links between the two local clubs have blossomed over the last 6 months. Hitchin have a close connection with United’s Director of Football, Guillem Balague and both sides also use the same training venue in Baldock.
Guillem has been a strong supporter of the ‘Save Top Field’ campaign. He helped lead the recent march through Hitchin and gave a rallying speech to the 1,300 strong crowd.
All the money raised from Tuesday’s match will be put towards Hitchin Town’s campaign to save Top Field and will also help to assist them with any legal costs, should the need arise.
A club representative from Biggleswade United has released this statement: “We have decided to put on this friendly as a show of support for Hitchin Town FC. It’s at times like these that clubs like us need to work together to help the right outcome prevail. Hitchin faces a serious battle to protect their livelihood as a club and we want to help them in any way possible and assure them that they have the support of the football community”.
Hitchin Town FC secretary, Roy Izzard, offered grateful thanks to Chris Lewis the chairman of Biggleswade United FC and Guillem Balague. ”This is a magnificent gesture and Hitchin Town are overwhelmed by such a show of solidarity by one of our neighbouring non league clubs. It shows how clubs at our level help one another in times of crisis and it is so gratifying to know we are not alone and indeed it makes me even more determined to win the battle to stay at Top Field. I urge as many Hitchin fans as possible to travel to Biggleswade United for the game and to make full use of their facilities to show their appreciation of this selfless offer to boost the Save HTFC fund”.
Manager Mark Burke was also delighted to accept the offer of the fund raising game. He echoed Roy Izzard’s sentiments and is pleased to strengthen the links with Biggleswade United FC. ”I have always tried to form close links with other local clubs but the offer of this fund raising game is really astonishing and I cannot thank the Biggleswade United officials enough”
The upcoming friendly will be a very well-supported event, with not only Guillem Balague attending, but also Legendary Sky Sports presenter Jim White and Republic of Ireland footballing hero Tony Cascarino will be visiting Second Meadow.
Guillem Balague had these words to say regarding his support for the campaign. “It is important to define the present and future of local institutions. It is in our hands to do so. That is why I am more than happy to add my support to it. Jim White and Tony Cascarino are looking forward to joining us.”
Both Hitchin Town and Biggleswade United urge supporters to help show support for this cause and attend the Friendly on Tuesday 10th February. It is sure to be a great day for Non-League football.
Kick-Off is at 8:00pm on Tuesday 10th February at Biggleswade United’s Second Meadow.
The right outcome really did prevail!
The game saw Hitchin win 2-0 in front of nearly 200 fans with Saul Williams and Nat Peacock the goal scorers. A further £100 was raised by raffling a match ball signed by the guests.
There have been three further games between Hitchin and Biggleswade United for the Save Top Field Cup—
1st August 2015 Hitchin 1-0 Biggleswade United with Callum Donnelly the goal scorer.
3rd September 2016 Hitchin 4-2 Biggleswade United. This was an FA Cup game and Lucas Kirkpatrick 2, Matt Lench and Brett Donnelly scored.
22nd August 2017 Biggleswade United 2-4 Hitchin. Goal scorers Elliot Bailey, Josh Bickerstaff and Brett Donnelly 2. Below is the report of this game—
Hitchin started this game with a very strong line up. No fewer than seven of the starting eleven had played in the play off final at Leamington and the extra experience certainly helped. Indeed the first half performance was very good with an urgency and quick tempo that had been missing on Saturday. The passing was shorter and crisper and the four goal interval lead could have been even more substantial.
Hitchin took the lead after just three minutes with Elliot Bailey scoring after a good move. The lead was doubled after sixteen minutes when Josh Bickerstaff powered home a header from a corner. Just two minutes later Brett Donnelly converted a Ben Walster cross before heading another chance just wide. Walster was unlucky to hit the bar and Lucas Kirkpatrick had a shot saved before Hitchin went 4-0 up after forty minutes when Bickerstaff notched his second of the night when he deflected home from a corner.
The second half was very disappointing though and the urgency was no longer there. After 53 minutes five changes had been made and the fluidity was gone. Four further changes were made and the youthful Biggleswade team hit back scoring after 67 and 88 minutes to reduce the arrears. One encouraging feature for Hitchin was that six of the Biggleswade squad were from our college programme.
So the Save Top Field Trophy was retained and perhaps the best news of the night was that £300 had been raised for the Moggerhanger hospice with a good number of Hitchin fans present.
Team – Bennett, Syme, Walster, Rolfe, Webb, Bickerstaff, Kirkpatrick, C Donnelly, B Donnelly, Bailey, McCaffrey; subs – Cotter 46, Green 69, Carbon 76, Coley 69, Barnes 72, Smith 53, Budden 53, Brooks 46, Dowie 46. Only Bennett and Webb played 90 minutes.
Goals – Bailey (3), Bickerstaff (16, 40), Brett Donnelly (18)
Attendance – approx. 100
So after a seven year gap the save Top Field Cup will once more be contested on Tuesday. On behalf of everyone at Hitchin I would like to thank the Biggleswade United club for their great show of solidarity back in 2015. It showed the good side of football and as a Biggleswade United statement said at the time ‘’It is at times like these that clubs like us need to work together to help the right outcome prevail’’. On Tuesday the fact that the game takes place at our beloved Top Field proves that the right outcome really did prevail!
MANAGER’S NOTES BY BRETT DONNELLY
Well this is a nice feeling.. writing these notes having not lost!!!
Firstly, Halesowen. I have been shouting it for the last couple of weeks to anyone that would listen that we are an improving side. We did some great work in training. Eddie and Jonesy have been superb in getting our message across on how we want them to attack sides and impose ourselves on them. Well Saturday we saw that in spades. We started brightly and could have been a goal up before we actually did score. To be 2 nil up inside 15 minutes was hard to take in, then you realise what a great opportunity it is and the panic sets in!! Don’t mess this up from here lads, this can kick start our season was the message at half time. Two nil is always a tricky score, if they come out and get the next goal its game on. If we can hold them off for 10 minutes they may start to panic themselves. Thankfully we got the 3rd 3 minutes into the second half. That settled us down. We didn’t have loads of the ball, but we kept on creating chances. Honestly it could have been 6-7 in the end. We had to wait until the last minute to get the 4th and at that point I thought we were safe. It was so important to finally get something our performances deserve. We couldn’t keep playing well and getting nothing. It would have sucked the life out the squad. We did get that monkey off our back and you got the sense in the dressing room that the lads had that belief. Got to say a big thank you to everyone who got in contact after that result. My phone went mental. Ex teammates, players, gaffers, managers in the game now that know what we have been through as they’ve been there themselves all got in contact. Had over 100 messages just saying well done and enjoy it. The non league community is small but its full of fantastic people. The fear now was that it was a one off, a freak result! We would find out at Royston Tuesday but not before we enjoyed the journey home. And we certainly did!
Royston, always a tough place to go for Hitchin. We came in full of confidence, bounced into the game. And what happens… we concede one of those freak goals that Kyle won’t concede again in the next 300 games!! Sods law, we had actually started ok. We weren’t rocked by it and we started again only to find ourselves 2 nil down inside 15 minutes… again! I hoped now that we could keep It tight until half time and maintain some composure. But, instead the lads grew into the game. They didn’t let their heads drop and got right at Royston. They had taken onboard what was asked in training and we’re implementing in a game situation. No panic. Just get back to business. We pushed and probed first half and rightly got back into the game with a dubious penalty. We should have had a stonewall one 5 minutes earlier. Half time I reiterated in no uncertain terms that we can’t keep starting games like that. 2 nil head starts are hard to recover from. But this time the lads believed they could get back in the game. We dominated the game I thought from there on in. We got our deserved equaliser, capitalising on their defensive error, to get a point. I felt we deserved all 3 but 4 points from those two away fixtures is exactly what we needed. The season has now started.
I am going to highlight a few lads who have come in for some stick. Searsy has settled down as I knew he would and is becoming the player we expected him to be. A dominant centre half who gives everything to win. Pleased he’s beginning to flourish. Frankie is another who has started slowly and found the step up harder than expected. He has also settled down and will only get better. I am extremely tough on him as I expect 10/10 performances every week. That’s how highly I rate him. I forget he’s still learning and is still only young. They probably had more to do in terms of convincing people as they came with me from my previous club. It’s always seen as favouritism but the pair of them have shown in the last 3-4 games they will become fixtures in this team if they keep up their improvement. Lastly is Coree. Thankless task being the lone front man. I know as I did it for years. You get bashed about, get little decent service and have to make your near post runs knowing full well you aren’t getting the ball. But Coree is taking onboard what’s needed as a forward at this level. I was so pleased for him Tuesday getting his brace, just wish he had got a hattrick!!
Finally on the injury front. Snee had his first competitive minutes for Biggleswade Utd, he will continue there for the next fortnight. Everyone else is back and in contention now. So the squad is huge and will need cutting. It’s up to the individuals to push for a place in the team or squad. Josh Keane has signed for Risborough Rangers on a duel reg to get game time. We will be monitoring his progress.
Thanks for sticking with us.. Don’t stop!
Donners
MERCHANDISE UPDATE BY PAUL SPRAGUE
Replica Shirts
We know lots of you have been waiting for your size to become available, apologies for not being able to keep up with the demand. We have had a lot of shirts on order and are delighted to confirm we have had a large restock this week from Hope + Glory with more than 100 shirts delivered meaning we now have very good availability. The table below shows where we now stand in terms of availability, this will of course change on a match by match basis but we will aim to provide regular updates to give you a feel for how we are fairing with availability.
Call in to the club shop at the Biggleswade game on Tuesday to purchase yours.
This week’s deliveries have also meant that we are now able to fulfill the majority of the outstanding online orders.
As well as replica shirts we also have really good availability of hoodies in the club shop. Perfect now the temperatures are starting to drop!
COMMUNITY UPDATE BY MARK BURKE
October School Holiday Camps – Open for Registration
We have released the dates for 2 School Holiday Camps we will be running over the October half term and registration for them is now open on our website https://www.Northhertsarena.co.uk/holiday-courses
We will be hosting our normal Football Holiday Camp at The Arena in Baldock and following on from our successful Summer Multi Activity Camps at Preston JMI School we will be returning to host another camp.
Both camps will run from Tuesday 29th to and including Thursday 31st October and are open for girls and boys aged from 5 – 14 years old.
The camps operate from 9.30am to 3.30pm each day and costs £25 per day or £60 for all 3 days.
The Arena
We are still taking on children that wish to sign up to our coaching clinics at the Arena.
Monday evenings from 5-6pm we host a Junior Ability Counts session for children aged between 7 and 16 years old with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). The course runs for 7 weeks.
Wednesday evenings from 5.30-6.30pm we host a specific goalkeeping course called Safe Hands for children of all ages and abilities.
ACADEMY UPDATE BY MICHAEL JONES
Wednesday Fixture
On Wednesday 25th September we hosted Varsity Nine in our development league. We were looking to bounce back from our opening day defeat last week against LBFA which ended 5-4.
Hitchin got off to the worst possible start when Dom Hayes got caught on the ball last man and this gave the opposition the lead within 5 minutes. Varsity Nine dominated the first 20 minutes where they moved the ball quickly and were more aggressive all over the pitch.
The young Canaries started to get into the game and on the 27th minute equalised after William Mcneil pounced on a loose touch in the middle of the pitch which then allowed him to play a through ball for Josh Beedell who managed to beat his man and fire into the roof of the net from just inside the box to add another goal to his impressive start with the Academy.
This gave the young Canaries plenty of confidence and they now started to force their way back into the game. 33 minutes gone and William Mcneil hit the post with an effort from just outside the box. Hitchin continued to stamp their authority on the game and an excellent through ball from Ryan Ambrose for Josh Beedell who raced through to hit a half volley which narrowly just went wide of the goal. Hitchin were now in full control and a minute later should have taken the lead after Melsion Sykaj 30 yard effort hit the post and Josh Beedell was unable to finish the rebound. Hitchin looked the most likely to score but a loose pass by Melsion Sykaj a few minutes before half time resulted in Tyler Careswell bringing down the opposition player inside the box. This allowed Varsity Nine to take a 2-1 lead into the break.
The second half started and 4 minutes in a ball over the top by Varsity Nine allowed sweeper keeper Lucas Knapp to come out but a misjudgment on the clearance allowed the opposition to extend their lead to 3-1. The young Canaries did not let this stop them and a ball over the top by Jacob Herron put William Mcniel one on one with the goalkeeper and as he rounded him the keeper could only foul him to stop him, Will stepped up and calmly converted the penalty. A minute later William Mcniel got his second of the game when some good pressure from Hitchin forced the opposition into a mistake which allowed Will to slot past the keeper and bring the scores level 3-3. 55 minutes and Blue Joy gave Hitchin the lead for the first time as he managed to bundle the ball home at the back post from a corner. 60 minutes in and Varsity Nine were level after captain Tyler Careswell was caught on the ball and the opposition punished him with a powerful finish. The scoring took a break for 15 minutes but the young Canaries regained the lead and a perfectly driven cross from Harrison Brown allowed William Mcniel to complete his hatrick by tapping in at the back post. Hitchin completed the scoring in the 80th minute after a through ball from James Hobbis allowed William Mcniel to break forward and his great footwork resulted in a composed finish to make the score 6-4. Varsity Nine still had chances to score but some excellent saves from Lucas Knapp kept the score at 6-4 to Hitchin.
Head Coach Stephen Gleeson had this to say “We got off to the worst possible start conceding early but credit to the lads they found a way back into the game and even when they went further behind they showed excellent character to keep going and got a deserved win. Special mentions to William Mcniel who scored 4 and Blue Joy who was excellent and managed to get his first goal for us. It was great to also see Harrison Brown and Ryan Boland back in the match day squad. We now turn our attention to a very difficult away trip next Wednesday against Bishop Stortford where we will look to keep building on the positives from the last two weeks and keep working on correcting the areas of improvement”
JUNIOR CANARIES BY MICHAEL JONES
Last chance to sign up for this month’s first edition of the Junior Canaries newsletter. Deadline will be 1st October 2024 to receive this month’s newsletter.
We will be releasing our first competition in this month’s edition with prizes for the winners, make sure you sign up to be involved.
If you wish to sign up as a Junior Canary, please email juniorcanaries@hitchintownfc.club with the following details:
Name, Date of birth, Address, School, Club Team (if applicable), Team you support, Parent/Guardian Name, Email, Contact Number.
We look forward to welcoming you all to the Junior Canaries.
YOUTH SHOWCASE BY PAUL SPRAGUE
This Saturday we will be in Hitchin Market Place supporting the Youth Showcase event. Organised by the Rotary Club and North Herts Council the event aims to showcase some of the opportunities available for young people in Hitchin. We will be there alongside 18 other local organisations. Come down and explore each of the stalls.
HTWFC UPDATE BY CALLUM ELLIS
Results:
- MK United 3 – 2 HTWFC
- Welwyn United 3 – 0 HTWFC Canaries
Fixtures 29th September 2024, 14:00
HTWFC v Watton Ladies FC
Top Field, Fishponds Road, Hitchin
HTWFC Canaries v Cranfield United Ladies
St Christophers School, SG6 3JZ
We are still recruiting for our teams. We train Wednesday evenings at The Arena, Norton Road, Baldock, between 19:30-20:30. Get in touch today ! hello@hitchintownwomenfc.co.uk
BY ROY IZZARD