FIXTURES

Saturday 30th October Home to Leiston FA Trophy kick-off 3.00pm. Tickets must be purchased from our website and season ticket holders will need to purchase tickets for this game. There will be no replay and if the scores are level at 90 minutes the game will be decided by a penalty shoot-out.

Sunday 31st October Generation Cup featuring Hitchin, Crystal Palace and Maidenhead. First game kicks off at 11.15am. Entry is pay what you want with a £2 minimum charge. Tickets can be bought from our website but you can pay by preferably credit card or cash on the day.

GENERATION CUP UPDATE
Plans are now finalised for the Generation Cup on Sunday and it promises to be a memorable occasion as we celebrate the 150 year anniversary of the first FA Cup. We host Crystal Palace (our first ever FA Cup opponents) and Maidenhead in a round robin competition with games lasting 25 minutes each way. The programme of matches is as follows:

Match 1: 11.00 to 12.15 – Hitchin Town v Maidenhead
Match 2: 12.30 to 13.45 – Crystal Palace v Maidenhead
Match 3: 14.00 to 15.15 – Hitchin Town v Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace have announced a squad that is full of legendary names from their past including Leo Court, James Scowcroft Darren Ambrose, Andrew Johnson, Julian Speroni, Eddie McGoldrick, Leon McKenzie, Jobi McAnuff, Mikele Leigertwood, Rudi Hedman, Rob Quinn, Gary Phillips, Danny Gabbidon, Bobby Bowry, Bruce Dyer, Simon Osborn, Shaun Derry, Clint Hill and Alan Pardew as players with Alan Smith as manager. This will hopefully encourage large numbers of Palace fans to come to Top Field.

We have a large number of our own legends in our squad ( plus FA Cup legend Brian Talbot) and again I am sure our supporters will want to see their old heroes in action again in what will be a nostalgia feast. Our squad (with nicknames provided by Mark Burke) will include:

  • Peter ‘Affro’ Gleasure
  • Darren ‘Bomber’ Bonfield.
  • Jon ‘Binman’ Bone
  • Tim ‘Nice but Dim’ Allpress
  • Mark ‘Burkey’ Burke
  • Ian ‘Scotty’ Scott
  • Shaun ‘Marshy’ Marshall
  • Neil ‘Snakey’ Ryan
  • Ken ‘Gilly’ Gillard
  • Adam ‘Parks’ Parker
  • Rob ‘Keano’ Kean
  • Rudi ‘Mascot’ Hall
  • Lee ‘Dogsy’ Burns
  • Steve ‘Connie’ Conroy
  • Stuart ‘Browny’ Brown
  • Carl ‘Charlie’ Williams
  • Zema ‘Zee’ Abbey
  • Rob ‘Keano’ Kean
  • Rudi ‘Mascot’ Hall
  • Marvin ‘Crusty’ Bates
  • Brett ‘Digger’ Donnelly
  • Lee ‘Dogsy’ Burns
  • Steve ‘Connie’ Conroy
  • Tony ‘Yella’ Fontenelle
  • Robbie ‘Besty’ Burns
  • Josh ‘Big Nose’ Sozzo
  • Colin ‘Cards’ Cardines
  • Liam ‘Foldsy’ Folds
  • Dave ‘Cozza’ Coran
  • Danny ‘Talbs’ Talbot
  • Brian Talbot

Many other ex Canaries are attending but not playing on Sunday including Paul Giggle, Alan Cosby and Paul Neufville . It really is a must see event for all Canary supporters. The club shop will be open throughout the day as will the Canary Kitchen. The bar will be open from 10.00am and will be selling the unique Hop Field Ale that was created to mark the 150 year anniversary of the FA Cup.

We are delighted to welcome the ITV Sport cameras to the tournament. They are doing a special report which will be featured in their FA Cup coverage when they show live games from the first round onwards. We even have a photographer from the Times newspaper covering the tournament and remarkably it is the same photographer Marc Aspland who covered our historic FA Cup win over Bristol Rovers in 1995.

STOP PRESS: MAJOR TRANSFER NEWS
In a late move David ‘Coops’ Cooper has been signed from Hitchin and will play for Crystal Palace on Sunday. Coops now works on the Palace staff and no details have been released about the fee involved!!

MANAGER’S NOTES WITH MARK BURKE

STRATFORD

I thought our performance was similar to the one we produced at St Ives as again we dominated but fell foul of one of their few opportunities to lose 1-0. Again we were on the wrong end of a linesman’s decision as we had a goal disallowed that the video showed should have stood as Dan Webb was onside. This seems to be the story of our season so far.

Once again I could not fault our players for the effort they put in and the majority of our supporters appreciated their work rate. Strangely when Stratford went down to 10 men it hindered us rather than helped us because Stratford dropped deeper and defended in numbers. Initially we lacked composure and I think this was because the players realised what a great chance this was to take points and to get out of our difficult spell against 10 men but became too anxious. Eventually we settled and utilised the width of the pitch and created chances but it was not to be.

TAMWORTH

We went to Tamworth for the game that was rearranged after the original game was a victim of the petrol crisis. We knew we would face a hostile environment and there were plenty of petrol references from their supporters. But this atmosphere galvanised us and we were determined to go out with a siege mentality. In the first half we had the better chances and also defended very well.

In the second half Tamworth upped their game and Charlie Horlock made a number of outstanding saves. Despite this we looked dangerous on the counter attack and made life difficult for Tamworth. Overall we fully deserved our much needed point and we need to use this result as our foundation to move forward.

LEISTON

The FA Trophy will be a welcome respite from the league programme. It is an opportunity to build on recent performances but we have to convert performances in to victories. We had Leiston watched when they won at Tamworth and our scout was very impressed. It will be a difficult game but I hope the supporters continue to get behind the team as they have done in recent games.

GENERATION CUP

I am really looking forward to the Generation Cup and it will be great to see so many old friends and colleagues. I always enjoy any reunion and this one should be extra special.

TEAM NEWS

  • Dan Webb will undergo a fitness test ahead of the Leiston game.
  • Kye Tearle was injured at Tamworth and is now wearing a protective boot. He will be out for a while.
  • Josh Caldicott-Stevens and Lewis Barker remain unavailable due to injury.
  • Delson Ackon has returned to training but is not yet available to play.

ACADEMY UPDATE BY MICHAEL JONES
Friday 22nd October we went on a team bonding trip in Letchworth to Teamworks Go Karting and Laser Tag. All the lads took part in both activities and it was great to have sometime together off the pitch and out of the classroom. It was a great day which everyone enjoyed and we thank everyone at Teamworks Go Karting and Laser Tag for their help in making this such an excellent day.

Callum Kane has been in on trial with MK Dons Under 18s this week. Callum started the trial on Saturday 23rd October playing against Sutton Academy in a league fixture. Callum played really well in the game and also got an assist from left back in a 3-2 victory. We wish him all the best with his trial.

Also on Saturday 23rd October Aarron Hector scored his first goal for Stotfold FC, we are delighted for Hects and hope this is the first of many.

Monday 25th October we had our first open session of the season, this was a great opportunity for all of us to meet potential new players. We will be releasing our next open training session date soon. If you are interested in joining the academy please register here for more information – https://www.northhertsarena.co.uk/next-trial-dates

Tuesday 26th October Stanley Georgiou started his first game for the first team away to Tamworth in the league. Stan played really well and helped Hitchin secure a very good point and their first league clean sheet of the season in the 0-0 draw. Stan did this all at the age of 17!!

HTWFC UPDATE BY KARLA CHAFFEY

Both teams in league action this week, the XIs were away to Bedford Ladies Development FC and this is what manager Richard had to say.

‘Starting line up: Reinsford, Moore, Watson, Coffey, Piper, Elliott, Clarke, Evans, Day, Higgs, Shackel.
Subs: Coughlin-Flood and Coughlin-Flood.

Hitchin started quite slowly and with Bedford playing with 3 up front the pressure resulted in Bedford scoring within 5 minutes. 1-0

15 minutes into the game and Hitchin start to settle a little bit with good work from Clarke and Higgs down the right wing resulting in a corner. Another counter attack from Bedford saw them score another goal. 2-0Bedford’s striker then had a strike from 20 yards that drilled straight into the bottom corner and it was then 3-0 at half time.After a coulorful half time team talk Hitchin came out sharper with more intensity and played with more belief and passion. We actually started to play like we have done in recent games. Moore struck a peach of a ball from the half way line, on target but straight at the Bedford goalkeeper. A free kick from Coffey went just wide of the post. An attack by Hitchin saw Shackell enter the Bedford box and strike the ball left footed into the corner and the comeback was on…3-1

A Scramble in the Hitchin penalty area saw the ball hit the post and come back out. Lucky Hitchin. Evans dribbled the ball into the Bedford area and struck the ball just wide of the post. By this time Hitchin had all the possession but just couldn’t score. 3 minutes from time and Bedford broke through the Hitchin defence to score another goal.

Final score 4-1

Player of the match was Sherrie Evans.

The Canaries were at home to Evergreen Eagles Ladies FC and this is what manager Jamie had to say.

Today we hosted Evergreen Eagles. The day did not start well for us one bit. With the referee deciding not to show up weereas left with a decision between both teams on whether to abandon the game or let someone ref the game. We decided on a so called neutral ( which he was definitely not ). Anyway game on. The game started really well for Hitchin with us piling the pressure on Evergreen creating chances left, right and centre. The first goal of the game came from Hitchin with a fantastic effort from Allen finding the bottom corner. After playing some great football for about 30 minutes we fell asleep and were caught out to make it 1-1. Half time 1-1.

The second half again started well with both teams pushing for the next goal. After 10 minutes Allen was clearly held back and was a clear cut penalty but the referee decided to laugh and say tough luck. It was definitely never going our way with some awful decisions being made with the game getting physical. We then had a goal ruled out for offside which was never offside. As the game continued Hitchin started to switch off which gave Evergreen the chance to score 2 more goals making the final score 1-3. Not our best day and unfortunate after such a great run but we will bounce back next week and go again.

Players player Nemeth and Harrower
Manager player Joyce’

Sunday 31st October 2021 fixtures are:

BHWFL Division One

14:00 – HTWFC v Biggleswade United FC Blues

Ickleford Recreation Ground, Chambers Lane, Ickleford

BHWFL Division Two

Stotfold United Ladies v HTWFC Canaries

JSJ Stadium, New Roker Park, Arlesey Road, Stotfold, Bedfordshire, SG5 4HE

Keep up to date on our Twitter with all the live scores @HitchinTownWFC or on Facebook, Hitchin Town Womens FC

We are still continuing to recruit for players for the 2021/2022 season. We train Wednesday evenings at The Arena, Norton Road, Baldock, Hertfordshire, SG7 5AU. Training starts at 20:30 and finishes at 22:00, all abilities welcome!

ALL SOULS DAY
I would like to thank our club chaplain Nick Smith who provided such an appropriate and moving speech last Saturday as we celebrated the lives of former officials, players and supporters who have passed away in the last couple of years. It was fitting that we were able to pay our respects after the Covid pandemic had meant that we could not do anything at that time. As Nick said the club would not exist today without the contributions of so many individuals like those we celebrated and indeed it will only exist tomorrow through our continued contributions and commitment.

BY ROY IZZARD