WEEKLY BULLETIN – 2ND FEBRUARY

FIXTURES

• Saturday 3rd February Away to Barwell League kick-off 3.00pm. Coach leaves at 10.30am.
• Tuesday 6th February Home to Watford Under 21 Friendly kick-off 7.30pm.

Tickets for this game are £6 Adult, £4 Concessions (60-79), £2 Teenagers and £1 Children Under 13 (accompanying an adult), Seniors Over 80 Free. Season Tickets will be valid for this game. Please buy your tickets online to facilitate quicker entry to the game.

Link to ticket sales is: https://hitchintownfc.ktckts.com/event/hit2324f02/hitchin-town-v-watford-u21

We will accept card payments for entry at the gate on the night, but no cash payments please.

Entry to the game will be through the side gate in the Top Field Car Park. The turnstiles will be closed.

MANAGER’S NOTES WITH MARK BURKE

Kettering Town

I was bitterly disappointed with both the result and performance against Kettering last Saturday.

I think it was evident that we played with very little confidence due to our recent bad run of results. The first half saw us force the play and was littered with mistakes, whilst the second half saw us opting to play the safe ball, retaining possession but not hurting the opposition and of course this suited Kettering down to the ground.

It was a very dour match of little chances and unfortunately for us Kettering took their chance and we missed ours.

Taking everything into account I believe we will regain our confidence and return to the form we showed, earlier in the season once injured players have returned and are fully match fit.

Unbelievably fans are still turning up and supporting the team through thick and thin and I know the players really appreciate this and are determined to put things right for them.

Barwell

We travel to Barwell tomorrow for our second visit of the season having played there against the now defunct Nuneaton a couple of weeks ago.

Barwell have also been struggling with results recently and share numerous similarities to us, apart from our nickname of the Canaries. They have a comparative budget to ours, they play attractive football, possess young talented, athletic players but at present like us are lacking confidence.

Ian King and Buggsy Borrows are excellent coaches and will have Barwell well prepared for our visit but we will look to play on the front foot and take the game to them to try and secure 3 much needed points.

Player News

• Apart from the 3 long term injuries of Ciaren Jones, Lewis Barker and Diogo Freitas-Gouveia we should have everyone available tomorrow.
• I am hopeful we will have a couple of additions to the squad by next week and will participate in our friendly against Watford U21’s on Tuesday at Top Field.

COACHING UPDATE
We are obviously going through a difficult spell at the moment and I spoke to one of our coaching staff Michael Jones to get an insight in to how we can turn things around. He was bitterly disappointed with the Kettering performance and over the weekend he edited the game video in readiness for Monday’s training session.

At the session there was a full half hour of analysis as the coaching staff highlighted the areas where improvement was needed. Although particularly in the second half we had plenty of the ball we did not make enough crosses or have enough shots making it easy for the Kettering defence. There were also too many square and backward passes as players seemed to lack confidence. The players joined in the discussions and they are as disappointed as the supporters with this current run and accepted the home truths that were told.

Then at Thursday’s training session the ground staff agreed to let the team train at Top Field to work on the points that had been highlighted on Monday. The players are really determined to return to the form we were showing in our excellent run before Christmas. Michael told me he has been studying past videos to see what we were doing differently and no stone is being left unturned to get us back on track. The players are really grateful that our supporters have shown such great loyalty and are continuing to come to games in such great numbers and are determined to reward them.

ACADEMY UPDATE BY MICHAEL JONES
On Thursday 25th January Harry Dollimore was invited down to represent Pro:Direct in a Puma international 5 aside tournament in London. This event was attended by many celebrities and influencers as well as current Arsenal players Jorginho and Kai Havertz. Harry was provided with free Puma boots as well as a full training kit making the day even more memorable.

Development Fixture
On Wednesday 31st January we hosted YDP all stars who are top of the league. The young Canaries started off the game on the front foot and were in total control of the match. This control eventually turned into a 1-0 lead thanks to a fine strike from Govind Bains. Hitchin were unable to build on this and against the run of play with their first attack of the match YDP scored to bring the teams level at the break.

Second half and the young Canaries were stunned and YDP were motivated due to the unexpected goal and they managed to take the lead due to an absolute screamer from 30 yards out. The young Canaries unfortunately could not get back into the game and a very good first half display turned into a very disappointing second half display finally going down 5-1.

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 KARLA CHAFFEY
Our Canaries were against title contenders of the premier division Garston Ladies FC in the Chris Renshaw Cup. The Canaries had not played since the end of November so were most certainly out of match fitness. The game got underway and the Canaries kept Garston at a bay for a good twenty minutes however Garston opened the scoring in the twentieth minute. Garston didn’t show too much of why they were in the Premier Division and the Canaries showed they were not to be written off. Loss of concentration by the Canaries saw them concede four goals in five minutes which then showed why Garston were a Premier Division side. The Canaries came off at half time, laughing and joking with each other as they knew there was no way out. So it was about getting some minutes and focus on moving off of bottom of Division Two. The game unsportingly finished 8-0 to Garston where their keeper came onto the field to try and score.

So next up on Sunday 4th February 2024, 14:00:

HTWFC Firsts v Letchworth Garden City Eagles Ladies FC.
St Christophers School, Barrington Road, Letchworth Garden City

We are recruiting for our First Team. 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