WEEKLY BULLETIN – 30TH DECEMBER

FIXTURE
Monday 2nd January Away to Needham Market League kick-off 2.00pm. Coach leaves at 10.30am.

HERTS SENIOR CUP
We have decided to reward our supporters by continuing the policy we adopted for the Herts Senior Cup games against Welwyn Garden City and Potters Bar and offering discounted prices for the game with Stevenage on Monday 9th January. Prices will be adults £8, concessions £5, teenagers £2, under 13’s £1 and over 80’s free.

MANAGER’S NOTES WITH MARK BURKE

KINGS LANGLEY

I thought this game was an entertaining spectacle but I was very disappointed with our contribution to the game. We conceded goals at vital times—the start and finish of the first half—and in between we did try to draw level but we were just not firing on all cylinders. Credit must be given to Kings Langley who took the rhythm out of the game.

We have to be careful that we do not dwell on conceding goals just before half time so it does not become a psychological hang up. We started the second half brightly and got back in the game with a well taken goal but as we were pushing for the equaliser we conceded a third goal on the break.

We showed good character to get a second goal and this made things exciting for the last twenty minutes. But we did not react quick enough to balls that came into the box and Kings Langley scored a fourth goal late on.

Overall we defended badly and I will hold my hands up and say I made a tactical mistake. I can only apologise to the supporters who turned out in such good numbers that we did not perform to our usual standard. The late loss of Steve Cawley was a huge blow and Toby Adeyemo had been due to be involved but because of the train drivers strike was unable to get to Hitchin with no trains running.

NEEDHAM MARKET

We travel to Needham Market on Monday to a ground that has not been a happy hunting ground for us. We will be looking to regroup after the Boxing Day defeat and we will aim to come back with a positive result.

NEW YEAR WISHES

I would like to wish all our supporters a happy new year and thank them for their great support throughout 2022.

MARK BURKE

PLAYER NEWS

• Steve Cawley will miss the Needham Market game on Monday due to injury.
• Kye Tearle is still having breathing problems and is waiting to undergo further tests.
• We hope Toby Adeyemo will be available for the Needham Market game.
• Jack Morrell joined in full training on Thursday. He now goes to St Georges Park for a week of intensive rehabilitation and we hope he may be available the following week.
• There are no other injury worries.

TREVOR PARKER AT TOP FIELD
Among the crowd at Top Field on Boxing Day was Trevor Parker. He played 184 games for us and scored 31 goals between August 1981 and April 1988. Trevor is now living in America and has a very successful football coaching business. He had come over for Christmas and was really pleased to be back at Top Field. He was asking me about many of his old team mates and keenly follows our results. He really enjoyed his time at Hitchin.

BOXING DAY STATISTICS
Unfortunately in my analysis of our Boxing Day record over the last ten years in last week’s bulletin I inadvertently gave the result of our trip to Royston as a 1-0 defeat when we of course won 1-0—sorry for that. With the defeat to Kings Langley our Boxing Day record remains grim. In 10 games we have won 3, drawn 2 and lost 5.

MERCHANDISE NEWS
Many thanks to all those supporters who bought merchandise over the Christmas period either at the club shop or online. Sales were very healthy and we are grateful for your support. You can buy online at anytime while the club shop will be open before, during and after all home games.

BULLETIN THANKS
As this is my last bulletin in 2022 I would like to thank those contributors who help me to produce it on a weekly basis. Mark Burke allows to me to interview him every week regardless of results and I am sure there are many times when he dreads me phoning. But he always gives an honest analysis and to me he gains credibility by being truthful in his reviews of games as he will not shy away from being critical if it is warranted. I think it is important that supporters get to see what Mark thinks and he gives an insight that often helps to explain what has happened in games. So many thanks to Mark for speaking to me every week.

Michael Jones gives news of the academy team and Karla Chaffey provides updates on the ladies teams which gives supporters a chance to keep in touch with other sections of the club so many thanks to both of them.

Many thanks to my fellow management committee colleagues Paul Sprague, Chris Newbold. Kate Deller, Dave Tudball and Mick Docking who provide articles on various aspects of the club which help to keep supporters informed.

Most importantly many thanks to all supporters who read the bulletin.

The weekly bulletin started many years ago now and its origins were that I thought our website did not have much news on the club at that time. I then realised that as secretary and treasurer I probably had more access to news about Hitchin Town than anyone else so I took it upon myself to provide a weekly news update and the bulletin was born. Hopefully supporters are now better informed and we are not a closed shop as many used to think. The bulletin managed to keep going every week through the pandemic and I will endeavour to keep it going as long as possible.

Finally happy new year to all Hitchin Town supporters.

BY ROY IZZARD