WEEKLY BULLETIN – 6TH DECEMBER
FIXTURE
- Saturday 7th December League Home to Redditch kick-off 3.00pm. The preview is below—
Its back to Top Field again this Saturday for a Southern League match against Redditch United. In the first of our two meetings last season it was a 2-2 draw at Top Field, our goals from Kye Tearle and Diogo Freitas-Gouveia. We then travelled to Redditch in January and they took all 3 points with a 3-0 victory.
Manager Michael Jones looks to build on the effort and quality of football we all enjoyed last few games but ensure we can add some more clinical finishing to secure a result.
Tickets
For lowest prices and quickest entry into the ground please purchase your tickets online here:
https://hitchintownfc.ktckts.com/brand/match-tickets
The online box office remains open until 30 minutes after kick off.
If you do still wish to buy your tickets in person, the matchday ticket office is open from 13.30-15.15 on Saturday and can be accessed from the rear car park (behind the Canary Club). Once you have purchased a ticket at the Matchday Ticket Office you will then need to present your ticket for entry at the Turnstiles on Fishponds Road. More details here:
https://hitchintownfc.club/admission-prices/
Turnstiles open at 14.00.
Remember our flexi tickets are also available. This allows you to buy a pack of 5 adult or concession tickets at a discounted rate. You can then login to your Kaizen account and decide which league games you want to use these tickets for. You can use as many as you like per game. Buy yours here:
https://hitchintownfc.ktckts.com/merchandise/hit2425flexi/flexi-ticket-202425-5-matches
Parking
Unfortunately supporter parking is not available in the club car park (unless you are a registered blue badge holder and have made prior arrangements).
Food and Drink
The Canary Club bar is open from 11.00 with some of the lowest prices in Hitchin! Drinks can be taken into the ground in a reusable plastic cup. (£1 deposit required). You can exit to the bar during the match and will be re-admitted via the side gate by showing your hand-stamp.
Mad Squirrel Brewery will not be in attendance this Saturday as they already have scheduled commitments at other events. They will be back at Top Field soon.
Canary Kitchen will be open from when the turnstiles open serving a great range of food and soft drinks including our signature HTFC Pies.
Club Shop
Get your matchday programme, teamsheet, chocolate bars, sweets and HTFC merchandise from the club shop.
For full details on the facilities at Top Field see our Matchday Info page here:
https://hitchintownfc.club/matchday-info/
We look forward to welcoming another big crowd and hope everyone has a great afternoon at Top Field.
There is no midweek fixture.
MANAGER’S NOTES BY MICHAEL JONES
Samantha Backhouse
I am delighted to confirm that Sam Backhouse has returned to the club to assist Chloe Ping in the medical department. Sam’s role will mainly be training focused with the occasional match day. It was great to see Sam back involved in Tuesday’s game against Hemel and I am sure all the players were happy to see her back at the club.
Player Signing
We are pleased to announce the signing of Billy Heaps to the club. Billy’s contract expired from Tottenham Hotspur in the summer. Billy is someone who will add extra quality to the group. I hope everyone gets behind Billy and gives him all the support needed to get the best out of him.
St Ives Town
Saturday away to St Ives Town we came away with a 3-1 defeat and zero points. First 20 minutes I thought we struggled to gain control of the game and we went 1-0 down after a mistake in the middle of the pitch which was followed by a long range shot that slipped through Seb’s hands into the back of the net. I then felt we created some good chances, where Henry Snee had a header off the bar, Lewis Franklin dragged one wide from inside the box and Toby Syme missed a header from 6 yards out. We just lacked a bit of quality when we got into goalscoring positions.
Just before half time we handed the game to St Ives, after the assistant referee misjudged a clear throw in to us. We were slow to react and then we made a defensive error at the back and we failed to track our runners into the box, allowing a tap in. A tough one to take and I know everyone will look to blame the assistant referee for this goal but we had more than enough opportunities to correct his mistake.
Second half I felt we controlled the game in the St Ives half and created a few chances but again lacked a bit of quality in and around the final third. Henry Snee got us back into the game after a bit of determination allowed him to force a mistake from the keeper and convert from close range. This is when I felt we could get a deserved draw out of the game but fair play to St Ives they defended well and then sprung a good counter attack after a loose pass in midfield and finished the game off with 10 minutes to go.
Full credit goes to St Ives, who defended well and capitalized on our mistakes and punished us for all of them.
Hemel Hempstead
We were looking to bounce back against Step 2 Hemel in the Herts Senior Cup on Tuesday evening. In a real fast paced game in the opening exchanges, Hemel found a real moment of quality with an excellent cross which was put in at the back post. I felt this was totally against the run of play. We continued to dominate the game and created more than enough chances to win five games of football without really giving anything away at the other end.
Anyone who did not attend the game on Tuesday will look at the result on social media and think, another defeat for Hitchin and although this is the fact of the matter, anyone who braved the cold conditions on Tuesday night will fully understand the performance levels we had and how we dominated a game from start to finish, creating plenty of chances in the process. Hemel had one moment of real quality and punished us, whereas we had plenty of moments of no quality in and around the box. Plenty of positives to take from Tuesday and the one main area of improvement needs to be our finishing in and around the box. This is the hardest part of football, but this team has shown it can score goals this season and I am sure they will continue to score goals.
Redditch United
This is a real tough test, Redditch are 5th in the table and have an impressive away record, where they have won 6 out of their 9 away games.
Redditch have recently reappointed former manager Matt Clarke and he will be looking to build on last year’s 4th placed finish, where they lost out in the playoffs to eventual winners Leamington.
Redditch are a very competitive team with plenty of quality and experience in it. If you look at all their results this season, they have been very close games with normally just one goal being the difference.
Now I know everyone will look at this and think here we go again; Hitchin lose again and so on but this is not the case. We are on the right path currently and we are going through a really tough spell where the results have been disappointing and the weather has been rubbish, which together tests the most avid supporter for their positivity and belief going into games, but we need to remain positive, stick together and I am sure success will follow.
Player News
- Rio Deall is in contention for the squad on Saturday.
- Liam Brooks played for Baldock Town on Saturday and then followed this up with some much-needed minutes against Hemel on Tuesday and will be in our squad this weekend.
- Sam Carman is continuing his recovery from injury, but he came along to support us on Tuesday.
- Henry Snee is struggling from a knock picked up against St Ives and will not be involved this weekend.
- Bradley Bell will be gaining some more minutes elsewhere this weekend as he looks to build his match fitness and sharpness up for our busy Christmas period.
ACADEMY UPDATE BY MICHAEL JONES
William McNeill was part of the match squad for the game against Hemel. Will came on as a late substitute to make his second senior appearance for the club.
Unfortunately our away fixture this week was called off due to an unplayable pitch.
We have started our recruitment for the 25/26 season.
Our next open training session is Wednesday 18th December at The Arena, Norton Road, Baldock, Hertfordshire, SG7 5AU on the all weather pitch between 5pm – 6:30pm.
If you would like to be part of the academy or would like to attend the open training session could you please register your details using this link – https://extranet.wearescl.co.uk/ToolkitNew/webenrolment.aspx?page=~/webcontrols/courseapply.ascx&OfferingId=85258
JUNIOR CANARIES UPDATE BY MICHAEL JONES
Issue 3 has been sent out to all Junior Canaries, we hope you all enjoy it.
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.
MERCHANDISE UPDATE BY PAUL SPRAGUE
The countdown to Christmas is well and truly on now. Call in to the Top Field Club Shop at tomorrow’s game to buy all those Canaries gifts for your loved ones. We have good availability across Replica Shirts, Hoodies and Hats and Scarves but we can’t guarantee all items remaining in stock in all sizes through to Christmas so please buy as early as you can.
Snoods
The new snoods were hugely popular two weeks ago and so we have had a big restock of them, they will be back in the shop tomorrow and are also available to order online.
2025 Calendar
We are pleased to offer a HTFC Calendar again for 2025. This years calendar not only includes lots of Men’s First Team action shots courtesy of Peter Else but also includes more Hitchin Town Womens FC photos as well as some of our fantastic Hitchin Town Youth FC teams. They will also be available in the shop tomorrow priced at £10 or if you live further afield, they are available to order online too.
Gift Cards
A reminder that our Top Field Club Shop Gift Cards are now available to buy. Choose to load the card up with any amount and then the lucky recipient can use the card against any purchase from the Club Shop. (Note they cannot be used for orders from the online club shop.
MATCHDAY 50/50 DRAW UPDATE BY PAUL SPRAGUE
Our matchday 50/50 draw is hugely popular with our fans. The jackpot often totals in excess of £200 and we are very lucky to have been supported by the Plume of Feathers Ickleford who supply the 2nd place price voucher each week. We have recognised though that many supporters do not have cash available to purchase their tickets as they come through the turnstiles and we think we can achieve even bigger jackpots (and therefore even bigger amounts raised for the club too). We are excited to confirm that as of tomorrow’s match against Redditch you can now purchase your 50/50 tickets by Card as you come through the turnstiles. We hope this helps more of you to be able to buy a ticket and be in with a chance of winning a great prize all whilst also supporting the club.
GROUND MAINTENANCE UPDATE BY PAUL SPRAGUE
Tannoy
Many of you will be aware that the tannoy system completely failed earlier this season. Much of the system was very old and had been amended over time with ad-hoc extensions and repairs. Unfortunately due to the condition it wasn’t an easy fix. As it is a requirement that we provide a tannoy at our games we made the decision to implement an interim fix with new equipment in the main stand. We appreciate that this interim solution does not provide sufficient coverage for many areas of the ground, particularly over in the stands behind the dugouts. We are working on a solution to improve the tannoy coverage in the ground but it requires specialist input and then some rather difficult cabling so please accept our apologies and bare with us whilst we get this resolved.
Wall of Support
Unfortunately the wall of support was damaged earlier this season by bad weather. A replacement has been ordered and we expect to get this in place shortly.
COMMUNITY UPDATE BY MARK BURKE
The Arena
The dates for our coaching clinics at the Arena for the New Year are now out and can be booked on via the website https://www.northhertsarena.co.uk
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).
Monday 13th January 2025 – 10th February 2025 (5 weeks) Cost: £20
Wednesday evenings from 5.30-6.30pm we host a specific goalkeeping course called Safe Hands for children of all ages and abilities delivered by former 1st team goalkeeper Josh Mollison.
Wednesday 8th January 2025 – 12th February 2025 (6 weeks) Cost: £36
HTWFC UPDATE BY CALLUM ELLIS
RESULTS
EB Lions 0 – 1 HTWFC
HTWFC Canaries 6 – 1 Olney Women FC
With both teams winning their respective fixtures they both move second into their divisions.
FIXTURES
Sunday 8th December 2024, 14:00
Beds & Herts Womens Football League Chris Renshaw Cup
HTWFC v Watton Ladies FC
St Christophers School, SG6 3JZ
Evergreen Eagles v HTWFC Canaries
South Way Playing Fields, WD5 0JL
BY ROY IZZARD