FA CUP FIXTURE
Saturday 8 September home to Godmanchester Rovers FA Cup 1st Qualifying Round kick off 3.00pm. If this game is drawn the replay will be at Godmanchester on Tuesday 11 September kick off 7.45pm.

There is £6,000 prize money at stake on Saturday and a good FA Cup run can transform a non-league club’s finances. So I urge our ever loyal supporters to come along to support the team in what is a really important game. Your support can really help the players to produce that match winning performance.

NEW APPOINTMENT TO EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
We are pleased to announce that Chris Newbold has joined the Executive Committee. Please click here to read the full article relating to this.

PLAYER NEWS

  • Alex Anderson has signed for Hitchin. He is a full back and played for Witham Town last season. He made his debut against Harrow Borough on Wednesday evening.
  • Lucas Kirkpatrick has left the club and signed for Biggleswade Town.
  • Jay Dowie played the last 15 minutes of the Harrow Borough game and is getting nearer to full fitness.
  • Dessie Da Silva and Craig Packham did play for Stotfold last Saturday with Dessie scoring two goals.
  • Other squad players may go out on loan in the near future.

FA YOUTH CUP
I have seen most things in my long association with Hitchin Town FC but Monday saw a first for me as we had to cancel a game on police advice! The FA Youth Cup game with Barking was set to take place on Monday but a lorry caught fire just after 2.00pm in Fishponds Road. The police and fire brigade were in attendance and completely closed Fishponds Road. I heard of the incident about 4.00pm and the police were advising us to call the game off as there was no clear picture as to when the road could be safely reopened. My colleague Chris Newbold telephoned the Football Association to seek their advice on what we should do while I spoke to the Barking secretary warning him not to let the Barking coach leave until we had a definite decision. Chris eventually got through to the appropriate official who decided we must go with the police advice and cancel the game. I contacted the Barking secretary again to let him know of the match being off at the same time as their coach arrived at their ground. So we were just in time but we also had to contact the match officials and our own players and management together with the match day staff. Not quite the way I had intended to spend the early part of Monday evening but I was pleased how well we coped with the consequences of the lorry fire.

The new date for the Barking game is still being discussed and this has again been a complicated process with Barking proving difficult to pin down. An announcement will be made when agreement is reached.

NORTH HERTS FM
Many congratulations to our commentary team on North Herts FM who covered the Harrow game. As well as Brian Gray and Freddie Cardy we had new commentators in Patrick Sloan (17) and Annie Barnes (15). They had an amazing 1,111 listeners and the feedback from listeners has been really positive. This really helps to put Hitchin Town on the map and is providing a vital service for our supporters who are unable to attend games.

JOSH COLEY
Walking through town today I bumped in to Josh Coley and his dad John. I obviously asked him how he was getting on at Norwich and he said he had to get up to speed to cope with the training but he was now really enjoying it. He is playing for the under 23’s and is determined to make it through to the first team and it was good to hear his ambition. He said he was grateful for the help he had received at Hitchin and Baldock.

ROY IZZARD