Hitchin Town Youth Football Club
An FA Charter Standard Development Club
HORMEAD HARES U14 v HITCHIN TOWN U14 COVE
Sunday, December 13 2009
What a difference a little bit of discipline makes! Hitchin Town COVE look to have learnt from their recent point-dropping games and were once again the superb outfit they are. They spent the half hour before kickoff warming up and training as they're meant to before hitting three past Hormead Hares to remain where they have been since the seasons start...top of the table!
It's a long trek to this venue, but always a pleasure to play this friendly team whom, it must be said, have vastly improved from last term making for a great game of football to witness. Our lads were itching for a game after three consecutive postponements due to waterlogged pitches and a fixture mix up, and right from the outset they looked confident, but the best observation was that the complacency had thankfully vanished. Within just a few seconds the desire to make amends was obvious as Josh Howard from the left placed Jakob Oconnor on side for the shot but the keeper saved well. Hormead responded and tried to break from the kick out, but possession was regained by COVE and Sam Chapman, after a through ball by Danny Burton, fired toward the centre of goal but the keeper parried and the follow up was hit wide by Jordan Massey.
The hosts rose again to this early pressure and launched a second, stronger attack, this time managing to get through but a hasty shot was poorly struck and caused Scott Mardell no problems but it gave them the confidence to continue pushing COVE and they sent a second attempt wide and third over the cross bar. For a brief spell, Hitchin continued to soak up the rather unnecessary pressure and allowed their hosts three more attempts, one over the top again and two relatively easily stopped by Mardell. However, with the last ten minutes of the half to play, the Canaries turned the tide and were unlucky to go into the break without reward after efforts by Dean Morrell, Howard and Oconnor though our opponents left the field with their manager rightly proud of the superb effort they had put in to the game.
As so often seen in other fixtures this season, COVE had allowed their counterparts space in the first period, but space without much danger while they bide their time and wait for the opposition to burn themselves out. Once again this tried and tested tactic worked as Town took charge right from the restart. Winger Massey, this time swapped shirts to give Mardell another chance to stretch his legs, and almost score immediately with a thirty yard free kick that was held well by Hares very able number one. Howard also saw a great low shot stopped before being the provider of the opening goal, picking out Morrell in the box to fire home albeit amid shouts of handball as he controlled and to be honest he did appear to handle the ball but the ref was blind side and pointed to the centre spot. Just moments later, Morrell then set up Chapman but his strike from the edge of the area was saved, and then he hit another wide after receiving from Howard who had just completed a brilliant run with the ball down the left flank.
Fifteen minutes into the half, Hormead now seemed to be struggling, leaving stand in keeper Massey with literally nothing to do but spectate while the lad he replaced was about to set the game alight. After Mardell saw his very well taken free kick just about held by his normal opposite number, he intercepted the kicked out ball on the half way line and strode forward with a pace that took the home defence by surprise, and after beating two of them, hit a cracker into the bottom right for his first ever goal for the club. Hares tried to respond a couple of times before the end but were now being chased down easily and Massey only had to make a single simple save throughout his stint between the uprights.
COVE continued to grow ever more dominant as the game wore on while Hormead had their goalkeeper to thank for stopping what could so easily have turned into a rout. Scorer of the opener, Morrell, had two shots saved after set ups by Chapman and Howard respectively. Chapman hit agonisingly wide on two occasions, Jack Kitchiner-Day did the same with his first attempt and had his next one stopped. A beautifully taken corner by Adam Ward found Chris Smith who headed just past the right post, and Burton hit the same vertical with a powerful blast from distance. The third and final goal though was the best of the three, as Kitchiner-Day won the ball off of their centre mid, cut left to then side step their incoming winger before laying Howard on who tied three Hormead defenders in knots before placing a sweet low ball past the keeper to find the net with true perfection.
A fantastic game and a marvellous result, though now the lads seem to have refound it, they need to replicate this kind of quality many more times yet before the season end if they are to win this league as there are only four points separating them from the four teams below them after all those squads also won their fixtures on Sunday. Man of the Match was impossible to decide, and so all were rewarded because each one of the lads played their hearts out, and all, at some point during this great show of entertainment displayed a touch of sheer personal class and the team performance was outstanding. Well done The Canaries and compliments to The Hares to for making it such a great game, we look forward to the return.
HORMEAD (0) 0 HITCHIN TOWN (0) 3
Morrell 48
Mardell 50
Howard (63)
Match report by Kevin Kitchiner-Day