Home Match Reports Archive Constitution Policies Contact Directions Sponsors

HITCHIN TOWN U14 COVE v STOTFOLD U14 JUNIORS

Sunday, January 24 2010

Five long weeks without a game and just a couple of training sessions squeezed in thanks to the Christmas break and weather conditions…..and boy did it show! COVE entertained league strugglers Stotfold and can consider themselves lucky to have grabbed a single point after scrambling back from a two-goal deficit with one of their worst displays of the season. It saw them surrender top spot, which they had held since the opening game, to Fairlands Youth. Our visitors must have wondered how on earth we had ever managed to be top dogs going by this performance?
 
For just a brief few moments at the start, Hitchin looked good but completely threw away a golden opportunity just four minutes in. Adam Ward, from the left, enticed the visiting keeper out before neatly placing Sam Chapman onside and onto the unguarded goal, but the advantage was somehow squandered and the ball ended up behind for a goal kick. The next half hour though was dominated by the young Rokermen, the fact that they actually had a match last week seemingly showing them as fitter, quicker and by far the better organised on the day. The young Canaries on the other hand lacked their usual pace, communication and passing qualities, and as for marking, it was non-existent. Hence it wasn't a long wait for the opener. With less than ten minutes gone, Hitchin conceded the first of a multitude of free kicks in this very physical clash. Taken beautifully from just inside our half the ball rattled the crossbar and the rebound fell kindly to a grateful unmarked Juniors forward to fire home past Scott Mardell.
 
With the ball almost constantly in the home half of the pitch, it was just five attempts later that Stotfold doubled their tally. This time, a seemingly invisible right-winger, as he was not once marked properly throughout the first period, put in the cross after an almost leisurely unhindered run down the touchline and the striker volleyed into the net from five yards. Luckily for COVE, a third goal was ruled out for the offside just three minutes later!
 
Juniors lunched several more attacks before half time but thankfully failed to add to their total, while Hitchin actually managed to pull one back just before the break. During a very rare home offensive, Josh Howard was brought down just inside the area and Jordan Massey struck well from the spot. For the last few minutes Hitchin seemed to gain a sudden sense of motivation after the penalty with Ward and Chapman combining well but without the desired end product.
 
As the match entered the second half, the lads looked to have pulled themselves together slightly...very slightly! Midfield was still a disorganised shambles but at least the defence now seemed to tighten up at last and George Bellwood in particular put in a sterling performance, which was just as well since Stotfold continued to be the team doing all the attacking for this halves’ opening quarter of an hour. No fewer than the Hitchin repelled five sorties into our area defence, but it was almost a disaster on forty-three minutes when a hard tackle by Michael Trever was deemed just a little too strong. The resulting penalty however was brilliantly pushed away by Mardell with an acrobatic full stretch save.
 
With the realisation of what could have been had it not been for the superb save, the Canaries finally woke up...and not before time! The rest of the contest was to be controlled by the home side, or maybe the visitors had simply just run out of steam, possibly a bit of both. Howard struck a powerful shot from 25yrds to force the keeper into a magnificent save, on a par with Mardells penalty stopper, the ball expertly tipped over the bar. Jakob Oconnor blasted just wide after receiving from Dean Morrell and Cameron Swinburn had a shot well saved before the equaliser eventually came along. A well-taken free kick by Chris Smith from the centre of the park fell to Massey who struck from six yards, the keeper parried the ball away to his right and Morrell took the initiative finding the bottom right corner.
 
It was all too little too late though and the draw was as good as it would get for Hitchin, leaving the boys from Roker Park feeling robbed, and rightly so, as they had most certainly played the better football after finding our boys out of practice and completely, almost embarrassingly, off form. Needless to say manager Ian Swinburn gave them the lecture they deserved at the end of this sad and sorry effort. Now, having been knocked off of their pedestal by a team from the bottom end of the division, they cannot afford any more slip-ups unless they want to sink even further down the table in the near future. Royston, Biggleswade and Bishop Stortford are all snapping closely at their heels and those three outfits account for five games still yet to come. So the lads need to buck up their ideas and get back on song in rapid fashion or the silverware they seemed almost destined to receive will suddenly become out of their reach very, very quickly indeed!
 
HITCHIN TOWN   (1) 2     STOTFOLD   (2) 2
Massey (pen) 32             07
Morrell 56                      17
 
Man of the Match
George Bellwood (strong and alert defending)
 
Match report by Kevin Kitchiner-Day