Hitchin Town Football Club
"Football for the Future"
Stevenage Borough U16 v Hitchin Town FC U16
Sunday, March 29 2009
Hitchin Town were drawn against local rivals Stevenage Borough this weekend in a much anticipated return fixture. From the whistle Stevenage looked positive and seemed to take the upper hand. Hitchin, having been hit with injuries recently were only able to field a squad of 12 yet again adding more pressure to the players on the field of play.
Midfield of Jordan Armstrong, Simon Gibbons, Kyle Ronald and Bryn Reynolds did well in the middle of the park but Stevenage came out strong and for the first 10 mins we were lucky not to go 1-0 behind after a cracking shot hit the cross bar. As the game slowly progressed Hitchin began to look stronger and started playing the ball around well but after Stevange were awarded a corner, the ball found itself in the back of our net. 1-0.
Defense of Matt Morley, Ross Bates, Josh Millett and Josh Cook were as usual on form and soon quashed any attacks on goal. Sean Herr and Josh Corkhill managed to get themselves into to some great positions but once again it was to be the metal work to keep us from equalising. Half Time 1-0.
The second half started at a great pace with Hitchin dominating through midfield....Michael Evans came onto the field of play alongside Sean and it wasn't long till Sean took his opportunity to bring us back level. 1-1. Hitchin now looked sharper and with a renewed confidence started upsetting Stevenage. Simon and Jordan linked well and fought for everything but after a mix up at the back Stevenage took advantage and took the lead once again, against the run of play. 2-1. This seemed to knock the wind out of the boys and Stevenage pushed on hard to grab the last goal of the game to bring the final score line to 3-1.
The scoreline does not give a true reflection of the game, Hitchin did well, dominated for probably 70% of the game but were unlucky to conceed 2 of the goals. It must have to be said that the referee assigned to this game was probably one of the best we have had this season, he was fair and authoratative, but allowed the football to 'do the talking'....well done ref :)
A dispappointing result nevertheless, but with such a depleted squad all who played did extremely well, well done boys
Stevenage 3
Hitchin 1 (Sean Herr)