Hitchin Town Football Club

Thame United 1 Hitchin Town 2

Wednesday, November 19 2003

Two goals in the last 10 minutes gave managerless Hitchin victory in this Bryco Cup second round tie at Thame United.

Just three days after Robbie O'Keefe's departure, Hitchin had a caretaker team of Kerry Dixon and Ian Donnelly in charge at Thame.

The stand-in team had to contend with injuries to Chris Dillon, Kevin Evans and Ryan Frater. But the Canaries almost got off to a perfect start, with Carl Williams crashing a shot against the crossbar.

In the 17th minute, however, Thame took the lead through John Mitchell, who scored with a shot that gave Richard Wilmot no chance.

Hitchin almost levelled just before the break, but Adam Parker's effort was saved by Thame goalkeeper Steve Smith.

Despite a positive performance all round, it took the Canaries until the 79th minute to equalise, substitute Mark Bridge scoring from close range after Parker's challenge caused Smith to drop the ball.

Bridge went flying in the area just after scoring, but the referee refused to award Hitchin a penalty.

With four minutes to go, Hitchin went ahead with Parker heading home a Maynard cross, which proved to be the winning goal. The management team was understandably delighted with victory at a potentially tricky venue.

Hitchin: Wilmot, Childs, Rydeheard, Bone, Ayres, Maynard, Mills, Williams, Drew (Duffy 69), Parker, Phelan (Bridge 59)

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