Hitchin Town Football Club
Founded 1865, Reformed 1928
Gloucester City 3 Hitchin Town 1
Saturday, April 2 2005
Hitchin have four games to save their Southern League Premier division status and already manager Darren Salton is expecting "four cup finals".
Salton and his assistant Ken Gillard left Gloucester distraught men. Their team had lost for the sixth time in the last 10 league games and has now picked up 14 points out of a possible 48.
The situation has become grave at Hitchin and it is now not in the Canaries own hands. Nervous result watching will be the order of the day for the last month of the season.
At Gloucester, Hitchin contributed to their own downfall. The first goal, on 24 minutes, was a free kick on the edge of the area that Gloucester player-manager Chris Burns drove home through an inadequate wall. The second goal, barely two minutes later, saw a mix-up between Mark Smith and Richard Wilmot and Lee Smith darted around the Hitchin goalkeeper to score. All this came after Hitchin had started quite well and Jim Duffy had missed a good chance.
The pattern of recent games continued into the second half with Hitchin having their best spell. In the 54th minute, Josh Sozzo reduced the deficit when he turned the ball into the net following a corner.
For a while, a Hitchin recovery looked on the cards, but the Canaries were unable to create any chances. The game was lost 15 minutes from time when Keith Knight strolled through and shot home with ease to restore Gloucester’s two goal advantage.
Hitchin: Wilmot, Lamacraft (Jenner 68), McMenamin, Smith, Ayres, Baldry, Mills (Bridge 76), Cavill, Sozzo, Lewis, Duffy (Hassan 81)
