Hitchin Town Football Club

East Thurrock Utd 4 Hitchin Town 1

Tuesday, January 18 2005

For the first time in the Canaries' long history, the club has failed to win a cup match during the season. Defeat at East Thurrock United meant that Hitchin have tumbled out at the first hurdle in all five knockout competitions - the only time this has happened since 1928.

But with a backdrop of oil refineries and Essex marshland, Hitchin manager Darren Salton took the chance to blood some of his youngsters. The most encouraging sign for Hitchin fans is that of the 14 players that played at East Thurrock, no less than nine were from the club's youth academy.

The 10 Hitchin fans that witnessed this game saw their team fall three goals behind in just over half an hour. The first, after six minutes came after Keith Martin beat the offside trap and ran on to score. The second, after 19 minutes, was a well-placed free kick by Scott Holding. In between the home side's second and third goals, Josh Sozzo, skipper for the night, shot into the side-netting after a rare Hitchin attack.

East Thurrock extended their lead on 32 minutes, Martin Touhy shooting home from close range after Richard Wilmot had blocked an earlier effort.

To Hitchin's credit, they battled away against the odds in the second half, and in the 67th minute, Bilal Hassan sent a diving header into the net from Aaron Cavill's free kick. But seven minutes later, a Jake Gibson cross to Danny Harris made it 4-1.

With two minutes later, East Thurrock's Dean Chandler spurned the chance to make it even more emphatic with a travesty of a penalty kick.

Hitchin: Wilmot, Lamacraft, Downham (N.Frater 79), Old, McCulloch, Cavill, Hassan (Fortune 72), Hill, Sozzo, Murray (Pickering 55), Blower

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