Hitchin Town Football Club

Hitchin Town 2 Crystal Palace XI 2

Saturday, July 30 2005

Hitchin grabbed a draw against a young but talented Crystal Palace side in an entertaining game at Top Field.

Canaries manager Darren Salton started with what may be most of his starting line up when the real action starts on August 13.

Hitchin played some good football and looked tight in midfield and deserved a share of the spoils against the Londoners.
Palace took the lead on four minutes when Lewis Grabane swept the ball home from just inside the area. Four minutes later, Hitchin new boy Tommy Hayes struck the crossbar from six yards. Shortly afterwards, Josh Sozzo, with a neat turn and shot, forced David Wilkinson into a point blank save.

Sozzo levelled for the home side in the 34th minute after a period of concerted Hitchin pressure. Aaron Cavill squared the ball for the Canaries skipper and Sozzo turned it past Wilkinson from close range.

In the second period, a long run by Glen Lamacraft ended with a tame shot while at the other end, Grabane went close with a long-range effort. In the 66th minute, Grabane restored Palace’s advantage from the penalty spot.

Amid the plethora of substitutions, Stuart Lochhead saw his curling free kick pushed for a corner, and then Ryan Jenner’s far post header was also pushed over by Wilkinson.

Three minutes from time, Leeyon Phelan rammed home Hitchin’s equaliser after a goalmouth scramble.

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