Hitchin Town Football Club

Deal Town 1 Hitchin Town 3

Saturday, September 24 2005

Hitchin produced their best away win in the FA Cup since 1999 with a comfortable victory at Kent League side Deal Town. The Canaries are now two games away from a place in round one of the competition.

For 45 minutes, however, Hitchin were far from easy in a fast-moving contest. By the interval, Deal must have fancied their chances of pulling off a cup upset, but after the break it was a different story.

In the 48th minute, a header from James Ayres was helped into the net by Deal defender Wes Hammond. Josh Sozzo laid claims to the goal, but it was clear that Hammond, who was injured in the scramble, had applied the finishing touch.

Three minutes later, there was no dispute about the goalscorer. Thomas Hayes rifled the ball into the net from the edge of the area after being set up by Sozzo.

There was a setback for Hitchin shortly after the second goal in the form of a red card for Jonathan Mills for an elbowing offence. This inflamed the Deal bench and amid the melee, their defender, Louis Smith, was also red-carded.

But Hitchin sealed their victory with a third goal after 63 minutes, Hayes finishing neatly after Daniel French’s pass. And the Canaries could have had more goals through Ryan Jenner and Glen Lamacraft, who both went close.

Finally, Deal pulled a goal back – which was some reward for a hard-working performance – when Mark Pollard took advantage of a defensive slip and shot past Richard Wilmot.

Hitchin: Wilmot, Lamacraft, Duffy, Cretton, Ayres, McMenamin, French (Lochhead 77), Mills, Sozzo (Jenner 67), Hayes (Bridge 77), Pugh 

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