Hitchin Town Football Club

Hitchin Town 0 Salisbury City 3

Saturday, January 21 2006

The scoreline may look like an easy win for Salisbury City but Hitchin were given a lesson in finishing by the Southern League leaders. Three well-taken goals by stand-in striker Robert Matthews were enough to end the Canaries unbeaten record in 2006.

Salisbury took the lead in the 10th minute in their first real attack. A cross from Matthews Tubbs found the head of towering centre forward Robert Matthews and his effort went in off the crossbar.

Hitchin responded with a Gavin Jaggard header that sailed wide, but in the 17th minute, Salisbury scored again. Matthews was again the scorer, shooting high into the net after Alex Haddow had laid the ball back from the byline. Jaggard again went close for Hitchin when he took the ball on his chest and shot wide.

The first half ended in untidy fashion with two brawls that resulted in bookings for both teams.

After the interval, Hitchin made the running but failed to test a well-drilled Salisbury defence. David Daniels did get one shot in, though, but it was too high.

Salisbury almost extended their lead when Matthews, after Richard Wilmot had strayed off his line, saw his shot blocked. But Matthews secured his hat-trick in the 71st minute when he comfortably headed home from a Craig Davis cross.

Hitchin: Wilmot, Lochhead, Okai, Ayres, Folds, Hicks (Hayes 66), French, Cavill, Jaggard (Pugh 88), Sozzo, Ducket (Daniels 52)

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