Hitchin Town Football Club
Founded 1865, Reformed 1928
Chippenham Town 3 Hitchin Town 0
Sunday, January 21 2007
Hitchin Town's season took another blow when the Canaries lost to crisis-torn Chippenham Town, conceding their 11th goal in three games.
Hitchin have now lost three consecutive games and their promotion hopes are diminishing by the week. Furthermore, Darren Salton’s side have failed to keep a clean sheet in 22 league games this season, a worrying statistic for a team
hoping to secure a play-off place come April.
Salton knows he has problems, but for most of the first half at least Hitchin matched the home side. Early on, Carl Williams cleared Kye Holly’s effort off the goalline. Liam Folds had Hitchin's best chance, but Chippenham defender Ian Herring was on hand to clear the ball from danger.
In the 42nd minute, David Gilroy opened the scoring for Chippenham, receiving a neat pass from Sean Seavill and rounding Rob Beckwith before slotting home.
Chippenham had the upper hand in the second half, and four minutes after the break, Hitchin lost Daniel French who had been injured in the opening 45 minutes.
In the 55th minute, Ryan Frater slipped up in the area and Gilroy took advantage, rolling the ball to Seavill who had the easy task of scoring.
Two minutes later, Chippenham scored again, a quickly taken free kick by Holly catching Beckwith off his line and finding the back of the net.
Hitchin attempted a comeback of sorts after the third goal and Josh Sozzo had one effort that went over the bar and then home goalkeeper Chris Snoddy saved from Folds.
The Canaries’ best effort came from Gavin Jaggard who had a one-on-one chance that was thwarted by Snoddy.
This was another below par Canaries performance, with confidence now becoming a problem for a team that looks a shadow of the one that won at Bath and Yate before Christmas.
Chippenham: Snoddy, Adams, Stanley (Etheridge 38), Herring, Milson, Harvey, Holly, Halliday (Badman 82), Gilroy, Seavill (Cook 71), Allison
Hitchin: Beckwith, Gentle-King (Jaggard 66), Ducket, Frater, Folds, Deeney, Williams, Miller (Lamacraft 62), Dillon, Sozzo, French (Mills 47)
Attendance: 422
Referee: A.Davies