Hitchin Town Football Club

Hitchin Town 1 Arlesey Town 2

Wednesday, July 26 2006

Hitchin manager Darren Salton missed this game owing to holiday commitments, and the small band of Canaries’ fans who attended may have wished they’d done the same.

For this was the most disappointing of Hitchin’s pre-season games against local rivals Arlesey. Admittedly, Hitchin were shorn of three players through injury in the first half, but there was little to encourage the 120 crowd.

Arlesey raced into a two-goal lead in side half an hour. Both goals were scored by Michael McKenzie, a fleet-footed forward who impressed on the night. His first goal, after 23 minutes, saw him run onto a Paul Bloss through ball and curl his effort around Hitchin goalkeeper Paul Taylor. Three minutes later,
McKenzie raced through and netted with a powerful low shot.

By this time, Hitchin had lost skipper Liam Folds and striker Chris Dillon to injury.

Wayne Mills went close for the Canaries early in the second half, and Glen Lamacraft had a "goal" ruled out for a push on the goalkeeper, but Hitchin struggled to create much in the way of genuine chances.

When a goal did come it was from the penalty spot, Mills upended and David Deeney scoring from the spot after 72 minutes.  "Not good," was how assistant manager Ken Gillard summed the evening up.

Hitchin: P.Taylor (Gentle-King 34), Ducket, Frater, Folds (Cretton 25), Deeney, Williams, Pugh, Dillon (Mills 18), Hayes (Bridge 56), French

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