Hitchin Town Football Club

Hitchin Town 1 Mangotsfield United 0

Sunday, February 18 2007

Young goalkeeper Michael Parkin came back to the Canaries line up for the first time since October and helped his team record their first win in four games and end a three-game losing streak.

Parkin kept Hitchin’s second clean sheet of the season and displayed good handling and assurance between the posts.

This was not an attractive game by any standards, but a suspension-hit Hitchin side did well to beat one the best away teams in the Southern League.

Not that the Mangos posed much of a threat, however. In a thoroughly dull 90 minutes, neither side showed much sharpness in front of goal.

The first half was arguably the worst seen at Top Field for some time - the highlight being a controversial decision by referee Mr Hair who denied Mangotsfield a penalty when Aaron Cornwall was upended by Scott Cretton.

After the break, Hitchin came to life and for the first 15 minutes were on top.

They took the lead after 53 minutes when a Carl Williams corner fell to Cretton, he knocked it on and Chris Dillon reacted quickly to hook the ball into the net.

Dillon was set free shortly afterwards when he raced onto a long ball but goalkeeper Steve Book intercepted.

David Deeney and Scott Orphanou both had half chances for Hitchin as the home side tried to get a grip on the game, but there was little to cheer the crowd, a surprisingly good 320.

Mangotsfield almost levelled in the final minute,  David Seal attempting to slide the ball into the net but Rob Miller cleared off the line.

Hitchin: Parkin, Childs, Miller, Cretton, Folds, Lamacraft, Williams, Deeney (Gentle-King 90), Dillon, Sozzo (Orphanou 66), French (Parker 75)

Mangotsfield: Book, Ball, Allward, Price, Warren, French, Casey (Sylvester 82), Willmot, Cornwall, Hawkins (Seal 63), Lane (Horgan 82)

Referee: W.Hair

Attendance: 320

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