Hitchin Town Football Club
Founded 1865, Reformed 1928
Hitchin Town 0 Corby Town 2
Tuesday, August 28 2007
The alarm bells were ringing loudly after Hitchin crashed to their third consecutive defeat of the season. The Canaries are now in the bottom three of the BGB Premier Division.
The Top Field faithful were silenced by a Corby side who, although an obvious improvement on last season, are unlikely to be more than a mid-table outfit under new manager Kevin Wilson.
Canaries manager Darren Salton rang some changes after Saturday’s four-goal drubbing at Team Bath. In came Jon Stevenson for Glen Lamacraft and Matt Childs while David Deeney moved into midfield.
Lady luck is also refusing to smile on Hitchin this season and the opening goal of the game, after 32 minutes, was a very debatable penalty. Until then, it had been an even game with little notable action.
The penalty was certainly questionable with Ricky Miller being “brought down” by Ryan Frater. Darren Lynch stepped up to score from the spot.
Corby should have gone in at half-time two goals to the good, but Adam Wykes shot over the bar from six yards with the goal at his mercy.
Hitchin’s best chances were headers, one from Richard Pringle and a brace from defender Lance Gentle-King. But in truth, they failed to trouble the Corby defence.
The visitors had another chance to score when Dean Curtis took advantage of a defensive slip but saw his shot blocked by goalkeeper Ricky Perks.
It was Curtis who scored Corby’s second goal in added time, slotting home from close range following a long throw-in.
The ashen faces at the end said it all. A lot of work has got to be done to ensure that the Canaries don’t get embroiled in a relegation battle this season.
Hitchin: Perks, Childs, Mountford, Frater, L.Gentle-King, Deeney, Williams, Stevenson (Cunnington 76), Pringle (James 67), Drew (Orphanou 32), Hill
Corby: Crane, Nicell, Hallows, Maddox, Daly, Bonner, Diuk, Towers, Lynch (Curtis 58), Miller (Cross 53, Difante 90), Wykes
Referee: D.Rock
Attendance: 277