Hitchin Town Football Club

Hitchin Town 1 Luton Town XI 0

Wednesday, July 22 2009

Hichin may have pulled off a coup in signing Tony Fontenelle, a player who may have a big say in the Canaries Zamaretto Midland Division season.

Fontenelle looked head and shoulders above the rest of the field and demonstrated he is still a useful performer. In the lively first half, he had a number of chances to give Hitchin a commanding lead against a youthful Luton side.

Anyone expecting the Luton first team to run out at Top Field would have been disappointed. The anonymous collection of youngsters that did run out – their own people could barely spell their names - are unlikely to figure in Luton’s senior side in the Blue Square Premier. In fact, apart from a couple of early efforts, Luton barely mustered a shot all night.

Hitchin took the lead after 48 minutes when Jamie Arlick hooked the ball home from close range. Brett Donnelly almost added to that strike shortly afterwards but his effort was cleared off the line.

Arlick went close again late in the game, first with a header that was saved by the Luton keeper, Lewis Kidd, and then with a shot that rolled into the side-netting.

There as an encouraging sign for Hitchin in the return of Jeff Hammond, who showed that he has lost none of his pace in the summer.

Hitchin: Bennett (Wilmot), Payne (Grinham), Reece (Murphy), Velandia (Deverall), Smith, Gilbert, Fontenelle (Thompson), L.Donnelly (Williams), Arlick (Gutzmore), B.Donnelly (Hammond), Burke (Brinkman)