Hitchin Town Football Club

Hitchin Town 1 Northwood 0

Tuesday, August 17 2010

A second half goal from Hitchin new boy Callum Donnelly - his first for the club - was enough to give Hitchin a 1-0 win against Northwood at Top Field - their first league victory of the 2010-11 campaign in front of 287 people.

Orphanou off as Canaries win

Four points from two games represents a satisfactory start to the season for the Canaries but they made hard work of beating a Northwood side that was reduced to 10 men for the last 20 minutes.

Striker Scott Orphanou returned to Top Field with Northwood just a few days after scoring a hat-trick. But he won’t want to recall his first match against his old club with relish, having spent much of the time he was on the pitch doing his level best to prove a point. Orphanou was sent off after a second yellow card in the 69th minute.

Hitchin were without Mark Smith and Bradley Harrison, so Carl Williams brought in Tom Mustapha and Jon Wordsworth, the latter making his competitive debut for the Canaries.

Orphanou went close for Northwood early on but was kept quiet for most of the half. Hitchin’s Ieaun Lewis saw  a shot tipped over by Mitch Swain and a Mustapha cross ended with Jamie Arlick driving wide. There was a let-off for Hitchin when Dean Wallace hit a post towards the end of the half.

Hitchin opened the scoring in the 54th minute through new boy Callum Donnelly, who netted after a good run. The Canaries had a little extra zip in the second period thanks to the arrival of Richard Howell, who provided the sort of crossing ability that was crying out for someone to meet the ball – sadly Hitchin’s new tall man, Harrison, was not on the pitch!

There was another boost to Hitchin’s attacking prowess in the 66th minute when Gary Dixon came on for Mustapha. Dixon provided enough guile and energy to suggest he could add something to Hitchin’s firepower this season. Arlick and Lewis both created chances for the veteran striker and in a week or two,  Dixon may well bury those sort of chances.

In the closing stages, a trademark free kick by Howell threatened to make it 2-0, but it was tipped over by Swain. 

Hitchin may be taking their time to click into gear, but it is “early doors” as they say and four points is a perfectly respectable haul at this stage of the season.

Statistics
Hitchin Town (0)1 Northwood (0)0
C.Donnelly 54

Attendance: 287
Referee: S.Leaf