Hitchin returned to winning ways with a dominant victory over London Lions. With all their promotion rivals winning it was vital that Hitchin got the three points as they try and ensure home advantage for the play-offs. Manager Michael Jones was happy and he told he thought it was a good win and he was pleased with the clean sheet. While he did not think we hit the heights of which we are capable we got the job done. He thought the first half was flat but we improved in the second half and should have scored more goals.

There was a celebrity visitor to Top Field as ex England manager Sir Gareth Southgate was at the game. He was filming a BBC documentary and stayed for the whole game engaging with our supporters and was very impressive in how approachable he was. In what must have been a big surprise for the players Sir Gareth gave a five minute talk in the dressing room before kick-off. However it can be confirmed that Sir Gareth is not looking to replace Michael Jones as Hitchin manager!

Team news saw Diogo Freitas-Gouveia replace the unavailable Josh Coldicott-Stevens while Will McNeill replaced Josh Jackman and Blue Joy came in for Brett Longden. The game got off to a slow start with Hitchin dominating possession without really looking dangerous. Taylor Rhiney had a shot cleared off the line after 6 minutes and Freitas-Gouveia had a free-kick blocked after 21 minutes. The breakthrough came on the half hour as Lewis Franklin was clearly bundled over by Adam Lipman for an obvious penalty. As ever Rhiney supplied an emphatic finish to give Hitchin a deserved lead. The first half finished with Freitas-Gouveia firing a free-kick high and wide.

In the second half Hitchin upped the tempo and added to their lead after 48 minutes. A free-kick from Callum Nicolson was expertly volleyed home by Charlie Briggs with the skill of a front line striker. This was the signal for Hitchin to create more openings. Callum Kane shot just wide after a clever pass from Kavan Cotter before Rhiney really should have done better when he missed from close range. But the game was put to bed after an hour had been played and it was the same combination as for the second goal. This time it was a Nicolson corner that Briggs headed firmly home. It is incredible how many assists have been provided by Nicolson with the great quality of his set piece deliveries.

Cieran Jones had a header saved while good play from Josh Jackman set up Rhiney for a shot that went just wide. Hitchin thought they had a fourth goal when Rhiney finished after a great run by Jones but the offside flag was raised. After 86 minutes Tyler McGregor saved from Nathan Merris but the closest London Lions came to a goal was a header from Joe Leslie that hit the bar after 90 minutes. Hitchin had one more chance with Rhiney having a shot blocked but the game ended with a 3-0 win for Hitchin.

Hitchin make the short trip to Stotfold on Monday and will be seeking three points to help secure second place as home advantage in the play-offs would be a great boost as it would mean the quality surface of Top Field and the backing of a big crowd. Even with very few London Lions supporters present 893 came through the Top Field turnstiles and they went home satisfied with a well deserved victory.