With a large crowd guaranteed for Friday evening's game between Hitchin Town and near neighbours Luton Town - who narrowly missed out on a chance of promotion to the Premier League after falling at the Championship play-off semi-final stage - here's all you need to know about the match and the Hitchin Cider and Cheese Festival beforehand.

With thanks to Roy Izzard.

KICK OFF IS AT 7PM

Entry for all will be via the Fishponds Road Turnstiles which will be open from 5.30pm so please arrive early.

Although the club's online only ticket arrangements make entry as smooth as possible there will still inevitably be some queues on entry.

Hitchin want to ensure everyone is safely in the ground ready for kick off.

If you have purchased a Season Ticket and selected a physical card which you are yet to receive in the post then please make yourself known to a steward at the turnstiles and they will arrange access.

PARKING

The car park at Top Field will be reserved for match officials, players, club officials, matchday staff, matchday volunteers and any disabled visitors by pre-arrangement only. To minimise impacts on our neighbours we have worked hard with the authorities to arrange for additional parking to be available for supporters.

Butts Close – Parking will be available on Butts Close between 5pm and 10pm. (this is directly opposite the Fishponds Road Turnstiles, adjacent to Hitchin Swimming Centre)

Lairage Multi Storey Pay and Display Car Park (SG5 1GN)– NHDC have agreed to extend the opening hours on this evening to 10pm. (normal closing time 6.45pm)

FOOD AND DRINK

Canary Club – The Canary Club bar will be open all afternoon and open after the game for soft and alcoholic drinks.

The club's annual Cider and Cheese festival will also be taking place on the 1st and 2nd July. If you leave the ground to access the Canary Club to purchase drinks during the game you will need a stamp to enable your re-entry into the ground.

Canary Kitchen will be open serving hot food and hot and cold drinks in the ground.

To ease queues an additional hot and cold drinks station will also be set up serving in the corner of the ground between the concrete terrace and the Main Stand

B's Ices – The Ice Cream van will again be set up adjacent to the main stand.

CLUB SHOP

The club shop will be open selling Hitchin Town merchandise, chocolate bars, pick & mix, match day programmes and team sheets.

There will also be a range of old programmes available if you arrive early and fancy looking for a rare gem – all are only 10p each.

50/50

Support the club and be in with a chance of winning what is expected to be a bumper 50/50 prize. Tickets will be on sale as you enter through the turnstiles.

TOILETS

Toilets are located to the rear of the main stand and in the Canary Club.

BUTTS CLOSE PARKING

As you will have read above we have received permission from NHDC to use Butts Close for parking for the Luton game. I would particularly like to thank Councillor Ian Albert for his great support, encouragement and advice which really helped me to fill in complicated paperwork and I would also like to thank Andrew Mills from NHDC for offering further help and advice and agreeing to grant the football club a licence to use Butts Close. It is always pleasing to be able to work closely with a local councillor and with NHDC to achieve an outcome that is going to help the Luton game go much more smoothly and to help minimise disruption to local residents.

'I am really looking forward to the Luton fixture on Friday. I would really like to thank Nathan Jones, Gary Sweet and Paul Watson for agreeing to arrange the game and for sending the first team squad which has attracted a capacity crowd.

This demonstrates the strong relationship we have with Luton Town and we will look to develop this still further . We will again be hosting a number of their under 23 fixtures at Top Field this season.

The game with Luton will obviously be very tough as they had such a great season making the play-offs. We will be using the Luton and Stevenage games as extended fitness sessions as the results are not too important. The players will enjoy the challenge of playing against Championship and Football League players.. We have obviously had limited preparation so far and after playing Letchworth on Thursday we will have a break from playing games until we play Boreham Wood on19th July. In between we will have six intensive training sessions as we aim to make a much better start to the season than last year. The players will be working hard in these sessions as we have decided to play fewer games compared to last pre-season.

I am pleased to have retained the majority of last season's squad who finished the season so well. There will be some new faces on display and we are still looking at others.'

CLUB SHOP

The club shop will be open for all of Hitchin's pre-season home games. Make sure you call in to have a look at what's on offer, including:

Hitchin Town merchandise including shirts, scarves, mugs, badges and more.

Chocolate Bars and NEW Pick 'n Mix pots.

Matchday Programmes and Teamsheets

Huge selection of old league and non-league programmes all at only 10p each

HOME SHIRTS

The club have now restocked both adult and junior replica home shirts. They are available in the Club Shop from the Luton game onwards and should also be available online from this weekend. Adult Shirts are priced at £40 and Junior £32.

The Canaries are still awaiting delivery of their brand new away kit – so keep an eye out for news on the release of this soon.

CIDER AND CHEESE FESTIVAL

The club hope as many fans as possible attend the Cider and Cheese festival.

Entrance is free and there are more than 20 ciders to try and copious amounts of cheese.