Hitchin Town 2-1 Alvechurch: Canaries show character to collect three points

Hitchin Town beat to non-league FA Cup heroes Alvechurch in front of 478 fans at Top Field on Saturday.

The Canaries hosted The Church - fresh from their tremendous exploits in the world's oldest knockout competition that saw them win at Cheltenham in the first round.

While Alvechurch started the day in a lowly 19th spot - it was a false position in the league table as Long's side have up to six games in hand on rivals, thanks to their stirring cup run.

Mark Burke's Canaries commenced the action three places above the visitors from the wet Midlands - and it was the home side that made an impressive start when the clinical Steve Cawley finished Diogo Gouveia's first minute cross to make it 1-0 to Hitchin.

Alvechurch battled to regain a foothold in the game and were rewarded when Jed Abbey equalised in the 23rd minute, following a spell of pressure.

However, Burkey's braves refused to be deterred, and continued to hunt for an advantage., with Diogo notching nine minutes before the interval to put Hitchin 2-1 ahead.

Despite plenty of endeavour throughout the second half, the score remained the same, much to the delight of the loyal home support.

Ian Long and his side are set to travel to Forest Green Rovers in the second round in two weekends time, hoping to achieve a giant-killing act live on the BBC.

After the Canaries victory, Hitchin and every neutral wishes them well after a hard-fought game played in North Herts on Saturday that saw Lewis Barker see red three minutes from time.