Needham Market 3-1 Hitchin

Read Piepman's report from Bloomfields

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There used to be a music hall song entitled 'On The Day That Chelsea Won The Cup', which at that time they had not done and it seemed unlikely.

The song was used as a byword for something that would not happen.

This is outdated for obvious reasons, but I think I will write a new song called 'On The Day We Beat Needham In The League'.

This is something we have yet to achieve despite several attempts and we will take scant consolation from the FA Cup win over the Marketmen, who covered themselves in glory with a fine win in the FA Trophy over Yeovil Town.

The net losses in the Market for Hitchin meant an end to that five game unbeaten run which had been marked by good team performances that bettered expectation.

For a while it appeared that "out of this danger, we pluck this flower, safety." Not yet. It rankles a little since Hitchin had taken the lead and lost it to a disputed penalty, scored by man of the match Luke Ingram who came close to bagging a hat-trick.

It is as well to say here that Hitchin had one very reasonable penalty appeal robustly ignored, and another dismissed with a bland smile of denial.

The best that can be said is that I have seen them given in identical situations.

This match had a 2pm kick off as the hosts were staging an important reserve match on their adjacent 3G pitch, which started as our game finished and many home supporters simply crossed into the other ground, tossing a nominal additional fee into a bucket. A good day out for home fans.

Well, we arrived at Bloomfields and not quite in a Shakespearean stance of "so shaken as we are, so wan with care," but this did apply after the lead had gone and had taken the initiative with it.

This was not a vintage Hitchin Town performance and to be honest the opening goal for the Canaries was an unsolicited gift from home keeper Marcus Garnham who last week not only saved penalties in the shoot out but scored the winner.

He atoned for his sin with a couple of notable saves but came close to blotting his copy book with a second error that could have proved expensive. He had obviously had his Weetabix today and probably a double helping.

With Needham losing at Rushden midweek it may have indicated that they had overcome their Yeovil hangover but in a quiet opening spell we had little to excite us. Luke Barker and skipper Dan Webb were still on the injury list, but it was possibly the strongest selection.

Even so it only took four minutes to give away a free-kick in an inviting position, which in this instance ricocheted off the defensive wall.

We generously repeated this 'invitation' another few times in the game and were lucky that the hosts failed to capitalise on this.

As usual, Hitchin made a ponderous start taking their time to make a meaningful assault on goal. Instead this fell to the hosts with another free-kick, which again hit the wall in the shape of Alex Brown.

A relatively calm fifteen minutes was soon transformed from a Hitchin point of view. We routinely complain about a lack of luck, but this did not apply, when Garnham was called upon to make a straightforward clearance which he did, but erringly straight at Callum Stead who snaffled up the unconsidered trifle with a decent finish.

It crossed my mind that at long last we might actually win a game at Bloomfields. I should cocoa.

I say that, but had the penalty appeal for Hitchin been successful it would have restored the lead. Garnham rode the comments from the Hitchin faithful behind the goal, and would have been relieved when his own side were awarded a penalty some six minutes later.

The culprit was deemed to be Ciaren Jones, adjudged to be guilty of pushing and referee Mr Quick was not slow in making the award, waving away the usual protests.

Harvey Sayer had been playing particularly well and his corners and crosses were quite threatening. I was surprised when both he and Josh Coldicott-Stevenson were substituted as I thought they had been outstanding. On the twenty-third minute came this fateful penalty that proved to be a pivotal moment.

Was it a penalty?

There is always a lingering hope that Charlie Horlock would save the spot kick and we could indulge of shouts of 'justice' as a form of relief, but Luke Ingram converted in exemplary manner.

Was it a penalty? Of course it was, because the referee said it was.

Fair do's we might have said but we all felt he was a bit of a party pooper when he turned down our penalty appeal for handball, which even home supporters conceded as rather blatant.

Fairness must make me add that the same referee had awarded us a penalty at Lowestoft, which would have put us 3-0 up, and Alex Brown sent it wide and those unsporting rotters went on to snatch a 2-2 draw.

The cookie crumbles like that, but after the game, some visiting supporters felt that the referee's decisions took the biscuit.

When in doubt, blame the referee

There was a distinct lack of sympathy from the visiting supporters when Kieran Morphew received lengthy treatment, allowing an extended drinks break and for a few spectators to run laps around the ground to keep warm and for me to finish my first half pipe in a studied fashion.

Naturally the injury was all seen as part of a cunning plan, but as the bard says 'everyone can master a grief but he that has it.'

If I attach any blame it is to Hitchin who really ought to have ramped it up after taking the lead, in the way they did in the glorious 4-0 wins at Stourbridge and home to St Ives. Chances became fewer as the game wore on, but some of them were the result of slick play and Garnham continued to make up for his faux pas.

Yes, there was a reasonable second appeal for a penalty but from where I stood it was ball to hand, but then again, I have seen them given. I know I am clutching at statistical straws here, and I do not wish to cloud the fact that in the second half Hitchin were way below par and the substitutions had little effect since the damage was done.

The Marketmen took the lead after a short period of sustained pressure and it is mystifying just how much space they had.

It was a bit frantic with Horlock beating away the first two efforts, but his defence were unable to clear and it was Ingram again who supplied the finish. This came after fifty-eight minutes and it was now with the run of play.

We were quietly grateful that the home announcer declared the scorer in neutral tones, thankfully omitting the anthemic tune to add to the glee and the discomfiture of the losing team's supporters.

We were watching from the balcony of what I like to call the pavilion and of course we were outnumbered by home supporters and officials, and it use be said that proceedings were peppered with good-natured banter.

But it was hurting to realise as time went on that records will show that Hitchin have still to beat Needham Market in the league, home or away, and they at least had the good grace to limit their total today to half of what they scored at Top Field in the corresponding fixture.

I hope you have all noticed that I have not alluded to That Other Score on a previous visit to sunny Bloomfields.

At 2-1 down I ask pleased to say that Hitchin tried hard, but it seemed to me that Stead and Hutchinson were 'two stars that kept not their motion in one sphere'.

Both had chances and were successfully thwarted but the hopeful long balls into the arena were dealt with in a routine manner.

Yes, there was some goalmouth incident where we may have hoped that Garnham might fluff his lines and we did shout for a penalty with gusto, but the toast kept falling butter side down and I will mix my metaphors again by declaring that the Marketmen's third goal was the icing on the cake.

Characters in a Trollope novel

It was struck from range by Ben Fowkes, who had hitherto made a sound contribution to proceedings. His admirable strike, with eleven minutes of normal time remaining ruled out any magical comeback from the now lethargic visitors.

Dasilva, Black and Tearle were the Hitchin substitutes who showed willing but could not alter the sway of things. Needham put on Collard, Brothers and Page.

One of the departing home players enjoys the luxury of being named Marley Marshall- Miranda which sounded to me like a pop music trio or a character in a Trollope novel.

It did not help having Stephen Gleeson receiving a second yellow card late in the game and thus receive his second dismissal of the season. His dissent was clear and became unendurable to the referee. Ingram, seemingly intent on a hat-trick was also cautioned for kicking the ball away.

I think he was hoping that if he netted it might count. To others he was wasting time, which was largely unnecessary.

It was that second goal that did for Hitchin and their seething discontent at not being awarded what has come to be known as a def-pen.

After recent performances this was a bit of a disappointment and other results did not really help that much and the team goes back to being second from bottom.

Looking ahead

There is a home match next Saturday against Hednesford. And we can hope again, having achieved a decent result at their place – a game we night have won if Luke Brown's shot had gone in instead of hitting the post. Life is full of maybes.

The search for points continues apace and we know that the team is capable of securing them, but in order to do this they do need to improve on the display today.

To conclude we salute Needham Market for representing the Southern League so well in the FA Trophy and we wish them a good crowd and victory in their forthcoming tie against Dartford. In the mean time, look out for my song!

NEEDHAM MARKET

Marcus Garnham, Jake Dye, Callum Sturgess, Kyle Hammond, cautioned, Kieran Morphew, captain, Hugh Cullum, Harvey Sayer, (Callum Page), Marley Marshall-Miranda, (Patrick Brothers), Luke Ingram,TWO GOALS, 23 MINUTES-

PENALTY AND 58 MINUTES, man of the match, Thomas Maycock, (Noah Collard), Ben Fowkes, GOAL, 79 MINUTES.

Unused substitutes - Thomas Fitzgerald and Hans Mongolian.

HITCHIN TOWN

Charlie Horlock, Jack Green, Alex Brown, Joshua Coldicott-Stevens, (Kye Tearle), Matthew Moloney, (Rio Dasilva) Ciaren Jones, cautioned, Callum Stead, GOAL, 15 MINUTES, Stanley Georgiou, Jacob Hutchinson, Stephen Cawley,(Malaki Black), Stephen Gleeson, dismissed second yellow card.

Unused substitutes – Delsin Ackom, Jordan Kinoshi.

REFEREE: Mr Paul quick, assisted by Mr Alexander Shipp and Mr Matthew Fear.

ATTENDANCE: 284

REPORT BY PIPEMAN