Coalville Town beat Hitchin Town 2-0 on Monday evening at Top Field.

Read on for Pipeman's report

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After the satisfying performance at Hednesford, which we hoped would be indicative, Hitchin were brought back to earth with defeat against second placed Coalville Town.

The Canaries played well, especially in the second half but could do little to prevent to supreme moments of play that brought two goals for the Leicestershire club.

One was a highly individual piece of play and the other a text book goal that looked deceptively easy but was artful and as praiseworthy as the first.

Hitchin made one change from the Hednesford game, with Rio Dasilva named as a substitute and Samuel Okoye-Aheneku in as a full-back, despite wearing the number nine shirt, bringing comments as to what was seen as a cautious formation.

I nurture the belief that the better the opposition, the better Hitchin play and there was some evidence of this tonight and to their credit they never gave up trying against a very well organised team.

Sponsors' Man of the Match for Hitchin, Josh Caldicott-Stevens played for most of the match in an unnumbered 'blood shirt', but was far from anonymous in midfield and deserved his accolade.

Indeed in the first minute he declared his intentions with a shot that was hard and high, reminiscent of some of the efforts in the penalty shoot-out at St Neots. It was worth a pop – it always is.

Coalville settled well and were soon stroking the ball around with Luke Shaw and Eliot Putman, a signing from county rivals Barwell, indicating that they meant business. Hitchin needed to defend crosses from Alex Dean and Putman.

The midfield battle was initially curious with both teams losing possession, regaining it and probing. There was some fine football played.

One multi-passing move from The Ravens saw Dean finish extravagantly. Another cross from Putman needed careful defending and soon the quality of the opposition was notably apparent.

Luke Brown tried one from range, which was one way to avoid the challenges – and The Canaries found they were given very little time to dwell on the ball.

I was not surprised that they had lost just one game this campaign, and that in the opening game against Rushden and Diamonds.

No team is invulnerable of course, and Alex Brown began a move to try and prove this, his pass to Josh Coldicott-Stevens seeing the latter fairly bundled off the ball. A cross from Ryan Smith looked promising but was far too close to goalkeeper Tomasz Bukowski.

There were a couple of meaningful forays by The Ravens on the left and in the second of these Shaw picked up possession as well as the attention of three defenders.

Unfazed by this he persisted and scored a peach of an opening goal at the far post. A goal is a collective effort but it allows for such skilful individualism that may be appreciated by all who like a piece of breathtaking football.

The goal came after some twenty-four minutes of combative football where Hitchin had played well but had not created enough in front of goal – unlike their opponents who had probed for weaknesses.

Giving Hitchin no time to regroup or even lick their wounds, three minutes later saw another notable goal. It was down the left again and Eliot Putman shook off the challenge and put in a perfect cross for Berridge to finish with a swagger.

It was a staggering blow to Hitchin who, for the next few minutes, struggled to recover and a third goal looked probable when Thomas McGlinchy fired in venomously, with the ball stroking the top of the cross bar.

Set pieces from Hitchin were not of the best quality and a free-kick from JCS was straight at Bukowski. Another shot from Burridge, assisted by Shaw needed a fine save from Horlock and at the other end a half chance for lewis Barker saw him balloon he effort.

Shaw was still troublesome and his assistance saw a beauty of a shot from Putman was a whisker away from being number three. We waited impatiently for such an effort from the hosts who were consistently contained by purposeful defensive play from Coalville.

A couple of corners from the visitors again strained the Hitchin defence, with Shaw and Putman seeming to enjoy their considerable input. Eggleton headed one of these over the bar.

The two goal lead was intact at the interval and it was time to hope for the proverbial 'game of two halves. I was inventing excuses.

We had played on Saturday, they had not and were rested and fresh. Their chairman had whisked them off to a foreign luxury hotel before they returned and defeated Leicester City's first team in a one-sided match.

All right I made all that up, and the truth is they deserved their lead after two moments of supreme creation. I may rattle a few cages but those two goals deserved appreciation.

One of the visiting officials told me that the next goal was either game over or game on, but Coalville had not given an inch and looked like taking a mile. It was a difficult task for Hitchin, but they deserve praise for their unstinting efforts in what was a much better second half for them where they did come very close to scoring.

There were outstanding performances from JCS and Lawrie Marsh and the Brown brothers were inventive and determined, as was Ciaren Jones.

There was a neat pass from Webb that Barker headed wide and a move originated by JCS and a shot from someone hit the bar.

I asked one or two near me whose shot it was and they said they did not know but it was a good one. So it was.

Close but no cigar. Tearle showed some fine touches in forward moves, a cross from Alex brown was painfully heavy and a neat back heel from Marsh in the penalty box, intended to deceive, was nice but pounced upon by a defender. Then Marsh had a more conventional crack on goal that went wide.

This pleasing bit of Hitchin pressure was interrupted when Berridge had a purposeful run on goal, well defended on this occasion.

The Browns and Tearle were finding some inroads and a shot from JCS was deflected for a Hitchin corner. This was defended but Tearle soon won another corner, held by the keeper. The magical moment was desperately needed, but consistently denied the hosts.

I found it a little ironic that when the announcer declared that the Sponsors' Hitchin man of the match was the man with no number on his shirt, our JCS, was cautioned following the announcement, and the two incidents were unrelated, I presume.

Counter moves from Coalville gnawed away at the time remaining and indeed in stoppage time they might well have bagged their third goal, when the effort struck the cross bar.

It would have seemed a little unkind to rub it in with a third strike, but even so, the Ravens deserved their workmanlike win, embellished by the enthralling play that had brought their two first half goals.

Yes, Hitchin remain perilously at the wrong end of the league table, but I felt that they had played well against a team that are challenging Peterborough Sports for the leadership of the division.

Goal attempts were not manifold but there was some heart in the team and perhaps it was too much to expect them to emulate the excellent performance against Hednesford.

This Saturday (October 16) sees the visit of Needham Market, our close neighbours in terms of league positions, and thus it will be seen as a must win game for both teams and I predict a hard game.

We have no real complaints at the result tonight, bringing as it did a 'form' result, but there were aspects of Hitchin's play that were encouraging and the attitude is positive.

HITCHIN TOWN

Charlie Horlock, Lawrie Marsh, Alex Brown, Ryan Smith, Dan Webb, captain, Ciaren Jones, Lewis Barker, Josh Coldicott-Stevens, Sponsors HTFC man of the match, cautioned, Sam Okoye- Ahaneku, Luke Brown, Kye Tearle.

Substitutes not used: Rio Dasilva, Henry Snee, Malaki Black, Stanley Georgiou and Urijah Gordon-Douglas.

COALVILLE TOWN

Tomasz Bukowski, Alexander Dean, Eliot Putman, cautioned, Jake Eggleton, Christopher Robertson, Stephen Towers, Luke Shaw, GOAL, 24 MINUTES, (Kian Taylor), Joe Doyle-Charles, cautioned, (Connor Smith), Timothy Berridge, GOAL, 27 MINUTES, Billy Kee, Thomas McGlinchy.