Hitchin 32 Old Millhillians 10

« Party Time | Main | Ealing U17 3 v Hitchin U17 10 »

Hitchin won their third consecutive league match against difficult opposition Old Millhillians to climb to fifth position in the Herts/Middlesex League 1.

Despite the score line the Hedgehogs had to battle for their points due to a total lack of concentration in the first ten minutes of the match. With poor clearance kicks and bad tackling Hitchin conceded a converted try early after the kickoff to go behind 0 – 7. This was followed by a penalty goal soon after for failing to roll away in the tackle.

The positive thing was that this was a short, sharp wake-up call which stung the home side into action resulting in the try of the match. A sweeping move up field with forwards and backs inter-linking and causing complete panic in the Old Boys defence resulted in centre Vinnie Kevans crashing through for a well worked try.

The remainder of the half was mainly error strewn with Hitchin making attacking moves only to lose the ball in contact on many occasions and the score remaining 5 – 10 in the visitors’ favour.

A stinging half time team talk from Coach Dave Marshall woke up the young Hedgehog side and the result was with the wind at their backs the second half was one way traffic. A series of positive drives led by Chris Davies, Graham King and Joff Lord with Aidan Barnett orchestrating the distribution meant that the home side’s backs now had a plentiful supply of quality ball. A scything, jinking run by Mick “Magic” Jones resulted in him touching down with ease to bring the scores level. This was followed soon after by a drive from the forwards which ended with King crashing over to put Hitchin in the lead for the first time.

Then further creative play from forwards and backs ended with No 8 Chris Davies going over to put the Hedgehogs 10 points clear. With Millhillians now chasing the game and a number of replacements on the pitch resulting in Taff Thomas moving to full back and skipper Carwyn Morgan moving to the wing opened the game up even more and the next try was scored by “Birthday Boy” Morgan who raced down the wing unopposed with the defence in disarray and scored a try in the corner.

The final score was a fine try scored and converted by Thomas when back line pressure opened the Millhillians back line defence up and Thomas raced through mid field to score under the posts.

A pleasing result for the watching Hitchin supporters who walked away form the match wondering what would have happened if the home side had been in top form.

Other Scores: Hitchin 2nds 22 Letchworth 2nds. 32
Hitchin 3rds. 0 Datchworth 3rds. 40
Hitchin 4ths. 35 Welwyn 5ths. 7