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Hitchin teams edged out in tournament
Both teams took part in the Hitchin 7 a side tournament at Top Field and both gave very good accounts of themselves.
The Hornets were in a five team group with Elsenham, Stevenage Storm, FC Comets and FC Comets Hurricanes. They strolled to an easy 6-0 win over the Comets Hurricanes (Ben R, Kai, Sam Hen and a Ryan hat-trick) but lost out narrowly 1-0 and 2-0 to group qualifiers Stevenage Storm and Elsenham. They won their final group game 1-0 with Alex getting the winner against his former club FC Comets but it wasn’t quite enough and they finished in 3rd place, just missing qualification for the semis.
The Hurricanes were in a six team group with FC Comets Spitfires, Austen Arrowheads Reds, Stevenage Stripes, Stevenage Stars and VPFC. An opening 2-0 win against Spitfires (Kane and Somerset) was followed up with a 5-0 win over Stevenage Stripes (Will(2), Joel(2) and Kane). They went behind in their next game against Stevenage Stars but two goals from Somerset and one from Joel saw them win 3-1. They thrashed VPFC 6-0 with a hat-trick from Somerset, Joel (2) and Kane before losing 1-0 to eventual group winners Austen.
The semi-final was a tight affair against Stevenage Storm which was goalless at full-time and looked to be heading to penalties before Somerset popped up with a close-range winner in the final ten seconds. The final was a re-match against Austen and a game the Hurricanes really should have won. They outplayed Austen who relied on a physical long-ball game and took a lead early in the second half. Joel quickly levelled and the Hurricanes finished the match strongly, going close to a winner on numerous occasions. Extra-time was played and Austen scored the winner, via a route-one move. Congratulations to them and commiserations to the Hurricanes - they should be very proud of their performance and were the only Hitchin team to reach a final over the tournament weekend.
Hornets: Oliver W, Jonny, Sam Hen, Ryan, Kai, Alex, Ben, Vinay and Ollie G
Hurricanes: Sam Hart, Max, Patrick, Kane, William S, Joel, Somerset
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