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A spirited late rally by the Hurricanes almost snatched a deserved point against Pin Green but the home side hung on for a narrow victory.
The first away game of the season was played in early autumn sunshine and the Hurricanes began brightly. Despite playing uphill on a sloping pitch, they attacked from the start and should have been in front after a sweeping cross-field move involving Kane, William and Joel set up Sam whose powerful shot clipped the right post and spun clear. Less than a minute later, from an almost identical position, on the right hand corner of the box, Sam saw another sweet drive miss the goal by centimetres. Last season’s top scorer Sam has been unbelievably unlucky in front of goal this year but continues to take up great positions – the goals will come!
Pin Green fought their way back into the game and the rest of the half was even. Only one goal separated the teams, when the Pin Green centre forward finished after the Hurricanes defence failed to clear.
The second half was as tight and competitive as the first period and Hitchin used the slope to their advantage to put pressure on Pin Green in the search for an equaliser. To their great credit, the home side defended very strongly and restricted Hitchin’s chances. They broke dangerously and from one such break they doubled their lead with a neat finish from the impressive number 9.
With time running out, Hitchin threw caution to the wind and launched attack after attack. They should have equalised when a strong run and shot from Ryan was parried by the keeper. Joel looked certain to score but his shot hit the post and bounced away. He made no mistake a minute later racing through after William’s pass to pull a goal back. A strong run from sub Somerset almost led to an equaliser late on - his shot beat the goalkeeper but also the left hand post.
A point was the least the boys deserved and they were very unlucky not to get something out of the game.
Squad: Ryan, Patrick, Kane, Stephen, Joel, William, Sam Hart, Kai
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