1961-62 and 1962-63 - Hitchin Town Football Club

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was led for long periods by Dennis Gibbs. The overall feeling was that the team had been tired, injury-hit and lacked a little zest. The Herts Senior Cup was won, however, for the first time since 1942, and the team was unlucky to lose the East Anglian Cup final to Cambridge United. There was still some life left in an ageing team, as 1962-63 would prove. 1962-63: Final throes of a great team On May 14 1963, Hitchin Town played its last game in the Athenian League, a lack-lustre 1-2 home defeat at the hands of Hornchurch. It was the end of a season in which the Canaries went close to reaching their holy grail - the FA Amateur Cup final - for the second time in three years. It was also probably the last roll of the dice for a great team, for when the club joined the Isthmian League, many of those players were either past their peak or ill-equipped for the new challenge. Hitchin went into the 1962-63 season with a spate of injuries. They were also without Dennis Randall, who had made the move to Kettering in the Southern League. When Laurie Scott rolled out his side for the new season, Peter Hammond had taken over the striker's role and by the the end of the season, Hitchin's first England Amateur cap had reached the 150 goal mark for the club. The critics had forgotten Randall by the time the first league game had been played, for Terry Waldock netted a ht-trick and Hitchin had beaten Leyton 5-3. "King Randall having abdicated, there was naturally, a big sword of Damacles hovering over the Hitchin attack on Saturday," said the press, claiming that the "loss of goal-machine Randall is not the end of the world." A workmanlike performance at Hayes, 4-1 in Hitchin's favour, was followed by a shock defeat at Grays, and another defeat, at Hounslow, cast some doubts over the team's ability to make a real challenge for the league title. There was no FA Cup glory run this time around, either, as Bedford won 5-3 at Top Field before 3,713. "Eagles swoop to attack and Canaries crumble," was the headline for one
of the most exciting games see at Hitchin that season. In late November, however, there was great excitement at Top Field as the floodlights were switched on for the first time. Arsenal, led by Billy Wright, provided the opposition, winning 2-1. "The lights are of the latest design," said the Hitchin programme. The Amateur Cup provided the real thrill of the season, however. The Canaries began a campaign that started at Dulwich, postponed for five weeks owing to the fierce weather of the 1962-63 winter. Hitchin won 2-1 to meet Leatherhead in the mud of Fetcham Grove. In round three, the Canaries faced Wycombe, and in another close-run game, won 3-2, thanks to an 80th minute goal from Waldock. "They almost cut it too fine," said one Hitchin committee man after the game. "Erratic, nervous but triumphant," claimed the local papers. That win paired Scott's men with Hayes in the quarter final, and after two games, Hitchin won 1-0 at Hayes to reach their semi-final. Played at Craven Cottage, Hitchin faced Sutton United, a side considered to be a "dark horse" for the competition. Three thousand people travelled to Fulham, but the Canaries were well beaten. As ever, Hitchin were sporting losers. "Skipper Bruce Spavins and the rest of the Hitchin players lined up to clap Sutton United as they left the Craven Cottage pitch at Fulham after this Amateur Cup semi-final. It was a typically sporting gesture and also, it seemed to me, a public acknowledgement that, on the day's play, the victory laurels had gone to a better side." And so, Hitchin finished in fifth place, a respectable end to their Athenian League career. A new world awaited, one in which Hitchin would never quite enjoy the status they held in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Page 1: 1961-62: Tough act to follow After

1961-62 and 1962-63 - Hitchin Town Football Club

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