HITCHIN TOWN | A SENSE OF RELIEF

The skipper gives his verdict as an immediate return to Step 3 is secured

You could feel the sense of relief as Hitchin Town skipper, Ciaren Jones, spoke about Monday’s 2-1 Play-Off Final victory over Biggleswade FC.

Having gone in at the break a goal to the good, Jones was able to settle the nerves for his side as he doubled the advantage just before the hour-mark only for their opponents to pull a goal back to set up a tense final 20 minutes.

“My main feeling is that of relief more than anything else,” he told us. “We’ve had a long old season with many highs and a few lows, but it feels nice to finally have it done and dusted and the weight lifted off our shoulders.

“I personally believed from the start of the season that we could bounce back into Step 3 at the first attempt.

“We sat in pre-season and made a goal of achieving promotion, whether that was through the play-offs or as champions.

“We set a points target each month and if we met that target, we knew that we would be in a good place come end of the season.

“I think that in the end we only missed one month’s points target all year and we missed it by one point, so it shows how consistent we’ve been throughout the year.

“There’s definitely been some games towards the end of the season where we were expected to win and we didn’t, which meant we weren’t able to catch up with Leighton Town, but winning the play-offs is great way to go up!

“Looking back at Monday’s game, I think it was a fairly even. It was two teams who want to play football the right way, which is obviously nice to see.

“The first 20-25 minutes we kept the ball and could see them getting frustrated. We were able to score when we were on top, but then had another chance to extend our lead later on in the half, against the run of play, which we were unable to capitalise upon.

“We soaked up the pressure to take a 1-0 goal lead into the half-time interval, which we would have taken ahead of kick-off.

“There were plenty of positives to speak about at the break and we knew the next goal would be important.

“Thankfully it went to us and, personally for me, it was nice to get my name on the scoresheet.

“I had a feeling before the game that I was going to score and getting that goal just took that extra pressure off us a bit until the penalty!

“Then for the last 15-20 minutes, it was about managing the game, although we did rattle the woodwork right at the death!

“When the final whistle sounded it was a great sense of relief and satisfaction. We achieved our main objective over the course of what was a good season where, for me, the highlight, apart from the Final win, was beating Leighton Town 5-0. It was easily our best performance of the season as we tore apart the eventual champions.

“Now let’s see what life at Step 3 will bring us.”

IMAGE: Peter Else

Hitchin Town Web Site