Hitchin Town 4-1 Rebels

[hitchin_chris]

Just watched the clip....

 

Never a pen imo. Murphy tried to get out of the bloody way.

 

 

Its just a shame that the ref had such an impact on the game. I would mind losing to Hitchin as I think they are a decent club and wanted to see a good game between the two but the ref ruined it.

 

Take nothing away from Hitchin though, they have been consitently good for most of the season and I wish them all the very best of luck in the final.

 

Let them go up! lets get rid of them lol

 

 

 

As I said on our Forum, I was a bit surprised by the penalty as I thought our player had knocked the ball too far in front of him and it was harmlessly on its way out for a goal kick..

 

Easy for me to say because we won, but I was surprised at the penalty decision. That turned the game, the rebound from Rob Bullivant's save coming straight back to Frendo to bury the rebound, and the timing of the goal, turned the game.

 

But IMO football was the winner last night. Your team tried to play football right till the end, and your fans were just class and magnanimous in defeat. I really do wish you all best, but what I really hope is that we don't see you next season (unless it's in the FA Cup or Trophy!!).

 

All the best.

[Martin]

Congratulations to Hitchin who have consistently shown themselves to be the better side across the recent meetings and deserve to be promoted. Fingers crossed they finish the job Monday i will be willing them on.

 

Couldn't really see the pen at the time but the replay doesn't look conclusive. I think the ball had gone and he ran into murphy. The Lino gave it and the ref overruled himself. I hope they both watch see their errors and realise they changed the game. I think hitchin would probably have still been too strong but the pressure second half would have been immense.

 

Well done to the rebels on another fine season. I hope we retain the vast majority of the squad and with a few additions we could push for the title next year. Let's aim to start our first game in the new ground as champions.

[Ian]

Having seen the clip it makes even more of a mockery of the referee's decision to change his mind. Marcus probably summed up the penalty incident best however......it was awarded a year late. I think we used up our penalty luck ten minutes from the end of last year's playoff semi.

 

The better team both on the night and over the course of the season has gone through and in the cold light of day that's probably right. What is pleasing is that both as a team and supporters we've walked away with our heads held high and received praise for the way in which we've conducted ourselves.

 

My overriding memory of last night was as we started to wander off the far end terrace I watched a large group of Rebels fans applaud the Hitchin players who were warming down after the game. That's class.

[Matt]

My feelings would best be summed up as bitterly disappointed, but not surprised.

 

I was very confident of the win until that penalty was awarded. No doubt in my mind it changed the game, and looking at the replay I think it was a bad call. Murphy does look back at the Hitchin player rather than the ball, but the fact is the Hitchin player just ran into Murphy and was looking for a decision. The ball was going harmlessly through to Bully.

 

In the second half there was only going to be one winner after that, and it's a shame that a mistake from Bully led to their second, though it was still a good strike. For large parts of the game it seemed as if Hitchin had 12 men - a combination of them playing well and the referee not doing himself any favours. Someone must have said something to upset him, especially when Ben Abbey almost had his head kicked off - that would have been a much easier penalty to give, but unbelievably the referee ignored it.

 

This isn't the best time to talk about the future perhaps, but the reason I'm not surprised we've failed is that we have a soft centre in the team. Far too many goals conceded, far too many defeats to make promotion likely or deserved. Added to that, a discipline problem which needs to be sorted.

 

I think the league was overall slightly stronger this year, however our first team was not as strong as last season's after key departures like Buchanan, Sharif and NBH and the injury to Edwards. But after two failed attempts, we must challenge for the title next season. We need to get out of this league. It's no good being the nearlymen for two seasons if you're not going to follow it up and go one better. Anything less than a title challenge next season will be a step backwards in my view. With all the rumours about players leaving (again, not sure now is the right time to discuss), Steve and Dave will have a job on their hands over the summer - but I have every faith in them and they will get it right with our support.

 

Hitchin appear to have got it right after two successful seasons and fingers crossed they will get the promotion they deserve on Monday and make it a little easier for us next season!

 

Roll on next season and more positive news on the new ground!

Edited April 29, 2011 by Matt

[brighton_rebel]

Congratulations to Hitchin - i hope they beat Daventry and get the promotion they deserve.

Gutted of course, but our support was [censored] fantastic yesterday and proud to be a Rebel especially the way we clapped Hitchin players.

Good to have BFR back in full voice as well.

Let's win the league next season and start at our new ground as champions!

[chris sliski]

Congratulations to Hitchin ... we will never know what might have happened ..but thats football...

 

The video shows murphy moving away and to the side . But the Hitchin player , who had pushed the ball past Danny shows it going hard and wide and away from the Goal , yet he run straight

 

into Danny ... OH dear ..was a decision... but we know we would have taken it if the boot was on the other foot !

 

So good luck Hitchin .... see you one day ...

 

chris s

Edited April 29, 2011 by chris sliski

[Nathan]

My feelings would best be summed up as bitterly disappointed, but not surprised.

 

I was very confident of the win until that penalty was awarded. No doubt in my mind it changed the game, and looking at the replay I think it was a bad call. Murphy does look back at the Hitchin player rather than the ball, but the fact is the Hitchin player just ran into Murphy and was looking for a decision. The ball was going harmlessly through to Bully.

 

In the second half there was only going to be one winner after that, and it's a shame that a mistake from Bully led to their second, though it was still a good strike. For large parts of the game it seemed as if Hitchin had 12 men - a combination of them playing well and the referee not doing himself any favours. Someone must have said something to upset him, especially when Ben Abbey almost had his head kicked off - that would have been a much easier penalty to give, but unbelievably the referee ignored it.

 

This isn't the best time to talk about the future perhaps, but the reason I'm not surprised we've failed is that we have a soft centre in the team. Far too many goals conceded, far too many defeats to make promotion likely or deserved. Added to that, a discipline problem which needs to be sorted.

 

I think the league was overall slightly stronger this year, however our first team was not as strong as last season's after key departures like Buchanan, Sharif and NBH and the injury to Edwards. But after two failed attempts, we must challenge for the title next season. We need to get out of this league. It's no good being the nearlymen for two seasons if you're not going to follow it up and go one better. Anything less than a title challenge next season will be a step backwards in my view. With all the rumours about players leaving (again, not sure now is the right time to discuss), Steve and Dave will have a job on their hands over the summer - but I have every faith in them and they will get it right with our support.

 

Hitchin appear to have got it right after two successful seasons and fingers crossed they will get the promotion they deserve on Monday and make it a little easier for us next season!

 

Roll on next season and more positive news on the new ground!

 

Here here! I agree with everything you say there.

 

Good luck to Hitchin Town in the final. The league tables over two seasons do not lie - over the two years (and the 2nd 45 minutes on Thursday night of course) there were quite simply much the better team.

 

I too was confident of the win until the penalty decision, but given that it was right on half-time, I knew that if it went in then there would only be one winner, and that winner wouldn't be us.

 

Quite honestly, the most dissappointing thing about the game was the manner of defeat. The first half I felt we were the better team, but the second half there was little fight. In the end, it wasn't even close. We give away a silly goal (Yet again!) and then we promptly fall to pieces. Even against a side like Hitchin (who for the first half I felt looked poor), we have absolutley got to do better than that.

[readingrebel]

My feelings would best be summed up as bitterly disappointed, but not surprised.

 

I was very confident of the win until that penalty was awarded. No doubt in my mind it changed the game, and looking at the replay I think it was a bad call. Murphy does look back at the Hitchin player rather than the ball, but the fact is the Hitchin player just ran into Murphy and was looking for a decision. The ball was going harmlessly through to Bully.

 

In the second half there was only going to be one winner after that, and it's a shame that a mistake from Bully led to their second, though it was still a good strike. For large parts of the game it seemed as if Hitchin had 12 men - a combination of them playing well and the referee not doing himself any favours. Someone must have said something to upset him, especially when Ben Abbey almost had his head kicked off - that would have been a much easier penalty to give, but unbelievably the referee ignored it.

 

This isn't the best time to talk about the future perhaps, but the reason I'm not surprised we've failed is that we have a soft centre in the team. Far too many goals conceded, far too many defeats to make promotion likely or deserved. Added to that, a discipline problem which needs to be sorted.

 

I think the league was overall slightly stronger this year, however our first team was not as strong as last season's after key departures like Buchanan, Sharif and NBH and the injury to Edwards. But after two failed attempts, we must challenge for the title next season. We need to get out of this league. It's no good being the nearlymen for two seasons if you're not going to follow it up and go one better. Anything less than a title challenge next season will be a step backwards in my view. With all the rumours about players leaving (again, not sure now is the right time to discuss), Steve and Dave will have a job on their hands over the summer - but I have every faith in them and they will get it right with our support.

 

Hitchin appear to have got it right after two successful seasons and fingers crossed they will get the promotion they deserve on Monday and make it a little easier for us next season!

 

Roll on next season and more positive news on the new ground!

 

Here here! I agree with everything you say there.

 

Good luck to Hitchin Town in the final. The league tables over two seasons do not lie - over the two years (and the 2nd 45 minutes on Thursday night of course) there were quite simply much the better team.

 

I too was confident of the win until the penalty decision, but given that it was right on half-time, I knew that if it went in then there would only be one winner, and that winner wouldn't be us.

 

Quite honestly, the most dissappointing thing about the game was the manner of defeat. The first half I felt we were the better team, but the second half there was little fight. In the end, it wasn't even close. We give away a silly goal (Yet again!) and then we promptly fall to pieces. Even against a side like Hitchin (who for the first half I felt looked poor), we have absolutley got to do better than that.

 

 

I think the one thing you couldn't accuse the players of the other night was having little fight.

 

The fact is after we went 2-1 down we lost our shape and discipline but certainly all the players battled and fought to the end.