Following their FA Cup exit last weekend, Barwell travelled to Hertfordshire to take on a Hitchin Town side they haven’t beaten since November 2021. The game got off to a slow start, the only noteworthy action of the opening 10 minutes being a booking for Barwell midfielder Sid Kerr, who was cautioned for a high foot. The opening chance of the game came for the visiting Barwell, when a good first touch from Beck-Ray Enoru allowed him to escape his man and put a low cross into the box which found Jahvan Davidson-Miller but “Jahv” was dispossessed before he could get a shot off. Both sides had their fair share of the possession during the first half an hour of the match, but neither side could break down the defences of their opponents. Barwell had a second man enter the book with 38 minutes played, when Lincoln City loanee MJ Kamara tripped a home side attacker. Just before half-time, Barwell had another decent chance, when good work between Davidson-Miller and Tom Cursons down the right hand side allowed the latter to find Brady Hickey, but his attempted low cross was easily collected by the Hitchin keeper.

Half-Time: Barwell 0-0 Hitchin Town

Barwell started the second half the brighter of the two teams and had two excellent chances to take the lead. The first came in the 47th minute, when new signing Blaine Rowe wriggled free on the edge of the box before hitting a thunderous effort which was well saved by the home goalkeeper. The second came just three minutes later when a brilliant run from Enoru allowed him the space to find Davidson-Miller free in the box, but somehow he wasn’t able to tap the ball home. Hitchin slowly grew into the second 45 and forced a good save out of Harry Griffiths in the Barwell goal with 57 minutes gone. With 20 minutes remaining Barwell made their first change of the afternoon, with Dominic Brown-Hill coming on to replace Micah Edwards. Not long after, the visitors made their second change, Davidson-Miller leaving the field of play, replaced by Miguel Ngwa. With ten minutes to go Hitchin must have thought they’d won it, when a goalmouth scramble resulted in the ball flying high in the air, before being headed goalwards if not for the combined effort of Griffiths and George Ward who somehow cleared it off the line. Barwell made the hour and a half journey back to Kirkby Road with a point and clean sheet in hand and will look to return to winning ways on Monday night against league leaders Mickleover.

Full-Time: Barwell 0-0 Hitchin Town