Hitchin Town 1–0 Arsenal U18: Attendance 826

Hitchin Town beat Arsenal U18s 1-0 through an early goal by George Morrall in front of 826 at Top Field on Saturday afternoon.

The home side nearly went ahead in under a minute when Lewis Franklin’s speculative effort was touched onto the bar by young guns keeper Khari Ranson.

In a dominant start by Brett Donnelly’s side, the Canaries right-back fired over shortly afterwards as the North Londoners failed to clear their lines.

Worse was to follow for Jack Wilshere’s precocious U18s harried and hassled as they were by a determined home side when No10 George Morrall robbed keeper Ranson.

While the Arsenal keeper was presumably following instructions to play the ball out from the back, the 20-year-old Morrall - at the top of a Hitchin’s high press -intercepted the netminder, robbing the ball and calmly slotting home from close range to put Hitchin 1-0 up after only eight minutes.

Four minutes later the lively Morrall nearly doubled the lead when lobbing the ball over the increasingly beleaguered Ranson between the Gunners sticks, but on a hard summer pitch, the ball bounced agonisingly over the bar for the home support on the wooden terraces at grand old Top Field. 

On 22 minutes Hitchin’s No9 Coree Wilson had his header gathered by Ranson following Franklin’s deep cross into the box, as the Gunners left-flank struggled to contain the threat of the marauding Franklin.

Following such a torrid start, the young Arsenal side regrouped and battled gamely against Donnelly’s determined team who always aimed to be on the front foot against such gilded youths.

The influential Franklin fired over Ransom’s bar after the interval, with half time bringing the news that the club’s official pink away goalkeepers shirt was being worn for the first time across all age groups by Ransom at Top Field. 

Back onto far more important matters, Frankline fired over the bar moments after the break as Hitchin began the second half the way they started the first.

Ransom saved well from Kieran Forbes shot soon after, prior to diving full length to deny Jack Dreyer’s effort from Franklin’s excellent ball into the box.

With 12 minutes remaining Dreyer hit the bar before substitute Josh Keane picked up the rebound to fire narrowly over the bar.

Hitchin Town XI: Callan, Franklin (Syme 71), Deall (Dhillon 56), Rolfe, Sears, Jones (Kpakpe 64), Dreyer, Forbes (Devine 76), Wilson (Keane 60), Morrell, Titchmarsh (Barker 71).

Substitutes (not used): Brooks.

Arsenal XI: Ranson, Salmon, Ogunnaike (Casey 68), Onyekachukwu (Sampang 68), Kuczynski (Akolbire 68), Murisa (Sweet 68), Oyetunde (Shuaib 68), Marciniak (Copley 68), Annous (Adams 68), Dowman, O’Neill (Clairmont 68).

Substitutes (not used): Gyasi.

As per @ArsenalShirt the Arsenal keepers away top for 2024-25 has been worn for the first time by Young Guns U18 shotstopper Khari Ranson here at Top Field during Jack Wilshere’s Arsenal U18s pre-season friendly vs @HitchinTownFC pic.twitter.com/QoCn2Ln0NT

— Layth (@laythy29) August 3, 2024