Alvechurch 3-1 Hitchin Town

Alvechurch bounced back from Tuesday's defeat to Barwell with a win over Hitchin Town, which kept them in the play-off places.

Manager Ian Long will be happy with the three points especially considering how poorly they started the game. New signing James Roberts was put straight into the starting eleven, but Hitchin impressively stopped Church playing their usual way leading to the home side giving away the ball a bit loosely in the first twenty minutes.

The first chance of the game came after 25 minutes. Alvechurch failed to clear a lose ball allowing Issac Galliford to burst into the box and hit the crossbar with a fierce strike. This seemed to have woke Alvechurch up as they responded almost instantly. Good chasing from Josh March allowed him to play the ball across goal to Roberts but he fired wide of the goal.

Hitchin then hit the crossbar again, when a corner was flicked on by Dan Webb. This miss proved crucial as Alvechurch took the lead soon after. March again did well to not only keep the ball in play, but to find a cross to Tom Tonks who headed in his second goal in three games.

March then raced through on goal but could only stab wide as Alvechurch began to find their rhythm. In first half added time they doubled their lead. Tonks long throw-in found March who flicked it back to Aaron Llyod to score.

Alvechurch started off the second half quickly creating a good move which ended with Zack Foster firing over the crossbar. Roberts then made a strong run but saw his shot easily saved by Hitchin keeper Michael Johnson.

Hitchin were then denied a goal by a brilliant double save from Dan Crane in the Alvechurch goal; who firstly saved Galliford's free-kick then got up quickly to deny John Bickerstaff.

Crane however, was powerless to stop Scott Belgrove slotting in after he was played through by Galliford. Church responded well however, re-gaining their two goal lead five minutes later. Tom Turton's free-kick found March who poked home to seal the win for Alvechurch.

With another three points on the table Alvechurch will be looking to add to that when they play Leiston at home on Tuesday.