Before we had Barnet and Woking, there was Hitchin Town; the original grudge match for Boro’ fans and, for some, still the best. Forget the Johnny-come-latelys from Surrey and Edgware, the Canaries are the big prize. But it’s now a fair few years since Boro’ took on our near neighbours in a ‘proper’ match. And that’s hard for them to take, as we can get. After all, they had a free run at local bragging rights for so long.
As members of the Isthmian League, the 1968-9 campaign brought their best-ever finish; second behind Enfield at the final reckoning. But the next step eluded them. Eventually, a new neighbour from Stevenage would catch them up. Sure – the first few encounters saw the Canaries come out on top. We’d happily forget our 7-1 defeat in the 1982-3 Woolwich Trophy. But the tables started to turn and we started to gradually make ourselves known.
At last count, we had 13 ‘proper’ matches to our name – six in our favour and six in theirs. Three of theirs came from our first-ever three meetings. So, at the very least, that’s a sign of improvement on our part. Whenever the next match comes, the stakes will be high.
