Having withstood early pressure from visitors Finchley, who started brightly, Hitchin broke out of defence with full back Aiken Verschuur running from his own half to score under the posts for Ryan Arbon to convert.
A few minutes later, again breaking out if defence into the Finchley half centre Vinnie Kevans chased his own kick to score under the posts, Arbon again converting
Finchley were soon back in Hitchin’s half, and were awarded a penalty for offside, but missed the attempt at goal.
The Hitchin defence stood firm against continued Finchley pressure until skipper James Bolter managed to get his boot to the ball to clear downfield for Verschuur to chase, pick up and score his second try, the kick being unsuccessful.
The visitors came close to opening their account, finding touch yards from the Hitchin goal line, but the home side’s defence held out and the moment passed
Verschuur got his third try which went unconverted, following another break out of defence this time by centre Harry Cartwright.
As half time approached the Finchley winger made a strong run down the left touchline, but kicking ahead was late tackled by Ryan Godfey who was given a yellow card along with lock Nick Panton who had committed a high tackle earlier in the move.
Finchley made the most of the absence of the two Hitchin players and went over for a converted try to bring the half time score to 24 -7 in favour of the hosts.
Although Finchley now had eight minutes to play against just 13 men, they failed to capitalise, missing chances in their eagerness to take advantage of the situation
For most of rest of the half both sides were trying to break down each other’s defences. in what became a very scrappy affair until, after 35 minutes ,Hitchin got clean possession in midfield, fly half Adam Shaw chipping through for winger Godfrey to chase, resulting in a line out for Hitchin 10 m from the line.
The visitors held out as Hitchin won the ball and mauled to the try line, and managed to clear when awarded a penalty. However Hitchin gor back possession for their player of the match Harry Cartwright to cross in the corner for an extra 5 points
With the game well into injury time, and Hitchin without prop Sean Mcginnity(yellow card) Finchley had the last word, crossing for an unconverted try just before the whistle.
Next week Hitchin travel to play Lowestoft & Yarmouth RFC in he quarter finals of the London & SE Divisional cup
Team Sean McGinnity, Thomas Tidey, James Bolter, Nick Panton, Philip Hobbs, Samuel Underwood, Gary Ayres, Ryan Arbon, Rhys Gregory, Adam Shaw, Matthew Houlden, Harry Cartwright, Vincent Kevans, Ryan Godfrey, Aiken Verschuur
Subs Daniel Bendon, Anthony Williams, Duan Oosthuizen
Scores T: Aiken Verschuur (3), Harry Cartwright (1), Vincent Kevans (1)
C: Ryan Arbon (2)
Player(s) of Match 1. Harry Cartwright
The league: London North West 3