Hitchin Town got their competitive season under way in fine style - with victory over Royston Town in the Herts Charity Cup

And the 2-1 success was fairly comfortable in the end.

Isaac Galliford had put the Canaries into a first-half lead, his shot finding the top corner, before Diogo Freitas-Gouveia made it two with eight minutes remaining.

Royston's solitary reply came in the fifth minute of stoppage time, Tom Newman meeting a Cain Keller cross. 

Hitchin will now play away to either St Albans City or Hemel Hempstead Town in the semi-final.

Their Southern League Premier Division Central season starts on Saturday with the visit of Alvechurch to Top Field.

One week earlier there had been a bit of fun among the serious nature of pre-season, as the club celebrated the testimonial of Dan Webb.

Jack Wilshire brought a young arsenal side to town and while the game did end in the usual testimonial shenanigans, it was still a good test for the Canaries.

Manager Mark Burke said: "I had a thoroughly enjoyable day and evening when we celebrated the legend that is Dan Webb’s testimonial.

"Although it was a year late I think Dan was very happy with the whole day.

"Despite this being a testimonial the management team made it very clear to the players that we wanted them to replicate the intensity and performance that we showed at Stotfold.

"We warned them this was going to be a serious match and it would not be until the final few minutes that we could relax and have some fun.

"Disappointingly the players did not take the message on board in the first 20 minutes and Arsenal totally dominated the game. Fortunately there was a break in play and this allowed us to reiterate what we had said before the match and I was then pleased with the reaction from the players and we began to play in the way I had wanted.

"We did concede a second goal to a dubious penalty and we went in to half time 2-0 down.

"In the second half we introduced a very nervous Dan Webb but he showed his class and I don’t think he put a foot wrong.

"In the spirit of a testimonial game I began to drip feed former players that had served the club so well and were close friends of Webby.

"The majority of them had retired and not played football for a long time but as with Webby they showed their class and I found the good memories come flooding back."