It was a tribute to Graham Gould and his ground staff that the pitch played very well as Steve Cordery took charge of a virtual first team for Wednesday night’s Capital League (Western Division) match.

Early on, Elliot Onochie flicked a header just over the bar but the best chance fell to Hitchin in the 33rd minute when Ryan Adam was put through but James Courtnage stretched just enough to push the ball away for a corner.

Staines went close eight minutes later when Richard Butler took the ball past Canaries keeper and squared for Scott Taylor, but his shot was somehow turned against the foot of the post by the last defender.

The hosts thought they had taken the lead a minute after the restart when emergency left-back Leroy Griffiths crossed and Marc Charles-Smith head home only to be greeted by an offside flag.

The breakthrough came in the 63rd minute when Taylor cut into the box, turned his man, and crashed a super shot into the roof of the net from 18 yards.

Sub Alex Duffy nearly set up a second after outpacing Lewis Holmes, but Charles-Smith’s sidefooted shot was two close to the keeper.

Duffy’s work was rewarded after 72 minutes when his next cross was brought down by Onochie, who fired into the top corner.

In the 86th minute, Duffy again turned his man and, after Wyer failed to hold his shot, Charles-Smith forced the ball over the line only for the offside flag to appear again.

As Hitchin tired, Taylor made it 3-0 with a delightful lob after a great pass by Griffiths.

And, in the first minute of stoppage time, after Wyer had received treatment for a knee injury, Charles-Smith finally got the goal he richly deserved, carving through the defence before planting a shot into the bottom corner.

Staines: 1 James Courtnage, 2 Simon Jackson, 3 René Steer (14 Andrew Perring HT), 4 Dominic Sterling, 5 Richard Orlu, 6 Scott Taylor, 7 Leroy Griffiths ©, 8 James King, 9 Richard Butler (12 Marc Charles-Smith HT), 10 Warren Harris (15 Alex Duffy 60), 11 Elliot Onochie; unused 17 Louis Wells (gk), 16 Steve Parsons.

Hitchin: 1 Sam Wyer, 2 George Highley, 3 Josh Cook, 4 Josh Millett, 5 Matt Morley ©, 6 Ross Bates (10 Josh Langlais 18m), 7 Kyle Ronald, 9 Ryan Adam, 11 Sean Herr, 12 Lewis Holmes (15 Akoro Landon HT), 14 Lee Neale (17 Deonte Richardson 67).

Ref: Kevin Turnbull (Aylesbury); ARs Robert Walter (Aylesbury), Stephen Bodell (Enfield). Att: 22.

* Staines Town U19 A side beat Reigate College 4-2 in a friendly at the NPL Sports Ground, Teddington: Lance Francis, Jeneiro Savage, Curtis Afflick, and Sam Boultwood scored the goals.