Halesowen 2 Hitchin 1
Shane Paul broke struggling Hitchin's hearts by firing home a late winner in a game brought forward due to floodlighting problems.
The Yeltz started brightly with Darren Caskey playing a fine ball for Paul to turn his marker and cross for Dean Brennan to strike the post after 12 minutes.
Hitchin then improved with goalkeeper Mark Osborn tipping away Paul Armstrong's free-kick before forcing Owen Beale wide after the home defence was carved open.
But Halesowen regained the upper hand when defender Ricky Miller sliced off his own goal-line from Zema Abbey's header.
Abbey was not to be denied, though, and gave Halesowen a 33rd minute lead with a glancing header against his former club from Caskey's corner.
However, Halesowen failed to build on their lead and once again allowed the opposition back into the game.
The Canaries were gifted a 54th minute equaliser when defender Dennis Pearce lost the ball allowing Wayne Mills a shot which struck the post with Richard Pringle tapping home the rebound.
A good move then ended with substitute James Nash lofting the ball over the Halesowen bar and with six minutes remaining David Deeney floated a dangerous free-kick into Halesowen's six-yard box.
Tricky winger Ikechi Anya made his Yeltz debut from the substitute's bench and he crossed for fellow substitute Nathaniel Waite to put the ball over the bar on 85 minutes.
Hitchin's plucky resistance was finally broken in the 88th minute when Caskey's corner was only partly cleared and Paul's low drive took a nasty deflection beyond helpless goalkeeper Perks.
