St Ives Town 4 v Harborough Town 1
Pitching-In Southern League Premier Central 14-12-2024
Nigel Howlett reports
A definite case of after the Lord Mayor’s show for the struggling Bees. Their previous fixture had seen them take League One Reading to extra time in front of 8,000 fans at the majestic Majeski Stadium in the FA Cup Second Round. But reality really came back to bite them on this short trip to the slightly more humble quattro tech Westwood Road where the hard working Ives put them to the sword.
Ives manager Ricky Marheineke kept an unchanged starting eleven following the hosts 3-1 victory over Hitchin Town in their previous outing. The Bees made two changes from their FA Cup side the experienced Liam Dolman coming in to replace similar veteran Paul Malone in the centre of defence and with marquee signing ex Brazilian international Sandro back in his native country for the festive period loan signing from AFC Telford United Rhys Hilton came in for his debut for the visitors in midfield.
The first opportunity of the game fell to the visitors after only two minutes as Will Glennon brought down Ben Starkie just outside the box to provide Ben Stephens the chance to give Dan Wilks an early test in the Ives goal. Stephens got his kick over the Ives four man wall but it sailed about a foot over the bar with the keeper in position to cover it.
Josh Allen had the hosts first attempt on goal five minutes later as he received a low Ethan Creary cross from the right before spinning on it and firing into the side netting from the edge of the box.
It quickly became clear what the visitor’s tactics were and I would liken them to a John Beck style without the quality of wingers that the ex Cambridge United boss looked to employ to deliver the crosses. The Bees simply played the ball long as often as possible looking to win opportunities to deliver long throws, free kicks and corners into a box filled with their giants. Ives generally dealt well with these missiles the only shooting opportunity that came from one of these in the early stages was when Dan Cooper’s 15th minute long throw was knocked down to Hilton but his low drive from 20 yards was comfortably gathered by Wilks.
Ives on the other hand were looking to use their pace and ability to stretch the Bees back line. Johnson Gyamfi’s jinking run midway through the half almost allowed Amir Hadi to thread in Allen. But keeper Elliott Taylor was quickly off his line to smother the ball before Allen could get a touch.
The opening goal on 27 minutes came from just such a break that caught out the Bees cumbersome defence. Jernade Meade raked an inch perfect cross field ball to pick out Benji Mensah in space on the right. His low driven cross just evaded Allen’s attempt to turn it home at the near post but deflected off the luckless Bees skipper Ben Williams and flashed past his startled keeper into the corner of the net. Three minutes later Meade’s rasping drive from 25 yards pulled a spectacular save out of the athletic Taylor who pushed the effort around the post at full stretch.
But as the half wore on the Bees direct tactics began to stretch the Ives back line almost to breaking point. Ives goal lead a charmed life in the final few minutes before the break. Cooper’s 42nd minute driven cross was deflected onto his near post by Wilks. The ball ricocheting across the face of goal where it took two remarkable blocks from Ives defenders to prevent initially Stephens and then Riley O’Sullivan from forcing the ball home.
The visitors went even closer to grabbing an equaliser deep in added time as initially Josh Walsh’s in-swinging free kick from the left was missed by all at the near post and had to be cleared off the line by Aaron Smith covering behind his keeper. The follow up shot from Starkie was then brilliantly saved by the recovering Wilks to preserve Ives slender half time advantage.
Both sides came out for the second half knowing that the next goal was going to be vital. The hosts were first to go close five minutes after the restart with another of their fast flowing breaks. The busy Mensah and Allen were again both involved in a move the went down the right. Mensah playing in Allen to the bye line and his low cross picking out Meade at the back post but the silky midfielder was stretching and failed to keep his effort down under pressure from Cooper.
A bit of football at the other end almost unlocked Ives defence two minutes later. Walsh picked out the run of Hilton through the right channel and it took a brilliant sliding block from Creary to prevent O’Sullivan firing home his pull back.
However it was the Bees back line where the gaps were starting to appear and another speedy break in 54th minute saw Hadi brilliantly curl a ball with the outside of his foot to pick out the well timed run through the centre of Allen. Clear with only the keeper to beat Allen was just about to shoot when he was taken down from behind by the struggling Alex Morris giving referee Thomas Kelly one of the easiest decisions that he had to make during the afternoon. The first Ives penalty in the post Jonny Edwards era was emphatically thumped home by Glennon.
It could so easily have been three in 65th minute as Ives again stretched the sluggish Bees back line. This time Allen pounced on a ball in from the left and beat Taylor with his low shot that then proceeded to hit the base of the post and run along the goal line. The recovering Williams then put his body on the line to pull off a remarkable effort to hook the ball away from the danger zone just as he was clattered into by the equally committed Allen who was trying to force home the loose ball.
The Bees may have escaped on that occasion but they were the architects of their own downfall three minutes later. A poor attempted clearance by keeper Taylor went straight to the feet of Mensah 30 yards from goal. Unselfishly he fed the ball into the feet of Allen on the edge of the box and the hard working striker side stepped his man before curling an effort into the bottom corner that Taylor got a hand to but could not keep out.
With the game now decided both teams used their compliment of substitutes which effectively disrupted the flow of the game. Ives perhaps switched off a little and found themselves pegged back with ten minutes to go. Stephens challenged Creary at the back post for a ball delivered from the right and both went down under the impact of the tackle. The Bees man was first to recover and prodded home the loose ball before an Ives player could react.
Bees Substitute Connor Kennedy fired wide from a good position with four minutes to go and any possibility of a grandstand finish was eliminated by Ives replacement Coree Wilson only seconds later. This fourth goal came in very unexpected fashion against the towering Bees and is not the type of goal that they will expect to concede very often. Wilks long punt down the centre was flicked on by the hard working Hadi who rose above a much taller defender to win the header. Wilson ran clear onto the flick and coolly beat the exposed Taylor to complete an excellent victory for the hosts.
The win moves Ives up into ninth, only three points from the play-off places. Defeat leaves the Bees still entrenched in the final relegation spot three points from safety.
Final Score: St Ives Town 4 Harborough Town 1 Half Time 1 – 0
Goals:
ST IVES: B. Williams (own goal) 27, Glennon 54 (pen), Allen 68. Wilson 87
HARBOROUGH: Stephens 79
Team Line Ups:
ST IVES: Wilks, Mensah (Adegbola 87), Smith, Meade, J. Williams, Collard (capt), Gyamfi (Abimbola 87), Glennon, Hadi (Skyers 87), Allen (Wilson 81), Creary, Unused subs: Kaziboni
HARBOROUGH: Taylor, Cooper, Walsh, Dolman (Kennedy 70), B. Williams (capt), Morris, Robinson (Carta 64), Starkie (Burgess 83), O’Sullivan, Stephens (Francis 86), Hilton (Rose 67), Unused subs: none
Referee: Thomas Kelly
Cards: Yellow: ST IVES: Meade (38) HARBOROUGH: Starkie (45), Morris (54)
IVES SUPPORTERS MAN OF THE MATCH: Amir Hadi
Attendance: 321