Bishop’s Stortford 1 St Ives Town 0
Pitching-In Southern League Premier Central 07-09-2024
Nigel Howlett reports from the RDA Stadium
Ives frustrations on the road continue as they failed to find the net for the fourth game in a row away from quattro tech Westwood Road. Failure to score in this game meant for their third away league game in a row they slumped to a 1-0 defeat. As in those previous games they matched their opponents for long periods but failed to take their opportunities when presented.
Manager Ricky Marheineke made a couple of changes from the side which put five past Harpenden in Monday evenings FA Cup Replay with a return to Ives colours for one of last seasons stars Benji Mensah with David Adegbola making way for him. The rested Theo Alexandrou also returned to the starting eleven with powerful hold up man Silvano Obeng joining Adegbola on the bench.
The hosts who similarly came into this game on the back of a five goal FA Cup victory were first out of the traps with ex Ives full back Luke Warner-Eley registering the games first shot after three minutes. Alex Collard got in the way of Warner-Eley’s effort from the corner of the box heading the powerful effort wide. Ives keeper Dan Wilks was called into action for the first time from the resulting Cole Dasilva corner. Blues skipper Jake Thompson won the deep flag kick cleanly at the back post and powered in a header that Wilks did well to hold at the second attempt.
Referee Samuel Clayton drew the ire of Ives travelling supporters five minutes later waving away the visitors appeals for a free kick as Alexandrou appeared to be hauled down by Thompson as he burst through the centre of the Blues back line. The match official did blow his whistle in Ives favour in 12th minute as Ryan Charles slid in on Mensah 25 yards from goal. The resulting free kick was fired into the hosts four man wall by Jonny Edwards.
Ives were almost caught out in 22nd minute as the Blues broke quickly with Charlie Castle feeding in Kian Harness through the right channel. The centre forward looked completely clear but as Wilks came to meet him he blazed over the top from the edge of the box.
They were perhaps a little fortunate to survive that scare but they were not so fortunate five minutes later as they were caught cold by a clever training ground corner routine. Dasilva pulled his flag kick back to the unmarked Brad Russell on the corner of the box. With all of the time in the world to pick his spot the Blues midfielder delivered a teasing cross to the back post where Mark Haines fought through the crowd to power home his close range header.
The hosts should have made it two on the half hour as Kobe Chong was caught in possession in the centre circle by Erin Amu. Amu’s slide rule pass put Harness clear again but fortunately for the visitors the Blues centre forward again failed to hit the target with only Wilks to beat.
The Blues did get the ball in the net again in 37th minute but it was a “goal” that would have only counted in the 1960’s and before as Russell bundled Wilks and ball into the net as the keeper rose to claim a clip into the box from the left.
Ives had got a little wiser, or perhaps just a little more fortunate, to the clever training ground corners from their hosts. In the first of the added two minutes at the end of the first half another Dasilva corner was driven in low a step over at the near post by Harness allowed the ball to run on to Russell but his driven shot from the edge of the box struck an Ives defender and bounced away.
There was still time for Ives to spurn a golden opportunity to level things up before the break. Chong combined well with Alexandrou down the left. The move eventually finishing with Alexandrou clean through bearing down on goal. Rather than shoot the tricky striker tried to feed the ball square to the unmarked Mensah but the ball was just behind the wing back forcing him to stretch for it and he was then leaning back and could only fire over the goal as defenders came to close him down.
The expectation amongst supporters was that Ives would tare at their opponents straight from the off but that pressure was slow to build and Harness again missed an opportunity to double the hosts advantage after a Dasilva corner was knocked down to him at the back post four minutes after the resumption.
From that point Ives began to slowly take control of the game. A 57th minute mistake by Taylor looked like it had let Chong in for a run at goal but the Blues midfielder redeemed himself by cynically pulling back the Ives striker and was happy to take the inevitable yellow card that followed. He was probably even happier when Lawrence fired the resulting 25 yard free kick into the wall.
Edwards had been a shadow of his usual self in this game, but as ever he did get one chance in the game. That came 15 minutes from time when he suddenly found a bit of space on the edge of the hosts box. Taking the ball in his stride he tried to cleverly steer it into the corner of the net as Blues keeper Charlie Binns committed to go the other way. The effort was on target but Warner-Eley came across to block it with his trusty left boot.
Ives had a couple of good opportunities to claim the point that they deserved. With ten minutes to go substitute Greg Kaziboni combined well with Paddy Casey down the right. Casey looked like he was going to burst clear into the box but another cynical tackle took him to ground. Again the defender in question, this time Castle, was happy to take the inevitable yellow card. Chong curled a teasing free kick into the no man’s land between keeper and defenders where Jordan Williams attacked it and won the header cleanly but he got a little to much on the ball and powered his header past the post.
Harness missed a golden opportunity to sew the game up for the hosts in 89th minute. A poor back pass from Aaron Smith put the centre forward completely clear with only Wilks to beat. The big stopper was quick to close the striker down and spread himself well to save the blushes of his team mate who was quick to acknowledge his error. The resulting corner was well claimed by Wilks whose quick throw put speedy substitute Adegbola away down the right. His attempted cross was blocked for a corner.
Ives supporters were again unhappy with referee Clayton when he only found an added five minutes at the end of the ninety particularly after three lengthy stoppages when Blues players received treatment in addition to a number of other delays when they stayed on the deck. All of that on top of eight second half substitutions!
Those added five minutes were spent with Ives camped around the Blues box but even then they failed to test Binns. The final opportunity that did come their way in the fifth added minute saw substitute Ethan Creary get on the end of Chong’s in-swinging corner but like all of those before him the youngster made clean contact but failed to hit the target from a good position.
Ives can look forward to a quick return to action on Monday evening as they host Kettering Town at quattro tech Westwood Road, that is then followed by a home FA Cup tie against Berkhamsted on the Saturday. Both games where Ives need to keep their excellent home form going. After that their mind can turn to how they can go about overcoming their apparent agrostophobia ahead of a trip to Bromsgrove Sporting.
Final Score: Bishop’s Stortford 1 St Ives Town 0 Half Time 1 – 0
Goals:
BISHOP’S STORTFORD: Haines 27
ST IVES:
Team Line Ups:
BISHOP’S STORTFORD: Binns, Dasilva, Warner-Eley, Thompson (capt), Haines, Castle (Virciglio 82), Harness, Russell, Charles (Scott 60), Taylor (Moutawafiq 67), Amu, Unused subs: Oguwaza, Rotimi
ST IVES: Wilks, Mensah (Obeng 67), Smith, Lawrence (Hottor 58), Williams, Collard (capt), Alexandrou (Kaziboni 79), Abimbola (Adegbola 79), Edwards (Creary 89), Chong, Casey, Unused subs: none
Referee: Samuel Clayton
Cards: Yellow: BISHOP’S STORTFORD: Charles (12), Taylor (57), Castle (80) ST IVES: Edwards (75), Hottor (86)
IVES SUPPORTERS MAN OF THE MATCH: Paddy Casey
Attendance: 451