St Ives Town host AFC Dunstable on Saturday in their final pre-season friendly before the big kick-off at Stourbridge next week.

The Ives scheduled match at Corby was postponed on Tuesday, and they will be looking to put in a good performance against their South Midlands League opponents who narrowly missed out on promotion, losing in the play-offs at the end of last season.

Given it is the last friendly before the league campaign starts, boss Ricky Marheineke may elect to go with his strongest line-up to get match fitness before the trip to Stourbridge.

Kick-off at the Quattro-Tech Westwood Road is at 3:00pm.

St Ives Town welcome a team from Peterborough United under 21’s for a pre-season friendly on Tuesday night.

The Ives go into the game following an impressive 3-2 victory in their latest friendly at National League South side Aveley on Saturday afternoon. On the scoresheet were both Theo Alexandrou and Jonny Edwards and the pair look set to lead the attacking options once again this evening.

The match promises to be a tough test for the Ives and with just two scheduled warm-up matches left after tonight and boss Ricky Marheineke will be looking to finalise his squad before the big kick-off against Stourbridge on 10 August.

Kick-off at the Quattro-Tech Westwood Road is at 7:45pm.

St Ives Town make the trip to Aveley on Saturday as they continue their pre-season friendly programme.

As with the match against Peterborough Sports on Tuesday, the game will be another tough test for the Ives as they face a team from step two. However, the Ives will take heart from their performance in the FA Trophy against the Millers last season which ended in a narrow defeat.

With three weeks to go until the start of the season, Ives boss Ricky Marheineke will be running his eye over some more trialists as well as confirmed squad members as he looks to finalise numbers for the big kick-off against Stourbridge on 10 August.

Kick-off at the Parkside Stadium is at 3:00pm.

St Ives Town will travel to Stourbridge on the opening day of the 2024/25 PitchingIn Southern League Premier Division Central season. The match will take place on Saturday 10 August.

The first home game for the Ives will be two days later when they welcome newly promoted Lowestoft Town to the Quattro-Tech Westwood Road for a Monday night fixture. Banbury United, who were relegated from the National League North, are the opponents for the first Saturday home league game on 17 August.

Boxing Day will see the Ives welcome Royston Town with the reverse fixture on Easter Monday, which will be the penultimate game of the season. The campaign finishes with a home game against Stratford Town on Saturday 26 April.

St Ives Town welcome Peterborough Sports to the Quattro-Tech Westwood Road on Tuesday night for a pre-season friendly.

With Sports now an established National League North side, the match looks like to be the toughest test yet for an Ives side who have already played two pre-season games. A 3-0 defeat to March Town United last Tuesday was followed by a 1-1 draw at Berkhamsted on Saturday.

Ives boss Ricky Marheineke looks set to include a number of players signed for the season together with a mix of trialists. Ives defender Johnny Herd looks set to be included as he lines-up against one of his former clubs.

Kick-off at the Quattro-Tech Westwood Road is at 7:45pm.

St Ives Town continue their preparations for the new season when they travel to Berkhamsted for a pre-season friendly on Saturday.

The Ives began their warm-up campaign for the the big kick-off with a 3-0 home defeat to March Town United on Tuesday night, and will be hoping to put in an improved performance against a side they know from last season when Berkhamsted were in the same division with the Ives recording victories in both matches.

Boss Ricky Marheineke will send a squad which will consist of players who have signed for the new season as well as a number of trialists. In the squad is likely to be Peter Abimbola. The midfielder signed for the Ives in midweek after being released by Northampton Town.

Kick-off at the Glencar Community Stadium is at 3:00pm.

St Ives Town are delighted to announce the signing of Peter Abimbola.

The 20 year old midfielder signs for the Ives after being released by Northampton Town. Peter is no stranger to the Quattro-Tech Westwood Road as he had a loan spell for the Ives last season before being recalled by the Cobblers. He was then subsequently loaned out to Ives’ league rivals Bromsgrove Sporting.

The Northampton born youngster is a product of the academy at Sixfields, and made his first team debut in a Papa John’s Trophy tie against Brighton in November 2021 and went on to sign his first professional contract six months later. During his time at Northampton, he has also enjoyed successful loan spells at AFC Rushden & Diamonds and National League Aldershot Town. 

The date for the PitchingIN Southern League fixtures to be released has now been set for Thursday 18 July.

Preparations for the new campaign begin in earnest on Tuesday night as St Ives Town begin their pre-season programme with a friendly against March Town United.

The Hares arrive at the Quattro-Tech Westwood Road in readiness for another season in the United Counties League, Premier Division South. March narrowly missed out on promotion to step four last season as they were eliminated in the play-offs against Racing Club Warwick. The Hares have already had two pre-season outings against Heacham and FC Peterborough which have both seen victories.

Whilst much of the Ives squad from last season has been retained, new faces have been added during the closed season and tomorrow night could see some of them feature. The likes of goalkeeper Dan Wilks, as well as the outfield players of Alex Collard, Kymani Skyers and Byron Lawrence may well be in the squad together with some trialists.

Kick-off at the Quattro-Tech Westwood Road is at 7:45pm. Admission prices are:

ADULTS: £6.00
CONCESSIONS: £4.00
Under 16’s (Accompanied with an Adult): FREE

Striker Theo Alexandrou has become the latest player to agree terms with St Ives Town ahead of the 2024/25 season.

Alexandrou arrived at the Quattro-Tech Westwood Road during the second half of last season on loan from Stevenage. He made an immediate impact which included scoring arguably one of the goals of the season in the Ives home victory against eventual champions Needham Market.

With Alexandrou agreeing to return to the Ives it will mean he will resume his formidable strike partnership with Jonny Edwards who has already agreed to be part of the squad for the new season.

St Ives Town can confirm that Jake Hutchings has left the club.

Jake, a defender, signed for the Ives from Coalville during last season and in recent weeks had agreed terms for the new season.

However, subsequent relocation to Scotland has meant he has had to leave the club and has joined Lowland League side Tranent FC. Everyone at St Ives Town would like to thank Jake for his time at the club and wish him well for the future.

Since our last update, there have been more squad announcements ahead of the new season. So in case you haven’t seen news on social media, the following are the latest to agree terms with the Ives for the new campaign.

Ed Hottor

Jake Hutchings

Paddy Casey

Johnny Herd

Johnny missed large chunks of last season with injury but is back for the 2024/25 campaign. He joined the Ives in the summer of 2022 from Peterborough Sports, and will be looking to keep injury free and be a regular in the Ives starting line-up.

Greg Kaziboni

The four above mentioned players join skipper Michael Richens, defender Jordan Williams, and striker Jonny Edwards who had already earlier agreed to be with the Ives for next season.

As reported on social media earlier this week, St Ives Town manager Ricky Marheineke has started to announce players who will be returning to the club for the 2024/25 season. So far, there have been 3 players who confirmed that they will be part of the Ives squad for the new season.

Jordan Williams

Jonny Edwards

Michael Richens

More squad announcements will be made in due course, so make sure you check the club social media channels and website for all the very latest news.

After the last league game against Alvechurch on Saturday, St Ives Town Football Club made a special presentation to manager Ricky Marheineke and goalkeeping coach, Paul Swannell to mark their 10^th anniversary at the club.

Ricky joined the Ives as manager in 2014.  Previously, he was manager of Huntingdon Town and with the support of Paul dragged the club off the bottom of Division One of the United Counties League to the very top of that division in one full season.  In their first season in the Premier Division, the club finished fourth.

Midway through the following season Ricky decided to leave Huntingdon and move to Histon, leaving his assistant Seb Hayes to take control at Jubilee Park but Paul made the move with Ricky to join the Stutes.

The stay at Histon lasted until May 2014 when the pair decided to make the move to St Ives to take over the fantastic work of Jez Hall and Warren Everdell.  They started their tenure with a solid ninth-place finish in the Southern League Division One Central.  The second season was marked by a significant achievement, leading The Ives to earn promotion courtesy of a play-off victory against AFC Rushden & Diamonds.

This success saw the team advance to step three, where they have since maintained steady progress, highlighted by a 15th place finish in their first season at that level and finishing as runners-up in the League Challenge Cup Final.

The 2017/18 season proved challenging for Ricky and the team, but they rebounded strongly in the 2018/19 season, recording what was until this season the club’s most successful season to date by finishing 13th. This upward trajectory has been sustained and the club has remained in step three since and this season finished with a place in the top 10, the highest ever finish for the club at that level.

Ives Chairman Paul Reason said “With Ricky and Paul being with the club for ten years we felt it was important that we marked this milestone.  Ricky is one of the longest serving managers at this level of football and the loyalty, dedication, and enthusiasm that both him and Paul have demonstrated over the years is second to none and has been pivotal to the club becoming an established step three team”.

To mark their 10 years at the club, the Ives Chairman along with Director Gary Clarke presented Ricky and Paul with a cake and some commemorative signed shirts from the current Ives squad.

St Ives Town 3 v Alvechurch 2 

Pitching-In Southern League Premier Central  27-04-2024

Nigel Howlett reports

Ives concluded their best ever season at step three with another hugely entertaining encounter and although all of the goals came in the last twenty minutes this end to end game could easily have seen more than the five that made up the result. With Dan Barton out with injury manager Ricky Marheineke again went with the bold attacking 4-3-3 formation that had entertained us last week at Halesowen.

That formation may have been thrown very early on with Luke Harris picking up an injury that saw him leave the arena midway through the first half to be replaced by fit again Johnny Herd, but the experienced full back slotted perfectly into the centre of the park and very quickly looked at home there whilst also giving Ives an alternative long thrower as well as free kick and corner taker.

The game started in the way that it was going to continue with Jake Hutchings doing very well to help out his fellow centre back Jordan Williams by sliding in to make a brave block of Jaanai Gordon’s fierce seventh minute drive after the Church centre forward had robbed Williams just outside the box and driven in on goal. The resulting corner saw the ball fed back to Nick Clayton-Phillips who unleashed a screamer from the corner of the box that beat the diving Sam Bentley but just scraped over the crossbar.

Ives thought that they had grabbed the lead three minutes later. Skipper Michael Richens unleashed a dipping, swerving, pile driver from 30 yards out that screamed past the despairing dive of Church keeper Ronnie Hollingshead, thudded the crossbar and looped high into the air. Jonny Edwards was first to react nodding home the dropping ball only to have his celebration interrupted by the assistant’s upraised flag.

Unusual to say this season, but Edwards should probably have done better with a 23^rd minute chance set up by Myles Cowling. The Ives busy midfielder robbed a dallying Dylan Mitchell deep inside his own half, the ball was fed inside to Amaru Kaunda who in turn fed in Edwards through the right channel. But with only keeper Hollingshead to beat the Ives striker fired his effort wide of the far post.

It took a brilliant flying save from Bentley to maintain the parity in 33^rd minute. Dylan Allen-Hadley cut in from the left and let fly an effort from just outside the box that looked destined for the top corner before being diverted over the top by the acrobatic Bentley. The resulting Clayton-Phillips corner led to a scramble in the Ives box that ended with Ethan Patterson stabbing the ball into the side netting from close range.

Ives got the ball in the net for a second time in 37^th minute. A brilliant flowing move involving Edwards and Richens ended with the latter picking out Theo Alexandrou with a brilliant cross field ball and the young striker finished well only to become the second player of the game to have his celebration terminated by the assistant’s upraised flag.

The game continued in the same vein with both sides going close again in the closing stages of the first half. Richens had a 39^th minute shot deflected wide. Jake Hutchings rose highest to win the resulting corner at the back post but could only direct his header wide of the post. The last opportunity before the break fell to the visitors but Clayton-Phillips fired his 25 yard free kick well over the top to take the game into half time goalless.

As has often been the case of late Ives lifted their game at the start of the second period and had Alexandrou got a better first touch to Herd’s 49^th minute clip over the top he would have got clear but he gave Hollingshead chance to react and slide in to claim the ball.

But even as Ives looked to build the pressure the visitors were still looking dangerous on the break. Bentley had to be at his best to deny Allen-Hadley again two minutes later as the young wide man again cut in from the left and fired in a powerful low right footed effort that Bentley was forced to push away at full stretch low to his left.

The hosts came with millimetres of going in front in 54^th minute when they hit the woodwork for the second time in the game. The chance was created by the brilliance of Alexandrou as he cleverly drew in and then beat Archie Crowther by the corner flag before setting off along the goal line. His pull back picked out Cowling in a little bit of space just inside the box. The young midfielder coolly tried to pick his spot around the covering defenders and he almost got it right but his shot rebounded off the crossbar. Richens pounced on the loose ball but could only fire straight into the hands of a well positioned Hollingshead.

Another Herd corner caused problems for the visitors two minutes later as again Hutchings managed to lose his man to get in a header at the back post but this time his effort was hacked away from just in front of the goal line by Crowther.

Church manager James Fry made his first change in 63^rd minute replacing Daniele Reka with Finley Thorndike and that change had an almost instant impact as Thorndike almost scored with his first touch. Fed in by Clayton-Phillips, his shot from just outside the box beat the diving Bentley but clipped the outside of the post. Only seconds later the young substitute had another opportunity. This time teed up by Gordon for a fierce drive that stung the hands of Bentley as the keeper parried it away.

At the other end Ives leading scorer Edwards continued his quest to finish the season with 30 league goals to his name and he twice went close in 67^th minute. Initially robbing Josh Dugmore he fired in a low 25 yarder that forced Hollingshead into a diving save low to his right. Then getting on the end of Richens in-swinging corner but steering his near post header over the top.

The goal that had been threaten all afternoon finally arrived with eighteen minutes to go. Keeper Hollingshead decided to come for Herd’s long throw and he managed to get a fist on it over the crowd at the near post. But his punch lacked power and was poorly directed falling at the feet of Richens who slammed it home first time from 15 yards.

Just like buses, having waited so long for one to come along a second followed it almost immediately. Richens was the provider this time as he clipped a ball past a static Patterson to put Edwards through. The big man claimed his 29^th of the season as he just beat the on rushing Hollingshead to the ball to poke it past him then calmly rolled it into the empty net.

Now two in front and well in control Richens had a chance to make it three in 75^th minute when Patterson clumsily upended Alexandrou inches outside the box in a central position. The skipper tied to repeat his brilliant free kick at Barwell earlier in the month. But this one was a little to close and although he got it over the four man wall he was unable to get it down quickly enough.

Just when it looked like Ives were coasting a little bit of brilliance from Gordon suddenly turned the game on its head. Kartell Dawkins got away down the right and delivered a tempting cross to the near post where Gordon met it perfectly with an acrobatic flying scissor kick that fired the ball past Bentley from twelve yards.

The hosts then needlessly conceded a penalty to level things up with nine minutes to go. Once more the move came down the right with Allen-Hadley trying to run onto Dawkins ball into the box. Even if he had got to it the young winger was going away from goal towards the corner flag but Bentley rashly slid in from behind him to try and claim the ball only to give away the spot kick. Gordon sent Bentley the wrong way to level things up. Now very much game on.

But Ives were not done and an 85^th minute corner was half cleared to the edge of the box where Cowling came in at pace to attack the dropping ball only to be taken down clumsily by Clayton-Phillips. Referee Ashley Butler was in the perfect position to see the point of contact and decided that this time it was inside the box. Edwards presented with the opportunity to claim his 30^th of the season was calmness personified from the spot sending Hollingshead the wrong way to end Ives season on a high.

So ends the Ives best ever season at step three. First ever top ten finish (ninth), record points haul (58 from 40 games), divisions leading team scorers (87) and leading individual scorer in the division Jonny Edwards (30). All that after one of the worst starts ever with only one win in the first twelve games and only six points on the board at the end of October. From that point on the team has hit play-off form and been the real entertainers of the division.

We can all hope for more of the same next season, enjoy your summer.

Final Score:  St Ives Town   3  Alvechurch   2    

Goals:

ST IVES: Richens 72, Edwards 73, 86 (pen)

ALVECHURCH: Gordon 80, 81 (pen)

Team Line Ups:

ST IVES: Bentley, Casey, Smith, Richens (capt), Williams, Hutchings, Alexandrou (Kaziboni 79), Cowling, Edwards, Kaunda, Harris (Herd 23), Unused subs: Fifield,

ALVECHURCH: Hollingshead, Dugmore (capt), Dyer, Mitchell, Paterson, Crowther, Allen-Hadley, Clayton-Phillips, Gordon, Dawkins, Reka (Dawkins 63), Unused subs: Ofosu, Hallahan, Cassidy, Carter

Cards:   Yellow:  ST IVES: Richens (24)       ALVECHURCH: none

SPONSORS MAN OF THE MATCH: Jonny Edwards

Attendance: 373

The match programme for the final game of the season against Alvechurch is now available to view. Inside this week:

The latest news from around the club
The match report from our defeat last weekend against Halesowen
We review the season with ten highlights of the 2023/24 campaign
We focus on our visitors from Alvechurch
And our matchday quiz ‘Ten to Tackle’ tests you knowledge on the Ives season
Plus much more. Your 46 page matchday magazine can be downloaded for free HERE

Halesowen Town 4 v St Ives Town 3

Pitching-In Southern League Premier Central  20-04-2024

Nigel Howlett reports from The Grove

Yet again Ives came out to entertain and on this occasion they found opponents willing to take them on toe to toe, giving the bumper West Midlands crowd an exciting afternoon in the pleasant April sunshine.

With both teams in good form each boasting five wins from their last seven games this fixture always looked likely to be a good one for the neutral and so it turned out. Whilst Ives had been scoring goals for fun in recent weeks the Yeltz had built their good run on solid performances usually leading to one goal victories. But Ives manager Ricky Marheineke was not about to set up for a cagy game and his opposite number Ross Penn rose to the challenge.

The opening minutes were generally ruled by the hosts with Kieren Donnelly firing an early opportunity wide before McKauley Manning fired the Yeltz in front in eighth minute. Kai Lissimore picked out the roving full back in space on the left edge of the box. A good first touch and a powerful low drive were sufficient to beat the diving Sam Bentley and find the bottom corner.

Ives slowly worked their way back into the game but it looked like they had suffered a serious blow to their hopes when the tricky Dan Barton picked up a knock as he tried to skip through the hosts formidable back line in 15^th minute. After treatment and a fruitless attempt to return to the fray the young midfielder limped off to be replaced by Myles Cowling.

The Yeltz should probably have doubled their lead in 25^th minute as an excellent flowing move down the left involving Manning, Donnelley and Caine Elliott ended with Miracle Okafor teeing up Lissimore but the hosts number eight snatched at the chance and fired over from a good position.

That miss proved costly as Ives, inspired by Cowling, suddenly turned the game on its head. The midfielder threaded a 27^th minute slide rule pass through the Yeltz back line to pick out the perfectly timed run of Jonny Edwards. Keeper Dan Platt came to try and slide in and claim the ball ahead of the marauding centre forward. But Edwards got enough of a touch to ensure that the sliding keeper could not hang onto the ball and then showed his killer instinct by pouncing on the loose ball and curling it into the roof of the net from the corner of the box.

Only ninety seconds later Cowling proved provider again. This time threading a ball through the centre that put the speedy Amaru Kaunda clear. He too showed the true striker’s instinct to beat the exposed Platt comprehensively from the edge of the box to put Ives in front for the first time.

But the first half entertainment was far from over as the hosts came taring back at the Ives and six minutes after going in front they found themselves pegged back. Full back Manning grabbed his second of the game curling his 25 yard free kick around Ives four man wall to beat Bentley low to his right as the keeper scrambled to get across. The free kick had been awarded when the battling Luke Harris clumsily upended Todd Parker as the midfielder tried to burrow his way through.

The game just kept on giving as Theo Alexandrou stunned the massive home crowd to silence again when he put Ives back in front with the goal of the game in 37^th minute. Michael Richens corner was powerfully met in the six yard box by Ryan Wynter but his clearing header dropped to Alexandrou fully 25 yards out. The youngster took on the dropping ball and met it perfectly beating the startled Platt low to his right with a screamer that found the corner of the net.

There was still time before the break for Ives to suffer a couple of big scares. Paddy Casey took one for the team to thwart the first of these five minutes before the break. Richens free kick from the left was cleared with Donnelley just beating Casey to the clearance on half way and touching the ball past him. A blatant body check was the only thing that prevented the pacy number eleven getting away. Fortunately for Ives referee Tom Wall deemed the foul so far away from goal that Casey could not really be considered the last man and much to the disgust of the home crowd the card shown was yellow.

The final opportunity of the half for the hosts just moments before the break came courtesy of the dangerous Manning. The roving full back again found space on the left and drew in defenders before picking out Jak Hickman in space at the back of the box. But the Yeltz winger tried to take on the effort first time and sliced well wide from just inside the box.

So a five goal first half, could the two sides keep up the entertainment level for the second period?. They certainly gave it a go. First chance of the second half fell to the hosts five minutes after the re-start with Lissimore putting Hickman away down the right and Okafor getting in front of his man at the near post to flick his effort narrowly wide.

Two minutes later at the other end Aaron Smith went close to opening his account for Ives as he got on the end of Cowling’s clever pull back from the left. But the full back’s close range effort deflected wide off a defender.

The two sides continued to trade blows and it was the Yeltz who pulled themselves level in 55^th minute. Wynter started his run to meet Hickman’s corner from the back of the box, on his way through he lost his marker before meeting the delivery to the near post perfectly and giving Bentley no chance from close range.

Ives could so easily have been back in front only four minutes later as Cowling and Edwards worked a one two through the centre, keeper Platt raced out to just beat Edwards to the return, the loose ball skewed to Kaunda on the corner of the box. But as defenders desperately raced back to cover the youngster fired wide of the empty net.

The visitors continued to probe and twice went close in 64^th minute. Initially Platt was forced to make a scrambling save after he was almost caught out by Richens 30 yarder. Only seconds later the home keeper did even better as he flung himself high to his left to fingertip over Harris’s attempted curler from 25 yards.

The value of those two saves was increased dramatically two minutes later when Hickman seized an opportunity to run at Smith down the right eventually turning inside past the full back and firing in a fierce left footer that took a deflection off the head of Jake Hutchings on its way past Bentley.

Now with their noses in front the hosts went in search of a fifth goal to kill off their tenacious visitors. Okafor went close without testing Bentley twice around the 80 minute mark. Initially outjumping Josh Tomlinson to get on the end of Hickman’s cross from the right. Then firing over from 25 yards with a chance that he created himself with a turn and shot.

But Ives were by no means done and created a series of chances in those last ten minutes, at least one of which should have been taken to get them their deserved reward from this game. The resulting Bentley goal kick from Okafor’s effort flicked off the head of Edwards to put Alexandrou away down the right. But he was unable to pick out a team mate with a low cross shot that flashed across the face of goal.

The closest Ives came to an equaliser was in 84^th minute when substitute Johnny Herd’s deep free kick was headed out of the box but fell to Richens who beat Platt with his fierce drive only to see the ball rebound to safety off the underside of the crossbar.

The visitors kept pressing, in 88^th minute Edwards held up the ball well before laying off to substitute Kai Fifield who picked out the run of Alexandrou but his tired looking shot from the edge of the box was parried away by a well positioned Platt.

The final chance for a deserved leveller came with the very last kick of the game. Bentley’s long punt deceived the Yeltz back line and bounced over the head of a defender. Cowling and Alexandrou both chased onto the ball, did they get in each other’s way?, maybe, as with only the exposed Platt to beat Cowling tamely pulled his effort wide from fifteen yards.

It was a much relieved hosts who concluded their final home game of the season with a lap lap of honour after the final whistle to thank their twelfth man, the raucous home support who had certainly enjoyed their afternoon in the sun. Let’s hope for similar weather next Saturday to give you all chance to get down to quattro-tech Westwood Road to enjoy the final bit of entertainment from the Ives for this season.

Final Score:  Halesowen Town   4   St Ives Town  3       

Goals:

HALESOWEN: Manning 8, 35, Wynter 55, Hickman 66

ST IVES: Edwards 27, Kaunda 29, Alexandrou 37

Team Line Ups:

HALESOWEN: Platt (capt), Mitchell, Manning, Parker, Wynter, Taylor (Redfern 58), Hickman, Lissimore, Okafor (Boothe 82), Elliott (Holmes 69), Donnelly, Unused subs: Ezewele, Gregory

ST IVES: Bentley, Casey, Smith (Herd 70), Richens (capt), Tomlinson, Hutchings, Barton (Cowling 17), Harris (Fifield 84), Edwards, Kaunda, Alexandrou, Unused subs: none

Cards:   Yellow:  HALESOWEN: Wynter (55), Boothe (90+5)     ST IVES: Kaunda (32), Casey (40), Fifield (87)

SUPPORTERS MAN OF THE MATCH: Theo Alexandrou

Attendance: 1206