St Ives Town 0 v Barwell 1
Pitching-In Southern League Premier Central 12-10-2024
It looked like the two sides were going to cancel each other out in this hard fought, competitive, encounter that was never low on endeavour but lacked that little bit of extra quality from both sides. But as is so often the case in this type of tight game it is not a little bit of magic that wins the day it is sadly a mistake. The one that decided this one came when Ives shot themselves in the foot in 72nd minute. With all of the big men up for a free kick to be delivered into the box they took a short one and lost possession. The ball was quickly channelled to the other end where Johnson Gyamfi compounded the initial error from his colleagues with an under hit back pass that allowed Ethan Hill to nip in and lash home past the exposed Dan Wilks. Both before and after that goal Ives created good opportunities that they failed to take leading to a disappointing second home league defeat in a row.
With Jernade Meade on international duty with Montserrat, Aaron Smith serving a one match ban for his very hash dismissal at Worksop in the FA Trophy, Kobe Chong out with a serious injury, Peter Abimbola still not yet back to full fitness and Jonny Edwards in transfer talks for a move away from quattro tech Westwood Road Ives were thin on the ground and manager Ricky Marheineke gave a first start to 17 year old Stevenage loanee Albie O’Keefe in central midfield with Silvano Obeng given the chance to lead the line. To counter that the Canaries came with a full strength side lead by the evergreen ex Reading veteran striker Leroy Lita.
With their youngsters to the fore, it was the hosts who took the game to their visitors carving out a couple of half chances in the opening five minutes. Two minutes in a flowing move saw the ball fed across the front line to reach the feet of Amaru Kaunda on the left, his step inside and teasing delivery into the centre was met by David Adegbola who got in front of his marker to steer a header over the top from ten yards. Two minutes later Gyamfi ran half the length of the park to get clear down the left but he failed to find a team mate with his low cross.
The next opportunity in 15th minute was a true route one attempt as Wilks long punt evaded the two Canaries centre backs and was allowed to bounce deep in the visitor’s territory. Obeng ran onto the bouncing ball but delayed getting his shot away and when he eventually did unleash a powerful right foot effort the angle was to narrow and he could only succeed in finding the side netting.
The visitors were slowly working their way into the game and carved out their first chance of the game only one minute later. Hill and Lita combined well to feed in Deen Master who hit a crisp low drive from the edge of the box that Wilks gathered well.
The middle part of the first half descended into a midfield battle from which neither side could gain the ascendency. The flow of the game being constantly broken up by a series of free kicks as the battle continued. One of those free kicks saw Wilks become the next keeper called into action in 36th minute. Hill tried to take advantage of the one man wall that the Ives stopper had put up to help him defend a free kick five yards outside the left hand corner of the box. Hill cleverly drilled in a shot at the near post that had Wilks scrambling across to make the save.
The best opportunity of the first period then fell to Kaunda four minutes before the break. Obeng held off a defender well to deftly feed the ball into the perfectly timed run of Kaunda who was clear with only keeper Will Highland to beat. But the youngster tried to go for power and ended up blasting his shot straight at the Canaries custodian who reacted well to tip the rising shot over the top.
Each side had one more half chance before half time. Hill robbed Ethan Creary on half way to give Ollie Brown-Hill the chance to try and lob the out of position Wilks from fully 45 yards but the effort drifted wide as the Ives stopper fast retreated to cover it. At the other end Obeng had the last attempt of the half right on the whistle when he spanked an effort from the edge of the box straight into the hands of the well positioned Highland.
Another golden opportunity came and went for Ives five minutes after the restart. Kaunda showed some brilliant footwork inside the Canaries box to create the space to get a shot away. The ball struck a defender and looped to the unmarked Obeng lurking eight yards out at the back post. But the big centre forward snatched at the chance and fired his first time effort high and wide as desperate defenders tried to close him down.
The game then went through a period where most of the half chances were going the way of the visitors. Master screwed a 52nd minute effort from 20 yards into the boards just wide of Wilks right hand post. Ben Challinor fired a 66th minute effort over the top after Lita had held the ball up well to tee him up from a similar distance.
Then with just less than 20 minutes to go came Ives comedy of errors which lead to Hill putting the Canaries in front. Ives reacted well to going behind and it took some brave defending to prevent them grabbing an equaliser eight minutes from time. Substitute Greg Kaziboni got down the right and delivered a cross into the crowded box that led to shots from Obeng and Adegbola being blocked at point blank range by the bodies of flying defenders.
Ives knew it was not going to be their day when, with four minutes remaining, Obeng got on the end of Cleary’s clip over the top and drilled the ball home past the exposed Highland only to be denied by an assistant’s upraised flag.
The added five minutes were spent with Ives camped in and around the Canaries box. The visitors just survived three Johnny Herd corners, a couple of long throws and a free kick all from the same man. Despite all that pressure they were unable to test Highland with another on target effort in that time.
The final result sees the Canaries join Ives on twelve points. In a crazily tight table that means five points off the play offs but looking the other way only three points off the drop zone. Both teams have vital home games coming on Monday night with Biggleswade Town visiting quattro tech Westwood Road for a 7.45pm kick off.
Final Score: St Ives Town 0 Barwell 1 Half Time 0 – 0
Goals:
ST IVES:
BARWELL: Hill 72
Team Line Ups:
ST IVES: Wilks, Creary, Casey (Mensah 71), O’Keefe, Williams, Collard (capt), Gyamfi (Kaziboni 77), Hottor (Herd 88), Obeng, Kaunda, Adegbola (Abimbola 85), Unused subs: Watkins
BARWELL: Highland, Fridye-Harper, Brown-Hill, Ngoma, Rowe-Turner, McManus (Rogers 31), Master, Lita, Challinor (Medrano 75), Hickey (capt), Hill, Unused subs: Osbourne, Berry, Arthur
Referee: Christopher Poole
Cards: Yellow: ST IVES: Adegbola (22) BARWELL: Lita (68), Fridye-Harper (90)
IVES SUPPORTERS MAN OF THE MATCH: Alex Collard
Attendance: 305