Match Report

Hednesford Town v St Ives Town

Pitching In Southern League Premier Division Central 22-03-2022

On paper the result of this games looks close but in truth the score line hides a woeful Ives performance which but for the heroics of keeper Eddie Brearey would have seen them beaten by a much more emphatic margin.

The young stopper’s only error came in fourth minute when he gifted the hosts an early lead as he somehow allowed Riley O’Sullivan’s 25 yarder to creep through his hands and into the net. But even before then he had already produced an excellent save low to his right to deny the same player the opening goal after only sixteen seconds.

That was only the start of the one way traffic as the speed of movement of the Pitmen in their impressive stadium simply seemed to leave Ives players chasing shadows all over the park. Despite the hard bumpy surface the hosts were very comfortable in moving the ball around at the back inviting their visitors to come forward and try and dispossess them. When they did get drawn in the hosts quickly stepped up a gear to break at lightning speed and with true purpose. The next chance for the hosts came in eighth minute when a quick break down the right ended with Chay Tilt delivering a ball to the near post where Kyle Bennett had ghosted in unmarked but the number ten failed to hit the target with his free header. The very next attack only seconds later saw Callum Milne throw himself across the line of O’Sullivan’s powerful strike to deflect the ball over the crossbar.

The Pitmen had the ball in the net again in 17^th minute as another swift break down the right saw a clever step over from Bennett that put O’Sullivan clear on goal through the left channel. Brearey came to meet him and bravely blocked the shot when it came but the ball ricocheted to Tilt who rolled it home at the far post only to see the assistant’s raised flag as he wheeled away to celebrate and the hosts match announcer whacked up the decibels again as he did each time they added to their tally. Fortunately on this occasion the raucous performance was cut short.

The half wore on with the hosts looking very comfortable indeed moving the ball around but continuing to be wasteful in front of goal. Their next good opportunity came in 35^th minute when Tilt and O’Sullivan combined well to work an opening through the centre. The winger’s final ball looked like it had put O’Sullivan in for a tap in at the back post but Brett Solkhon had other ideas and his last ditch sliding block did just enough to deflect the effort wide. 

After looking so sharp last Saturday it was painful to see Ives looking slow and lethargic in almost everything they did three days later at the Keys Park Stadium. The hosts looking quicker in physical movement but also in thought. A perfect example of this came two minutes before the break when unable to find a teammate with the ball Dylan Williams dallied a little to long deep in Hednesford territory and lost possession to Todd Parker. The Pitmen broke at pace through the heart of Ives back line and two passes later George Cater fed O’Sullivan in yet again. Fortunately for Ives Brearey was still on the ball and he was quickly off his line to close down the hosts centre forward and block the shot at close range.

Then right on half time Ives stunned the home crowd just as the early birds were gathering their burgers or heading for the bar. There were seconds left in the first half when Josh Flanagan and Liam Cross combined to rob Carter Lycett by the touchline. The former’s threaded ball into the centre picked out the run of Tyrone Baker who had got the wrong side of Lewis Hayden and the visitors wide man finished with aplomb lashing home Ives first shot of the half from the edge of the box to make the half time score an unbelievable 1-1.

The small travelling contingent spent half time in a strange dreamland thinking that after such an unbelievably poor first half performance we are somehow on level terms and surely we can only get better. Sadly we were proved wrong as normal service was quickly resumed. It only took five minutes from the restart before Brearey was back in dramatic action as he pulled off a brilliant reaction save to deny O’Sullivan yet again. This time the chance had been set up by an excellent cross field pass from Reece Flanagan to pick out Tilt whose first time cross had found O’Sullivan in space ten yards out.

The tide of white shirts continued to wash over the Ives back line and the next move flowed down the left with Parker feeding Lycett through on the overlap, his pull back found O’Sullivan yet again in space inside Ives’s box. This time he was unable to pull more heroics out of Brearey as he failed to hit the target from fifteen yards. Lycett decided to try his own luck in 58^th minute but like so many before him he to was denied by Brearey as his fierce low drive from the left corner of the box was pushed away low to his left by Ives overworked custodian. This time he found a little help as Sokhon did just enough to scramble the loose ball away before O’Sullivan could force it home.

Brearey was again called upon to repel the Pitmen less than a minute later as the ball was fed inside to Bennett who struck a ferocious effort from fully 25 yards that had dip and swerve on it but again Brearey was equal to the effort flinging himself to his left to palm the ball away. But a second goal was looking inevitable for the hosts and sure enough they regained their lead on the hour. No one closed down Flanagan just outside the box and having seen his colleagues all fail to beat the Ives keeper with power he had the time and sense of purpose to try finesse and he got it spot on curling his effort just beyond the grasping fingers of the stretching Brearey to find the top corner of the net.

The hosts should have put the game to bed seconds later as O’Sullivan turned provider feeding in Tilt for a run into the box that ended with him firing well wide as Brearey came to meet him. The same player tested Brearey again in 70^th minute as he unleashed a drive from the right corner of the box that the keeper had to dive to his right to keep out. His recovery was again brilliant as he just managed to reclaim the loose ball ahead of the lurking O’Sullivan. Seconds later Ed Hottor lost possession deep in his own half allow O’Sullivan another pop at goal. This time the fierce drive was straight at Brearey who parried it away.

Just as in the first half Ives carved out one opportunity in the second period, that chance came with twenty minutes to go and it should have brought them an equaliser. Cross did brilliantly to keep in a ball down the right and he managed to hang up a teasing cross that floated over a fast back peddling Oli Basey in the home goal. Nabil Shariff was arriving at the back post and looked like he only needed to get a touch to knock the ball home but he tried to knock it in with his right foot and somehow only succeeded in putting the ball wide from one yard out. That was Ives only effort at goal in the entire second half and as it went wide the visitors chance of getting any reward from this game went with it.

The hosts returned to simply retaining possession to kill the game off from there and only carved out one more noteworthy opportunity in the remaining time. In 83^rd minute Parker and Hayden combined well down the right with the former teeing up the latter for an effort that beat the diving Brearey but was cleared off the line by the covering Callum Milne.

With other results going against them this score line leaves Ives very much in the relegation battle at the bottom end of the division and with a batch of very tough games to come there is clearly work for the management team to do to get this performance out of the player’s minds and restore the belief ahead of the unenviable trip to fourth placed Peterborough Sports which is quickly followed by the visit of third placed Rushall Olympic to quattro-tech Westwood Road      

Final Score : Hednesford Town  2  St Ives Town  1  

Goals : 

HEDNESFORD: O’Sullivan 4, Flanagan 60

ST IVES: Baker 45

Teams

HEDNESFORD: Basey, Hayden, Lycett, Ward (Portman 75), Ludford-Ison, Flanagan, Tilt (Webb 90+1), Parker, O’Sullivan, Bennett, Cater (Smith 77), Unused subs: Richards, Williams

ST IVES: Brearey, Flanagan, Solkhon, Hottor, Milne, Toseland (Watt 67), Baker, Aiyelabola (Johnston 60), Shariff (Osei-Bonsu 77), Cross, Williams, Unused subs: Goff, Fairlamb

Supporters man of the match : Eddie Brearey

Attendance : 386

Report by Nigel Howlett