Match Report

St Ives Town Ladies made the trip to Colchester to face Lawford in search of another three points in their quest for back to back promotions, and they achieved that objective, albeit with a very late winning goal.

The game started at a relatively sedate tempo as both sides tried to work each other out. Lawford top goal scorer Daisy Canny was the one player proving to be a real handful for the Ives defence right from the start. Saints had 2 half chances in the first quarter of the game, but on both occasions found the excellent home keeper in good form. It was the Saints who broke the deadlock on 20 minutes when right back Emily Stephenson carried the ball into the opposition half and found a perfect pass to pick out Georgia Stancome at the far post, who finished superbly past the dive of the home keeper. However the lead lasted only 8 minutes as the dangerous Canny ran the ball to the edge of the box before picking out a perfect pass to her team mate in the box, the shot going just inside the far post despite the best efforts of Ives goalkeeper Kira Markwell. St Ives continued to work hard throughout the remainder of the half, but struggled to get any sustained possession or pressure with Lawford battling for every loose ball.

Second half saw a definite increase in the tempo from the Ives, and straight away the chances began to come. Emily Smith, Tierney Coulson, Georgia Stancombe and Katie Stancombe all had chances in the first 15 minutes, but again shots were wither narrowly wide, or blocked by the hosts keeper or defence. As the half wore on, Lawford began to drop deeper in an attempt to protect the point they had, and initially this looked like it might prove to be a successful tactic. Ruth Fox was the next player to have a couple of shots just miss the target, as did Sasha Smith and Hannah Seymour-Shove. As the clock ticked into added time, it seemed like Ives would have to settle for a point, but the players didn’t read that script and in the 4th minute of added time Tierney Coulson managed to play a pass through to Emily Smith while stranded on the floor, and Smith made no mistake as she coolly took a touch before striking the ball into the back of the net. The game had one more twist as Elle Jefferson gave away a free kick with 30 seconds to go to give Lawford one last chance to salvage a point. Daisy Canny again delivered a superb cross that was struck across the Ives goal, but much to their relief drifted just wide.

The win keeps Ives 6 points clear of second placed Bowers & Pitsea with 4 games to play, and with Bowers beating Newmarket, Ives are now guaranteed a top 2 finish. Next up for St Ives is a home game against title challengers Bowers & Pitsea at Westwood Road on 21st April.

Report by Darren Marjoram