Match Report

St Ives Town v Alvechurch

Pitching-In Southern League Premier Central  24-01-2023

The squad is always a vital part of any football team these days and it was Ives substitutes who proved crucial to claiming the three points in this fixture. The introduction of Nabil Shariff and Enoch Andoh with around half an hour to go changed the flow of the game completely as up to that point it had been the visitors who had enjoyed the better of the second period after a first half in which the two sides had traded goals. A typical poacher’s goal from Shariff eight minutes after his introduction put Ives in front and Andoh ensured the maximum return for Ives with a well taken goal at the end of a flowing move with six minutes to go.

Very unusually for Ives, manager Ricky Marheineke named an unchanged starting eleven and bench following Saturdays excellent come back to claim a point against play-off hopefuls Ilkeston. FA Cup heroes Church who are on a poor run of form and have yet to pick up a point in 2023 made only one change from their previous game with new signing Peter Taylor coming into midfield and Jack Hallahan dropping to the bench.

Once again the quattro tech Westwood Road 3G surface had to be thanked for getting the game on as this match was the only one in Southern League Premier Division Central to beat the weather. The hosts started on the front foot with the direct running of Tyrone Baker setting up an early chance for Kellan Hickinson in third minute. But the Peterborough United youngster snatched at the opportunity and fired well over from the edge of the box.

Church did not learn from that early let off as Baker’s pace caught them out again seven minutes later and this time the Ives speedy winger outpaced Ben Cassidy to latch onto Myles Cowling’s perfectly weighted through ball, taking the ball in his stride and spanking it past keeper Dan Jezeph from just outside the box to put the hosts in front. 

That lead only lasted seven minutes as a reckless tackle from skipper Michael Richens and an excellent advantage from referee Jorden Gibson cost them dear. Richens slid into Jed Abbey with a late challenge that was always going to pick up a yellow card. But the tackle was so late that Abbey had managed to feed on the ball before he was hit. It ran on to Tyrell Skeen-Hamilton who, as Ives defenders momentarily stopped, seized the opportunity to stride on and beat James Dadge in the Ives goal from 20 yards to level things up. Referee Gibson then caught up with Richens to add insult to injury by issuing the hosts midfield enforcer with the inevitable yellow.

The entertaining game continued at a fast pace with both sides creating chances but each guilty of failing to test the opposition keeper when those opportunities presented themselves. The 19^th minute saw a chance at both ends within the space of a few seconds. Hickinson took on the Church defence and got past a couple of defenders before having the ball taken off his toe by the covering Aurio Neto Teixiera who in turn set up an attack at the other end that finished with Danny Waldron curling an effort from 25 yards just over the crossbar.

Ives next chance to get back in front came at exactly the midpoint in the first half as a teasing cross from the right by Paddy Casey caused panic in the Church box. Both Jordan Williams and Hickinson had close range shots blocked by the flying bodies of visiting defenders before the ball was eventually cleared.

Things settled down for the remainder of the half with very few chances appearing in the remaining time. The best of the half chances fell to the visitors ten minutes before the break when Jack Concannon found a little bit of space to run at Ives back line, but the Church midfielder got it horribly wrong when he went for his shot slicing his effort high and wide from 25 yards.

The visitors came out with the bit between their teeth at the start of the second half as they moved the ball around well and came close to getting their noses in front in 53^rd minute. Jonny Edwards lost possession to Jamie Willets on halfway and the ball was fed into the run of Skeels-Hamilton. The Church front man was pushed wide but still managed to get in a fierce shot from a narrow angle that took the combined efforts of keeper Dadge and his near post to keep the ball out. 

Excellent defending from Johnny Herd kept out the next two Church opportunities around the hour mark. In the 60^th minute he put in a perfectly timed sliding tackle to stop a dangerous run across the face of Ives goal by Skeels-Hamilton but the ball fell to Abbey just outside the box his attempted shot was a poor one, but it went back across the face of goal and was almost turned home by Concannon at the back post but the power from Abbey’s attempted shot was just enough to prevent him hitting the target.

Herd was again in the right place two minutes later as overlapping full back Cassidy picked out Skeels-Hamilton on the edge of the box and his curled effort looked destined for the bottom corner until the Ives full back appeared to divert it away from goal.

Two other important things that changed the course of the game also happened around the hour. In 58^th minute Shariff came on to replace Hickinson to give Ives a second striker alongside Edwards. Three minutes later Ives manager Marheineke unleashed the speed and trickery of Enoch Andoh replacing Kieran Higgs on the right to give the tiring Cassidy a whole new problem to solve.

Goal poacher Shariff did what he does best to put Ives in front eight minutes after coming on. Herd had already delivered a series of long throws into the Church box that Williams had managed to flick on but no one had got on the end of those flicks. Yet another missile launched into the box in 66^th minute. Williams again got the flick and once more the visitors struggled to clear. The ball fell to Edwards on the edge of the box, he did not hit his effort cleanly, but Jezeph spilled it and sure enough first to react was Shariff just beating the scrambling keeper to the loose ball and firing home off the underside of the crossbar.

Going behind for a second time seemed to knock the stuffing out of the visitors and with the very busy Cowling and Richens taking control of the centre of the park and the pace of Andoh and Baker causing problems down both flanks Ives got back on top. A 74^th minute cross from the right by Casey was met just inside the box by Shariff and his looping header had Jezeph scrambling before it glanced the top of the crossbar on its way over the top.

Manager Marheineke made his third change with ten minutes to go further reinforcing the centre of the park by replacing Edwards with Ed Hottor. The three substitutes combined to kill the game off four minutes later, Hottor won the ball in the middle of the park and put Shariff through the left channel. As the defenders and goalkeeper came to close him down Shariff unselfishly slid the ball sideways to the unmarked Andoh who had time to take a touch before firing home to delight the big Tuesday night home crowd.

There was still time for Andoh and Shariff to combine to almost add a fourth only ninety seconds later as Andoh danced his way down the right easily outpacing the tiring Cassidy before firing in a low cross that Shariff met at the near post, but the striker had gone a little to soon and the flag was up.

The win extends Ives unbeaten run to four games and takes them up to tenth place but that run will be tested in the next seven days as Ives visit fourth placed Leiston on Saturday and then make the daunting trip to league leaders Tamworth next Tuesday evening. Church on the other hand still sit in the relegation places. With up to eight games in hand on those around them following their FA Cup run everyone expects them to get out of trouble. But the cup run may have taken more out of them than they think and with no win since early December they have got to get back on track soon or they will find themselves very much in the dog fight at the bottom.

Final Score:  St Ives Town  3   Alvechurch  1

Goals: 

ST IVES: Baker 10, Shariff 66, Andoh 84

ALVECHURCH: Skeels-Hamilton 17

Team Line Ups:

ST IVES: Dadge, Casey, Herd, Richens (capt), Williams, Toseland, Higgs (Andoh 61), Cowling, Edwards (Hottor 80), Hickinson (Shariff 58), Baker, Unused subs: Milne, Kaziboni

ALVECHURCH: Jezeph, Dugmore, Cassidy, Taylor (Hallahan 78), Willets (capt), Carter, Jed Abbey, Neto Teixeira (Jeremy Abbey 86), Waldron (Soule 65), Concannon, Skeen-Hamilton, Unused subs: Williams, Randle  

Cards: Yellow:  ST IVES:  Baker (12), Richens (17), Williams (23), Casey (73)    ALVECHURCH: none

IVES SUPPORTERS MAN OF THE MATCH:  Myles Cowling  

Attendance: 195

Report by Nigel Howlett. Interview by Andrew Dunn. Match highlights by Ollie Jones.