Match Report

St Ives Town v Tamworth  

Pitching In Southern League Premier Division Central 11-09-2021

This was a real battling encounter where Ives will feel that they deserved some reward and probably all three points having spent long periods on top against the high-flying Lambs. The truth is they are right but two moments when they allowed their concentration slip spoiled an otherwise very good all-round performance. 

Both of the visitor’s goals came after lengthy stoppages in play and on both occasions that lack of concentration was punished something that shows the difference between the top sides and the rest at this level. On the positive side Ives can take great heart from this performance as they camped in the visitor’s half for good periods of time particularly in the second half. What proved to be only a consolation goal came after a sustained spell of pressure where they won three corners in quick succession. The third of these being deftly deflected home at the back post by Nabil Shariff.

The in-form Lambs started on top and could easily have gone in front in only sixth minute as Jim Kellerman fed in Dan Creaney through the left channel. Home keeper Paul White came to meet him and the powerful centre forward deftly flicked the ball past the exposed keeper by much to his chagrin it rattled the crossbar and bounced down but was scrambled away by the fast recovering Josh Flanagan just ahead of Jack Concannon.

White was called into action again four minutes later as Concannon got clear onto Kellerman’s flicked header. Ives keeper quickly closed down the Lambs wide man and did very well to block the shot when it came at point blank range.

After these two early scares the game settled down and the hard working Ives began to work their way into the game and started to created chances. A route one opportunity came their way in 16^th minute as Nathan Hicks hounded the giant Orrin Pendley into making an error in the air as he misjudged a long White punt down the centre allowing the ball to bounce. Hicks got onto the bouncing ball between the struggling Pendley and keeper Jas Singh but failed to lift his attempted lob high enough and the effort drifted comfortably into the stopper’s hands.

Singh did have to make routine saves to long range efforts from Ed Hottor and Dylan Williams before the opening goal arrived. It came following a worrying break in the game, an Ives attack being broken down and the ball cleared by the reliable Lamb’s skipper Tom Ward. However as the players moved up the park Lucas Yeomans was left in a heap looking distressed on the edge of the box. After lengthy treatment the young full back was helped off the park having suffered an apparent asthma attack.

Play resumed in 37^th minute but in the five minute break Ives seemed to have switched off and the ball was quickly fed down the right hand side where Concannon bustled his way past Flanagan before dancing along the bye line and pulling the ball back into the feet of Aaron Forde who gleefully slammed home from eight yards to put the visitors ahead.

The hosts reacted well to falling behind and seized the initiative again with Dylan Williams and Ed Hottor particularly getting amongst the visitor’s midfield and Liam Cross and a sharp looking Shariff trying their best to find a way through the Lamb’s rugged back line well marshalled by the ever reliable Ward. The visitors were however looking dangerous on the break and in the fourth of the added five minutes substitute Louis-Augustin Malandjou Kondjo fed the ball across to Forde inside the box but Cameron McWilliams did just enough to force the Lambs striker to fire over the top from a good position.

A couple of positional changes at the break by manager Ricky Marheineke saw Hottor pushed further forward with skipper Robbie Parker dropping into a deeper role. But it was the visitor’s who carved out the first opening after the break in 56^th minute as Kellerman found space to roam forward 30 yards before releasing Concannon into the box. White was again quickly off his line to close the winger down and block his effort at close range.

From that point Ives began to build up the pressure on the visitors back line. Hottor and Parker combined well to almost put the latter through the middle in 58^th minute only for the Ives midfielder to be hauled back by Kellerman who picked up a yellow card for his troubles. Williams fired the resulting 25 yard free kick well over the top.

Hottor forced a save out of Singh three minutes later as he let fly with a powerful low drive from fully thirty yards that forced the Lambs keeper to dive low to his right to keep it out. McWilliams was joining the attack at every opportunity down the right and his overlapping run almost carved out another opportunity in 70^th minute. Williams fed him into the bye line but his hanging cross was well held at full stretch by keeper Singh.

The second Lambs goal came against the run of play in 77^th minute but the build up to it had started three minutes earlier. Parker was caught out by a long ball out of defence and his poor defensive header fell to Concannon who was racing clear only to be taken down in a desperate attempt at a recovery tackle by the Ives man. There followed a period of treatment for The Lambs winger, a yellow card for Parker, a substitution, and a drinks break before play resumed. When it did Ives were caught cold for the second time in the game as Kellerman curled a cracking free kick over the four man wall and into the top corner. A full stretch White got a big right hand to it but could not keep the ball out.

To their great credit Ives heads did not go down and they continued to take the game to their opponents. Their deserved goal when it finally came capped off a period of sustained pressure with three corners in quick succession. The third of those being brilliantly flicked home at the back post by Shariff. 

Thanks to a series of lengthy delays for treatment to the walking wounded throughout the second half there proved to be an added eight minutes, sadly this did not prove to be long enough for Ives to find what would have been a deserved equaliser. However there was time for Kellerman to take one for the team in the third added minute as he put up both hands to block a Cross effort just inches outside the box. It earned the match winner an early bath for his second yellow card of the day but it blocked what would have been a very dangerous ball into the box with Ives players lurking. Cross’s free kick deflected wide off the wall but this time the corner came to nothing. 

Ives must take this performance, if not the result, forward into Tuesday’s vital encounter as the Trawlerboys from Lowestoft make a quick return to Westwood Road following their success in last week’s League Cup tie.

Final Score : St Ives Town  1  Tamworth  2      

Goals : 

ST IVES : Shariff 90

TAMWORTH : Forde 37, Kellerman 77

Teams

ST IVES: White, McWilliams, Flanagan, Hottor, Solkhon, Milne, Cross, Parker (capt) (Snelus 90+2), Shariff, Williams, Hicks (Harding 75)   Unused subs : Heath, Agemoh-Davies, Toseland 

TAMWORTH: Singh, Yeomans (Malandjou-Kondjo 37), Wilder, Thomas, Ward (capt), Pendley, Concannon (Walters 78), Forde, Creaney (Taylor 82), Kellerman, Waite  Unused subs: Clement, Tait

Ives Supporters man of the match : Dylan Williams

Attendance : 214

Report by Nigel Howlett. Photos by Louise Thompson