Match Report

St Ives Town 3 Saffron Walden Town 1

Emirates FA Cup 1^st Qualifying Round Replay 11-09-18

Ives eventually claimed the prize from this vary hard fought replay following Saturday’s stalemate at Catons Lane. The match proved to be a nervy and at times petulant affair fortunately well managed by the referee.

As on Saturday the first chance of the game fell to the Bloods as Ives struggled to clear the first corner of the match in sixth minute. The ball ricocheted around the box before eventually rolling back to the taker Spike Bell who snatched at the opportunity and hammered his shot well over from a good position.

Ives settled into the game and eased any nerves that they may have by going in front in 17^th minute. A Robbie Parker free kick from the left was half cleared from the box by a Walden defender but Jarvis Wilson kept it alive and fed the ball out wide to Ben Seymour-Shove in space on the left. He sped away and delivered a driven low cross to the near post where the inrushing Tom McGowan met the ball perfectly to divert it past Neil O’Sullivan from close range.

Up to this point the petchiness between the two sides had been bubbling under the surface but it exploded in the 21^st minute as Charlie De’ath clattered into Julian Simon-Parsons in the centre of the park as both went for an awkward bouncing ball. De’ath certainly got his boot high as did the Bloods man and both players went down in a heap with the Walden supporters screaming for a red card for De’ath. After a lengthy period of treatment for both players the card issued by referee Jeff Aldous was a correctly interpreted yellow.

The hosts came close to grabbing a second two minutes later Parker robbed a dallying Bell and sped away down the left. His perfectly weighted clip into the middle looked like it was going to role into the path of Dylan Wilson but a brave plunge in by keeper O’Sullivan just took the ball off the toes of the Ives striker.

Simon-Parsons was still feeling the after affects of his collision with De’ath and he limped out of the game in 27^th minute to be replaced by the man who had stood in for him whilst he served a one match ban on Saturday Charlie Davis.

Ives loanee keeper from Mansfield Town Sam Wilson was looking confident in dealing with everything that came his way and he was called into action a couple of times with half time looming. In 40^th minute he did well to climb above Ryan Fleming and get a good clean punch onto a long Bell throw and even better making a clean catch above the crowd as the ball was lofted back into the box. He was also well positioned on his near post to make a comfortable save from a Bell strike from the corner of the box three minutes later.

Thanks to the long periods of treatment to Simon-Parsons and De’ath there were four added minutes at the end of the first period and the game’s second flash point arrived just seconds from the end of the last one of these as Ashley Skeggs launched himself two footed to take out Parker inside the centre circle as the Ives skipper was breaking away at pace. Referee Aldous had no option but to go into his top pocket to brandish the red card to the Bloods midfielder much to the disgust of the Walden supporters and management team who felt they had been very hard done by.

Parker should have inflicted more pain on the Bloods only thirteen seconds after the restart as a kick off move by the Ives almost worked perfectly the ball arriving at the feet of Parker in space on the corner of the visitor’s box. The skipper struck his shot well but it was always rising and just cleared O’Sullivan’s crossbar much to the relief of the beaten keeper.

Ives were now well on top against the ten men but to their great credit the Bloods continued to battle to stay in the game. Dylan Wilson showed his excellent touch in 49^th minute as he took down a clip into the box from the right by Owen Wallis and in a single movement swivelled and got his shot away from the edge of the box unfortunately his effort was straight at O’Sullivan who held on well. 

A second Ives goal was on the cards and it duly arrived in 57^th minute in simple fashion thanks to the quick thinking of Parker. His quick free kick from the half line way set Seymour-Shove away down the left and caught the Bloods all at sea. The visitors were still in disarray as Seymour-Shove picked out Jarvis Wilson in space at the back post. The young centre back kept his composure and guided his powerful header into the far corner of the net to claim his first goal for the Ives. 

But having fought so hard to get two in front the hosts switched off momentarily and found the deficit reduced to one again less than ninety seconds later. Sam Cartwright was trying to police a through ball out of play on the edge of his own box only to be robbed by Dan Trendall who then cut inside and unleashed a rising drive into the far corner of the net past the exposed Wilson.

The goal lifted the Bloods and they continued to push forward in search of an unlikely equaliser. Bell delivered a deep corner in 63^rd minute that Fleming headed back into the danger zone but no one was on hand to force the ball home and it was eventually hacked to safety. The Bloods full back hurled another ball deep into Ives territory from the resulting throw again the hosts struggled to clear but the ball eventually arrived in the safe hands of keeper Wilson.

Manager Ricky Marheineke made a double substitution with twenty minutes to go replacing Snaith and Seymour-Shove with the pacey Ben Baker and the ever-willing George Bailey and Baker almost scored with his first touch only seconds later. Dylan Wilson bravely went in with Jamie Riley and keeper O’Sullivan as they all challenged for a long ball just outside the Bloods box. The ball ran loose towards Baker who looked like he had got a tap in only for Bloods skipper to slide in with a covering tackle that took the ball off the young striker’s toe.

Bloods manager Stuart Wardley played his final card with 13 minutes to go as he took off left back James Solkhon and threw on an extra striker in James Crane. But as the ten men tired it was Ives who were now well on top. In 83^rd minute Bailey battled his way through three tired challenges to get into a good position on the edge of the box only to unleash a tame left footed effort straight at O’Sullivan.

The goal that finally killed off the gallant visitors arrived six minutes from time as Baker and Wallis worked a short corner that ended with the former delivering a driven cross into the box that deflected up off a struggling defender to present Sam Carwright with a free header six yards out. The Peterborough youngster became the second centre back to open his Ives account of the evening as he gleefully steered the ball home. 

Baker had one more opportunity to inflict further pain on the now defeated Bloods as he got on the end of a ball from the left from fellow substitute Jordan Patrick in space beyond the far post. He took the ball down well but pulled his shot across the face of the goal from just inside the box.

Referee Aldous brought proceedings to an end a few minutes later and it is Ives who can welcome the Gingerbreads from Grantham Town to Westwood Road in the next round on Saturday 22^nd September. Equally important to the win was seeing the return of the majority of our injured players in this fixture competition for places will keep everyone on their toes in the next few weeks.

On a night where there were again a number of contenders for the man of the match award the very hard working Tom McGowan claimed it for the second match in a row this time courtesy of Mark Plummer from the Hunts Post.

Result :  St Ives Town  3  Saffron Walden Town  1    

Goals : McGowan 17, Jarvis Wilson 57, Cartwright 84

Team : Sam Wilson, Hood, De’ath, McGowan, Cartwright, Jarvis Wilson, Wallis, Parker (capt), Dylan Wilson (Patrick 86), Snaith (Baker 70), Seymour-Shove (Bailey 70)

Unused subs : O’Connor, Coulson, Sundire, Rogers

Man of the match : Tom McGowan

Attendance : 258

Report by Nigel Howlett. Photos by Louise Thompson