Match Report

Tamworth v St Ives Town 

Pitching In Southern League Premier Division Central 26-09-20

For 85 minutes of this game Ives trip to the home of the Lambs looked likely to bring them maximum reward but the hosts second comeback in five days saw them snatch three late goals to ensure that the visitors got nothing from a very promising trip to the West Midlands.

Manager Ricky Marheineke made changes and looked for a reaction after Tuesday evenings poor FA Cup defeat at Brantham. Out went Ben Toseland and Ben Seymour-Shove who were both dropped to the bench and Kyle Lincoln who was left out of the squad completely. There was a return to the starting eleven for the ebullient Michael Gyasi and debuts for two late new signings left back Jacob Ballinger a loanee from Northampton Town and Brett Solkhon a veteran centre back with over 500 games for Kettering Town under his belt.

It was the hosts who showed the early threat with Thomas Tonks hurling massive throws into Ives six yard box from anywhere within forty yards of the visitors goal. Keeper Martin Conway doing brilliantly to get a fist onto the most dangerous of them under heavy pressure from friend and foe alike.

Ives first corner almost brought them reward in sixth minute as Marc Richards got on the end of Dylan Williams flag kick from the left and was unlucky to see his low goal bound effort blocked inside the six yard box by Kyron Stabana. The ball was kept alive by Williams who lifted it to the back post where Oran Jackson knocked it down into the goalmouth but Stabana was again on hand to scramble it away from Richards.

Two minutes later Ives repeated the trick when Richards again got on the end of a Williams corner from the right but for the second time in a row his on target effort was blocked on the line by a defender. This time the ball rebounded to the visitor’s centre forward who should have probably done better but only succeeded in firing over the top from six yards.

The early action continued and in 13^th minute it was the Lambs turn to feel they should have gone in front when another of Tonks’s long throws got all the way to the back post where it fell at the feet of Jordan Graham who should have scored but spent a few seconds trying to find the ball between his feet just giving Ballinger chance to get back on the line and bravely block the effort at point blank range.

Conway was called into meaningful action again in 25^th minute. Oran Jackson was adjudged to have pushed Jaanal Gordon 25 yards from goal. Lambs skipper Ryan Beswick cleverly curled the free kick over Ives four man wall and it was dipping in the corner before the finger tips of the diving Conway diverted it around the post.

Just seconds before the free kick was taken the visitors had lost their inspirational skipper as Robbie Parker had limped out of the fray to be replaced by Seymour-Shove who also took the armband. 

The remainder of the first half saw both sides more or less cancel each other out with Jackson and Solkhon looking solid at the heart of Ives defence and Jordan Cullinane-Liburd and Lathanial Rowe-Turner equally dealing well with the threat of Richards and the darting runs of Gyasi.

The hosts decided to make a change a half time increasing their aerial threat by replacing Gordon with ex Nottingham Forest man mountain Gerry McDonagh. But it was the visitors who had the first effort on goal of the second period in 51^st minute as Gyasi burst through onto a Richards flick down the right. He cut into the box before firing across the face of Jas Singh’s goal.

Down the other end in 56^th minute Graham continued his poor finishing as he found a little bit of space to get onto the end of a low Dexter Walters cross from the left but again failed to hit the target from close range. The hosts continued to threaten down the left and four minutes later Beswick threaded a ball through into the run of Lindon Meikle whose low driven cross was bravely claimed by a diving Conway at the feet of Graham.

The keeper’s long clearance won Ives another right sided corner and this time it proved third time lucky as Richards again managed to lose his man and divert Williams corner towards goal. This time the ball ended up in the net off the shin of Stabana to put the Ives in front.

Unfortunately they held onto their lead for only a few seconds as straight from the kick off Tonks found space to run at the defence and got all the way into the box before being tripped from behind by Ed Hottor to concede a penalty. Beswick went for power low to Conway’s right with his spot kick and although the keeper got a hand to it he was unable to keep the ball out of the net.

The Lambs management duo realised that they were coming off second best in a lot of areas of the park and decided to make their final two substitutions early replacing Mieckle with Shaquille McDonald and Cullinane-Liburd with Joseph Magunda in 67^th minute. The changes did seem to lift the hosts for a while and Conway was called into spectacular action again in 70^th minute as two long throws in succession caused problems. The first from the right was scrambled away from Walters at the back post. The follow up from the opposite side was won cleanly by McDonagh forcing the Ives keeper to hurl himself high to his left to make a brilliant diving stop. Four minutes later Seymour-Shove conceded a free kick in a dangerous position on the right as a Stabana cross struck his arm just outside the box. But Conway again did well as he claimed Beswick’s curling free kick at the back post.

Having soaked up a little bit of pressure Ives stunned the hosts by regaining the lead with eight minutes to go. A long Conway punt evaded everyone on the edge of the Lambs box allowing Gyasi to claim the ball on left deep inside the hosts box. The youngster kept his cool as he got his head up and calmly picked out Seymour-Shove arriving on the six yard line to give the stand in skipper a tap in.

This time surely the visitors would see out the remaining time, but it was not to be. Four minutes later another long Tonks throw was headed onto Ives crossbar by Jordan Gough. The ball was only partly scrambled away and was eventually fed back into the feet of the same player who was this time a little luckier as his twenty yard effort deflected off the legs of a defender to get past the diving Conway low to his right.

The equaliser lifted the home crowd and the players reacted pushing Ives back as they went in search of a winner which came in 89^th minute. Magunda’s low drive was brilliantly blocked by the diving Conway but the ball was kept alive inside the box and was fed out to Walters whose low drive from a narrow angle deceived the Ives keeper at his near post deflected off the upright and fell to the feet of Graham three yards out in the centre of goal. This time he could not miss!.

There was still time for more action in the added five minutes. In the first of them Hottor came within inches of interrupting the Lambs celebrations as a flowing build up had seen the ball teed up from him 25 yards out. He let fly a screamer that beat keeper Singh comprehensively but skimmed inches over the crossbar.

Hottor’s final action of the afternoon was not such a good one as he managed to pick up his third red card in his short spell with the Ives, this time for a second yellow as he tripped McDonald just outside the box as the speedy striker bore down on goal. To add insult to injury McDonald picked himself up and fired the free kick under a leaping wall to beat Conway low to his left and add an undeserved gloss to the hosts victory. 

Final Score : Tamworth  4  St Ives Town  2    

Goals : Richards 57, Seymour-Shove 82

Team : Conway, Jarvis Wilson, Ballinger, Hottor, Oran Jackson, Solkhon, Gyasi, Parker (capt) (Seymour-Shove 25), Richards, Williams, Hicks  

Unused subs : Toseland, Baker, Clifton, Patrick 

Supporters man of the match : Dylan Williams

Attendance : 339

Report by Nigel Howlett. Video by Dave Hook. Photos by Louise Thompson.