Stratford Town 2 v St Ives Town 0
Pitching-In Southern League Premier Central 14-01-2025
Nigel Howlett reports from the Arden Garages Stadium
Manager Ricky Marheineke named an unchanged side for the third game in a row, but for the opening 25 minutes you would almost think that these guys had never played together before as Ives passes went astray and players were caught in possession all over the park. The high flying Bards constantly hounded their struggling opponents into errors and seized on the mistakes to win the game before their visitors had any chance to settle down.
The pattern of this early period seemed to be set straight from the off as Dan Wilks was almost caught out by the pace of Owen James. Coming outside his area to clear away a simple ball over the top the keeper thought he had time to get the ball away but James charged down his attempted clearance and raced onto the loose ball and was a little unlucky to see his shot from a narrow angle roll across the face of goal and just past the far post.
The pressure stayed on nervous looking Ives from that point. A tenth minute long throw was half cleared to Lewis Ludford-Ison who fired inches over from 25 yards. The opening goal arrived only seconds later as a poor ball into midfield by Ethan Creary was cut out and fed into the feet of Ludford-Ison who exchanged passes with Dan Lafferty. The final pass arriving at the feet of Lafferty just outside the box and the Bards leading scorer made no mistake drilling home low past the outstretched left hand of the diving Wilks to put the hosts in front. Now in front the rampant Bards looked to press home their advantage. Wilks made a good save high to his left to keep out a curled effort from Ludford-Ison in sixteenth minute.
Amir Hadi was causing a few problems for the Bards back line and he was take down just outside the left corner of the box by Dan Vann in 23rd minute to give Ives a first opportunity to get players into the hosts box. Dan Collard rose above his marker to get on the end of Peter Abimbola’s in-swinging free kick at the back post, the skipper’s downward header forcing a good diving save out of keeper Jacob Weaver at the foot of his left hand post. The brief period of Ives pressure was instantly relieved when Abimbola swung the resulting corner straight out of play to further personify Ives first 45 minutes..
The hosts doubled their lead three minutes later as Lafferty outpaced the Ives defence down the right before driving in a low cross that evaded everyone in the centre to arrive at the feet of James at the back post who gleefully side footed home to give the Bards a two goal cushion. The pressure on Ives continued and their penalty area resembled a pinball machine in 32nd minute as defenders bravely threw themselves across shots that rained in from Lafferty and James amongst others.
A 36th minute break in play for treatment to Ludford-Ison gave Marheineke chance to gather in his beleaguered troops for a potential reset and things did begin to improve a little with passes beginning to find their intended recipient with a bit more regularity. But the visitors still had one more scare before the break as the Bards first corner of the game carved out another opportunity for them. A well worked routine saw a step over of a low corner at the near post that set up a chance for James to steer a shot wide from a very good position twelve yards out.
Half time gave Marheineke time to go for the full reset with three Ives substitutions coming at the break. Aaron Smith, Albie O’Keefe and Greg Kaziboni replacing Jernade Meade, Kymani Skyers and Ethan Creary respectively and a change of formation from 3-5-2 to 4-4-2. Things did improve and a half chance fell to Jordan Williams only seconds after the restart. A Smith long throw was not dealt with by the Bards back line. The ball dropping to Collard inside the box and he fed it into his fellow centre back but Williams attempt at a turn and shot was blocked away by Paul McCone.
Another game of pinball in Ives box in 58th minute saw them just hang on with skipper Collard to the fore bravely throwing himself across the final shot from James at point blank range. Ives substitutions kept on coming and Coree Wilson joined the fray in place of the tiring Hadi only a minute later. The best Ives chance of the evening fell to Wilson nine minutes after his introduction as he challenged McCone for a long punt down the middle. The Bards man slipped leaving Wilson with just keeper Weaver to beat but he failed to make a clean contact allowing the Bards keeper to pounce on the effort low to his left.
Marheineke’s final throw of the dice saw the out of sorts Will Glennon replaced by Johnson Gyamfi with over twenty minutes to go. But it was the Bards who went close to increasing their lead in 69th minute. Josh Hawker and Fin Brennan combined well down the left. The move ending with Hawker firing in a low drive that the diving Wilks just managed to keep out low to his left. But like all good strikers Lafferty was lurking and pounced on the rebound to prod it home. Ives were saved by the upraised flag of the assistant on the far side as the Bards number ten had gone a little to early. Wilks busy evening continued with another excellent diving save to deny Ludford-Ison after the Bards powerful midfielder had surged through the left channel in 71st minute.
With time ticking down the hosts took their foot off the gas a little just looking to preserve what they had. This allowed Ives to enjoy a bit more possession further up the pitch. Gyamfi twice forced saves out of Weaver in the remaining time without really testing the Bards stopper. His 78th minute 25 yarder was straight at the keeper who easily gathered it in. Having been teed up well by O’Keefe his effort five minutes later from a similar distance did force the keeper to adjust his feet to make the save as the Ives number seven tried to curl the ball over Weaver’s head with the keeper just in front of his six yard line. But a quick back peddle and a leap ensured that the ball was safely in his grasp again as were the points for the hosts.
The win lifts the Bards up into second place only one point behind league leaders Kettering and on this form they will certainly be in the shake up for the promotion spots come April. Ives remain twelfth but now thanks to results elsewhere they will find themselves only three points above the drop zone as they welcome fifth placed Bedford Town to quattro tech Westwood Road on Saturday.
Final Score: Stratford Town 2 St Ives Town 0 Half Time 2 – 0
Goals:
STRATFORD: Lafferty 11, James 26
ST IVES:
Team Line Ups:
STRATFORD: Weaver, Vann, Brennan, Hawker, McCone (capt), Solanke (Sammons 80), Ludford-Ison, Lafferty (C. Williams 87), Joshua, A. Williams (Bruce 90+3), James (Storer 85), Unused subs: Clutterbuck
ST IVES: Wilks, Mensah, Abimbola, Meade (Smith 46), J. Williams, Collard (capt), Skyers (O’Keefe 46), Glennon (Gyamfi 68), Hadi (Wilson 59), Allen, Creary (Kaziboni 46), Unused subs: none
Referee: Brandon Scaife
Cards: Yellow: STRATFORD: none ST IVES: none
IVES SUPPORTERS MAN OF THE MATCH: Jordan Williams
Attendance: 255