St Ives Town Ladies hosted old adversaries Newmarket Town at Westwood Road on Sunday knowing that a point or better would guarantee them the ERWFL Div 1 title in their first season at this level. And although they left it late, it was Saints who won the game and claimed the 3 points, along with the league title.

As was to be expected, Newmarket came out of the blocks fast in their attempt to secure a top 3 finish and the game started at a frenetic pace, with both teams pressing well and giving little time for either side to settle into a passing rhythm. Newmarket had the better opportunities early on to break the Ives back line and keeper Kira Markwell was quick off her line to stop the deadlock being broken on a couple of occasions. Newmarket also threatened from corners, but again Markwell was brave to collect the ball amongst players with minimal fuss. Ives chances were often thwarted by the flag being raised for offside, but they had the best opportunity of the half when they finally broke through the Newmarket defensive line, and a pull back from the right touchline found Hannah Seymour-Shove 3 yards out, but leaning back her shot rose quickly and cleared the crossbar. So the score remained 0-0 at half with opportunities at a premium for both teams.

Second half the Ives started more positively, and the introduction of Ruth Fox raised the tempo as passing moves started to flow a bit more. Katie Stancombe was also making life difficult for the Newmarket full backs as Saints began to apply a bit of pressure. Newmarket keeper Dominika Szary was in excellent form, and her high start position made sure any loose passes behind the visitors defence were quickly dealt with. But as always, Ives kept on working hard and trying to create opportunities. And with the clock ticking towards full time, Emily Smith became the hero on 87 minutes when she expertly controlled a bouncing through ball before smashing her shot past Szary for the goal that sealed the title. Cue the wild celebrations from the Ives players, coaches and supporters that took a full minute to stop and the game restarted from the resulting kick off! And even more celebrations when the final whistle sounded a few minutes later! St Ives Ladies are now Champions of the Eastern Region Women’s League Div. 1 in their first season at this level, and completes 3 promotions in 4 years. But with how well the team are performing at this level, nobody would rule out more success in the near future.

Report by Darren Marjoram. Photos by Gary Reed Photography.

St Ives Town Ladies took on second placed Bowers & Pitsea knowing a win would leave them in the verge of securing their second league title in two years, and despite some nerves they secured a 2-0 victory to extend their lead at the top of the table.

Bowers knew they needed to win the game to stand any realistic chance of winning the title, and started fast as they piled forwards. Ives has to weather the storm a bit in the first 20 minutes, but as had been the case all season the outstanding defensive unit of goalkeeper Kira Markwell, and the back 4 of Sasha Smith, Emily Stephenson, Ellie Brown and Mollie Flack gave everything to preserve the clean sheet. Bowers had one outstanding chance in that period, but failed to hit the target. As the game began to flow, Saints began to grow into the game, and had some half chances and several offsides when opportunities arose to get forwards. The Bowers keeper also made 2 smart stops to leave the score at 0-0 at half time.

Second half saw Ives start much better as they began to combine and create more opportunities, with Tierney Coulson working tirelessly up front with Katie and Georgia Stancombe causing problems for the visitors in the wide areas. The deadlock was finally broken when Katie Stancombe ran on to a through ball and was fouled in the box to give the Saints a penalty. Hannah Seymour-Shove stepped up and coolly slotted the penalty past the keeper for a 1-0 lead on 62 minutes. Ives has the lead, but still continued to pour forwards and just 3 minutes later they made it 2-0 when a pinpoint Katie Stancombe corner found Ruth Fox running in to power home a header and spark a mass celebrations around her! Bowers now knew the situation was desperate and threw more players forward in an attempt to reduce the arrears, but time and time again the terrific back 5, plus Anna Hicks, kept Bowers at bay and preserved the clean sheet for the remaining 30 minutes without any major scares to complete an amazing victory. The win leaves Ives 6 points clear of Bowers who have 2 games left. The Saints have 3 games left, starting with Newmarket visiting Westwood Road on Sunday, and so need one more point to mathematically secure the title.

Report by Darren Marjoram.

After a tough fixture last weekend St Ives Town Ladies ran out 3-0 winners today against a decent opposition in Stevenage Ladies Reserves.

Despite having the sun in their eyes in the first half the girls started the game off brilliantly with Katie Stancombe bombing it down the right wing and Tierney Coulson making a nuisance of herself in the final third, it was only a matter of time before we broke the deadlock. Georgia Stancombe was the one to do it for us she stepped up to take a penalty and scored it as cool as you like. Before the half was over the Ives got a second when Tierney Coulson pounced on a loose ball in box and slid it home.

In the second half Stevenage came out and started to show why they’re fourth in the league but they still didn’t have enough to break down our back four and on the occasions when they did get shots off Kira Markwell had it covered every time. Also in the second half we added a third goal to the score-sheet with an absolutely stunning lobbed shot from Harriet Ford.

Thanks to today’s result St Ives Ladies have stayed unbeaten in the league this season and have also increased their lead at the top of the table to seven points with 2nd place having a game in hand. Next week the girls are at home again in the ERWFL League cup against Bedford Ladies with a 13:30 kick-off.

Report by Ben Abraham