Match Preview: Ives v Stratford

After a break of four weeks, home league action returns to the Quattro-Tech Westwood Road on Saturday as the Ives welcome play-off chasing Stratford Town.

The recent good run of form for the Ives which included victories against the current top three of Needham Market, Redditch and Mickleover came to an end last week with defeat at Bromsgrove Sporting. The Ives will be looking to bounce back tomorrow ahead of a trip to Royston next week who have improved of late.

IVES TEAM NEWS:

Ives boss Ricky Marheineke was missing influential skipper Michael Richens last week at Bromsgrove, and Myles Cowling started on the bench. Both may come into contention for a start on Saturday. Meanwhile, Lewis Patching looks set to continue in goal after he made his debut at Bromsgrove in place of James Dadge who has returned to his parent club, Northampton Town.

INTRODUCING STRATFORD

Stratford arrive looking to get back into the play-offs. They occupied fifth place up until last Saturday but a 3-0 defeat at home to AFC Telford United meant that they dropped out of the play-off zone. It has though been a good season in the league for the Bards who have recorded some impressive results and prior to the defeat against Telford, Stratford had been on a five match unbeaten run.

FORM GUIDE: LAST SIX

IVES: L W W W W L
STRATFORD: D W W W W L

REVERSE FIXTURE

The two teams met back on 21 October, and it was Stratford who recorded a narrow 1-0 victory with Callum Ebanks getting the goal seven minutes from time.

MATCHDAY MASCOTS

We welcome representatives from the St Ives Rangers Colts Under 9 Black Sox team (picture below) who will be our mascots. They are coached by Tom Cooksley and Derren Jones and the team play in the Hunts Youth League. A big welcome to the Quattro-Tech Westwood Road and we hope you enjoy your afternoon with us.

MATCH SPONSORS:

A big thank you to Quattro-Tech who are sponsoring the game tomorrow. The club would like to thank you for your ongoing support of St Ives Town and we hope you have an enjoyable afternoon with us.

MATCH PROGRAMME:

A reminder that all of our match programmes are available online only. The link to the programme for the Stratford match is HERE

Kick-off at the Quattro-Tech Westwood Road is at 3:00pm, but don’t forget you can join us in the Clubhouse from 1:30pm as we have a Happy Hour where the cost of all pints is just £3.00.