Bedford Town 0 St Ives Town 3
Pitching-In Southern League Premier Central 09-11-2024
Nigel Howlett reports from the New Eyrie
Another thoroughly professional performance saw Ives claim all three points off the play-off chasing Eagles. Every player did their job to ensure a third clean sheet out of four tough games on the road but the real eye catcher was debutant striker Amir Hadi who proved a real handful for the Eagles back line the only blot on his copybook being a needless yellow card for pulling back Scott Thomas in midfield with plenty of cover in place to deal with the hosts attack.
The game started with the previously free scoring Eagles on the front foot. Leon Lobjoit blazed a fourth minute effort inches over from the corner of the box and it took a brilliantly timed recovery tackle from Benji Mensah to prevent the host’s skipper Ryan Blake getting a run on goal three minutes later.
Ives were coping well with this early pressure with the back three of Kymani Skyers, Jordan Williams and skipper Alex Collard well backed up by team mates ensuring that keeper Dan Wilks was not really troubled until 16th minute when he did well to cling onto a fierce drive from the edge of the box by Lobjoit. The chance arriving as the Eagles striker pounced on a wayward pass from Albie O’Keefe before powering forward.
Both sides had a long thrower in their armoury and the next two opportunities both came courtesy of the missiles that they were launching into the opposition box. Carl Mensah rose highest to get on the end of Sam Brown’s 23rd minute howitzer for the hosts. But the big man up from the back failed to direct his header on target.
Five minutes later it was Aaron Smith’s turn to hurl one in for Ives. Collard won the flick at the near post to present Williams with a chance that he really should have scored. Three yards out with only the keeper to beat, directing the ball left, or right of him would have seen the ball in the net but the big centre back’s header bounced away of the chest of a much relieved Nathan Macdonald who had made his first save of the game without really knowing a lot about it.
Just after the half hour it was Wilks turn to earn his corn as he pulled off a remarkable double save to preserve his clean sheet. Lobjoit got on the end of Kyle Connolly’s teasing free kick from the left and directed his close range header downwards only to be denied by the outstretched leg of Wilks. Carl Mensah pounced on the loose ball and lashed it goalwards but Ives custodian was equal to the effort plunging low to his right he not only saved but hung onto the effort.
Ives took the lead in composed style ten minutes before the break. Hadi did well initially to take down a long punt from Wilks and there followed a series of passes across the face of the Eagles box before Benji Mensah eventually laid it into the path of Will Glennon in a little space 25 yards from goal. That space was just enough to allow Ives powerful midfielder to look up and pick his spot curling the ball into the top corner just beyond the outstretching fingers of Macdonald who was perhaps a little slow to react.
Now with their noses in front it was Ives who started the second half on the front foot. Only three minutes after the restart Jernade Meade’s threaded through ball put Hadi clear to the bye line. His pull back ricocheted across the box before falling to Smith 16 yards out at the back post. But the wing back snatched at the chance firing well over the top.
But the all important second did arrive for Ives in 53rd minute. Wilks again played an important part in the goal. The keeper reacting brilliantly to keep out Ed Gyamfi’s powerful low drive from the edge of the box. From that save the ball was quickly channelled to the other end where half time substitute Peter Abimbola laid it into the feet of Hadi and his delicate clip over the top put Johnson Gyamfi clear. With defenders quickly closing him down the Ives midfielder still had a lot to do but he kept his cool and turned inside Carl Mensah before beating the exposed Macdonald low to his left from just inside the box.
Now two goals to the good the visitors were expecting to absorb a little more pressure and that did come with shots from Ed Gyamfi and substitute Albert Wood flying harmlessly across the face of Ives goal in a five minute spell just after the hour.
But as the hosts continued to press forward in search of a root back into the game it left them vulnerable to counter attacks from their pacy visitors. Substitute Coree Wilson should have made it three with ten minutes to go. Put clear by Abimbola he got his attempted clip past the fast advancing Macdonald just a little to close to the keeper who got just enough of a touch to divert the ball past the post.
Lobjoit was still looking the biggest threat for the Eagles and only ninety seconds later he forced another good save out of Wilks pouncing on a loose ball to fire in a rising drive from just outside the box that Ives custodian leapt high to his right to tip over.
But as time ticked down the hosts seemed to realise that it was not going to be their day and even the prospect of an added eight minutes did not seem to lift them. A frustrated Thomas took down Benji Mensah just outside the box in the first of those added minutes allowing quite a chunk of that time to be used up. Meade tried to curl the resulting free kick up and over the Eagles five man wall. The shot got over the wall comfortably but did not trouble Macdonald as it sailed over the crossbar.
However Macdonald quickly became a very troubled man three minutes later as under pressure from Wilson he made the huge error of handling Brown’s chipped back pass. Referee Neil Fyfield was right on the spot to see the mistake and was quick on the whistle. A whole lot more of those eight minutes was used up as the Eagles lined up their whole side on the goal line to try and keep out the indirect free kick from seven yards. They were unsuccessful as Meade tapped the ball sideways to Wilson who lashed it home as the crowd on the line broke up.
That goal perhaps not unsurprisingly prompted a mass exodus of home supporters from within the healthy crowd of over 800. It was the small contingent of travelling Ives fans who were left to celebrate this excellent victory with their heroes. The result knocks the Eagles out of the play off places and sees Ives move back into the top ten now only two points behind their hosts and four points off the top five.
Final Score: Bedford Town 0 St Ives Town 3 Half Time 0 – 1
Goals:
ST IVES: Glennon 35, Gyamfi 53, Wilson 90+5
Team Line Ups:
BEDFORD: Macdonald, Odell-Bature (Soulya-Osekanongo 57), Brown, Thomas, C. Mensah, Green, Connolly (Wood 61), Simmons, E. Gyamfi (Hall 65), Lobjoit, Blake (capt), Unused subs: Dudley, Wilson-Braithwaite
ST IVES: Wilks, B. Mensah, Smith, Meade, Williams, Collard (capt), J. Gyamfi, Glennon, Hadi (Wilson 78), Skyers, O’Keefe (Abimbola 46) Unused subs: Creary, Adegbola, Obeng
Referee: Neil Fyfield
Cards: Yellow: BEDFORD: Connolly (51) ST IVES: Hadi (61), Meade (80)
IVES SUPPORTERS MAN OF THE MATCH: Amir Hadi
Attendance: 807