Hitchin Town v St Ives Town

Pitching-In Southern League Premier Central 26-09-2022

Normally a point on the road at Hitchin would feel like an achievement, but somehow this hard fought draw felt like it was two points lost against a nervy Canaries side who looked like a team low on confidence and struggling to score goals. In fact the home side’s somewhat fortunate equaliser was their first goal in almost 400 minutes of football.

Manager Ricky Marheineke had shuffled the Ives pack after Saturday’s home defeat to high flying Redditch making four changes with Julien Saka returning at right back to replace the injured Kane Lewis and tactical changes seeing returns to the starting eleven for skipper Michael Richens, Greg Kaziboni and Tyrone Baker, the latter’s return after suspension for his dismissal against Leiston. Myles Cowling, Dylan Williams and Enoch Andoh dropped to the bench to make way for the trio.

It was clear to see that the hosts were not taking any chances at the back with the ball being pumped long at every opportunity right from the off and the first chance of the game came from one of those deliveries in ninth minute as Josh Coldicott-Stevens got past Johnny Herd down the right before trying his luck from a narrow angle. The well positioned James Goff blocked the wingers first effort but had to repeat the feat as the initial save rebounded back to the same player.

Ives first chance of the night arrived in twelfth minute courtesy of a trade mark Herd long throw which caused panic in the Canaries defence. The ball initially fell to Kaziboni at the back of the box, his initial shot was blocked but like Caldicott-Stevens a few minutes earlier he too got a second bite of the cherry but again his follow up effort was also bravely blocked at point blank range by the body of a flying Canary defender.

The pace of Baker was causing problems for the home defence and two minutes later the winger outpaced Kye Tearle to get to the bye line before picking out Nabil Shariff ten yards out with his pull back. Usually so deadly from close range but not on this occasion as Ives joint leading scorer somehow got the ball stuck between his legs allowing a covering defender to get the ball off him before he could get a shot away.

The opening goal in 17^th minute was brilliantly taken and showed exactly what Ives are all about this season as they cleared a Canaries delivery into their box and broke out of their own half at pace with Baker making a central run being the one picked out by Kaziboni’s perfectly weighted through ball. The Ives wide man outpaced the home defence and kept his composure to round the exposed home keeper Charlie Horlock before rolling the ball home into the empty net.

The visitors continued to look the more likely as they continued to harry their opponents at every opportunity but the hosts regrouped and their resolute defence kept them in the contest and ensured that although Ives were enjoying a lot of possession their opportunities to add to their lead were very limited. The closest they came was in 33^rd minute in very simple route one style as Jonny Edwards flicked on a long ball out of defence and Shariff timed his run to perfection to get onto it looking like he was going to go clear but much as he is an excellent finisher Shariff is not the quickest man in Ives side and covering defender Toby Syme made up the yards and managed to deflect the shot away when it came. The resulting Kaziboni corner almost found an unmarked Richens at the back post but Jack Green did just enough to touch the ball away from him.

Having not really threatened Ives goal since the early attempt from Coldicott-Stevens it was perhaps a little out of the blue when the hosts grabbed an equaliser in 38^th minute. Malaki Black was given time and space to roam forward down the left and he cut inside before feeding the ball square to Finley Wilkinson who decided to try his luck from fully 30 yards. He hit his low drive well enough and it got a deflection off a defender on its way towards goal but keeper Goff will be disappointed that he did not keep it out as he got down well and got both hands to the ball but was unable to prevent it creeping into the corner of the net.

A rising drive from 20 yards that flashed about a metre over the top from the otherwise well marshalled Edwards was the only other noteworthy event prior to the break.

But now with parity restored the hosts began to find a little more confidence and it was they who looked the more likely to find a winner in the early stages of the second period. Black was finding a lot of space on the left and giving them a constant out ball but thanks to solid cover in the centre his deliveries were not coming to anything. The hosts did come close though in 64^th minute when Wilkinson supporting Black on the left got past Saka and was taken down by the struggling defender inches outside the box. The Canaries number eleven picked himself up and took the free kick firing it under the jumping Ives four man wall. But Goff was well positioned, got a good sight of the effort, and held on well with home attackers bearing down on him hoping for an error.

As the half wore on things evened up again and Ives main threat was Kaziboni who was certainly quicker than Black and got to the bye line on a few occasions but the Canaries central defence was looking as solid as Ives and chances were very much at a premium. The visitor’s best opportunity to get back in front came with fifteen minutes to go and was served up by Kaziboni who exchanged passes with Richens before hanging up a cross to the centre where substitute Cowling arriving at pace met the ball powerfully but could not keep his header down.

Even as the game entered the last ten minutes it was defences that remained on top and any opportunities that appeared were in reality what might be called half chances. An 80^th minute 35 yard lob from Coldicott-Stevens was hopeful of catching Goff off his line but the effort floated harmlessly over the top on the strengthening breeze. Five minutes later the hosts thought that they had an excellent claim for a penalty but substitute Leon Chambers-Parillon had wandered offside before Herd clattered into him as he tried to get on the end of Ashley Hay’s cross. Hay himself blasted well wide from just outside the box as he went for the spectacular taking on a dropping ball first time two minutes from the end of the ninety.

The final Ives chance to nick it came in the last of three added minutes as a late Herd long throw almost dropped to Shariff inside the box but as previously the defenders came to the fore and the chance was snuffed out.

With everyone seemingly coming through the game unscathed Ives can now look forward to what must be one of the biggest games in the club’s history as they entertain Northern Premier Division Chasetown on Saturday in the 3^rd Qualifying Round of the FA Cup, only two games away from joining the likes of Cambridge United and Peterborough United in the 1^st Round proper.

Final Score: Hitchin Town 1 St Ives Town 1

Goals:

HITCHIN: Wilkinson 38,

ST IVES: Baker 17,

Team Line Ups:

HITCHIN: Horlock (capt), Tearle, Black, Smye, Georgiou, Green, Coldicott-Stevens, Gleeson (Chambers-Parillon 83), Hay, Freitas-Gouveia (Snelus 74), Wilkinson, Unused subs: Bell, Kane, Allotey

ST IVES: Goff, Saka, Herd, Richens (capt), J. Williams, Milne, Kaziboni, Hottor (Cowling 66), Edwards (D. Williams 70), Baker (Johnston 85), Shariff, Unused subs: Sandiford, Andoh

Cards: Yellow: HITCHIN: none ST IVES: Richens (55), Saka (64)

IVES SUPPORTERS MAN OF THE MATCH: Jordan Williams

Attendance: 303

Report by Nigel Howlett

Hitchin Town v St Ives Town

Pitching In Southern League Premier Division Central 15-01-2022

This league is hugely unforgiving if you have one, or two, players who are not quite on their game so it should be no real surprise that Ives were well beaten in a game where no one in their side could walk away and say that they played well. The previously struggling Canaries were grateful to accept their gifts particularly Callum Stead and Jake Hutchinson who claimed a brace each on every occasion capitalising on an error by the visitors.

Both teams had a decent break ahead of this fixture with the Ives having not played for ten days since their vital win at Nuneaton and the Canaries playing their first game since Boxing Day thanks to two Covid cancellations. On paper both looked to be improving after shaky starts to the season going into this game the hosts were unbeaten in three and the Ives had won three of their last four.

Given the enforced breaks it was no real surprise that the game started cautiously with both sides testing each other out without either really looking likely to make a break through. Both keepers had only a single comfortable save to make in the first ten minutes. The fit again James Goff back in the Ives goal easily fielding a 20 yarder from Hutchinson and his opposite number Charlie Horlock being no more tested by an effort from Tyrone Baker from a little further out.

The first real threat did not appear until 26^th minute when Hutchinson snuck around the back and almost got on the end of a delicate clip to the back post by Josh Coldicott-Stevens. Callum Westwood did just enough to direct his covering header about a foot wide of his own post.

Ives were struggling to create any real threat at all and at times were getting caught in possession by the hungrier looking Canaries. Dylan Williams was the guilty man in 38^th minute as Stead nicked the ball off him and fed it into Stephen Cawley on the edge of the box. He in turn laid it into the path of Alex Brown who wasted the opportunity by firing well over the top from 25 yards.

The hosts were enjoying a good spell as the clock ticked down towards half time and came much closer to opening the scoring in 41^st minute as a Coldicott-Stevens corner from the right was knocked out to Malaki Black whose first time screamer looked destined for the corner of the net until it took a small deflection off an Ives defender.

There was no such reprieve for the visitors two minutes later as Stead showed his quality by taking down a dropping ball inside the box, turning Josh Flanagan all too easily and firing left footed into the bottom corner of the net past a startled Goff.

Ives should have equalised almost immediately as Michael Richens charged down an attempted clearance from Ciaren Jones and gallop forward nicking an attempted header back from Matt Moloney off keeper Horlock leaving him with the simple task of rolling the ball into the empty net but he tried to break the back of the net from eight yard, slipped and somehow managed to fire past the post much to the delight of every Hitchin fan in the ground.

So instead of going in level at the break Ives found themselves “enjoying” what was probably a dressing down from the management crew one goal in arrears and it could have been even worse as in the first minute of added time Stead robbed Ben Toseland just outside the box and tumbled to the floor as the struggling defender made a valiant attempt to reclaim possession fortunately the claims for a spot kick from the Canaries supporters behind the goal were waved away.

The hoped for revival from Ives at the start of the second half did not materialise and the game continued in the same vein as the latter stages of the first half with the hosts well on top. They almost doubled their lead in 52^nd minute with Stead again the architect as he took in a pass from Cawley inside the box and burst past Flanagan but this time rather than go for goal he unselfishly tried to pick out Hutchinson at the back post but the ball across goal was just behind the centre forward giving Toseland chance to recover and get the ball away.

It took a brilliant save from Goff to prevent Cawley increasing the advantage on the hour after a throw into the box was allowed to bounce and the Canaries number ten tried to lift it over the Ives keeper who moved his feet well before hurling himself backwards to just tip the effort over the top.

The second goal was beginning to look inevitable and it arrived in 67^th minute courtesy of yet another defensive error. The dangerous Stead was again the man terrorising Ives back line as he robbed Flanagan deep in his own half and slid the ball into the run of Colchester United loanee Hutchinson who gave Goff no chance from just inside the box.

Two became three only ninety seconds later as Ives got caught out on the counter attack from their own attacking corner. Coldicott-Stevens was the man who broke away from his own penalty area with the ball and his ball over the top gave the lurking Hutchinson chance to outpace the last defender before comprehensively beating keeper Goff from the edge of the box.

Ives best chance of getting an unlikely route back into the game came in 71^st minute. Richens clipped a free kick into the box where Ethan Johnston managed to lose his marker to get a free header twelve yards out. He directed it on target but the athletic Horlock was equal to the effort plunging to his right to push the ball away. The battling Nabil Shariff also came close to grabbing a goal back three minutes later as he bravely went in with keeper Horlock to get on the end of a teasing cross from the right by Richens. The Ives centre forward got there first but just failed to hit the target with his close range effort.

Having safely negotiated those two scares to preserve their clean sheet the hosts finished off their visitors with twelve minutes to go. Richens was the unfortunate man to get caught out this time as he lost possession to Cawley just inside his own half. The Canaries number ten fed the ball through the left channel for the ebullient Stead to take in his stride before rounding Goff and rolling it home to claim his second and the hosts fourth to finish off an afternoon to forget for Ives.

The only real question left in the game was could either Stead or Hutchinson claim the match ball in the remaining time. It was the latter who came closest with four minutes to go as he rose highest at the back post to get on the end of cross from the left by substitute Ky Tearle but he could not quite keep his header down.

Thanks to Ives recent endeavours this result was not as disastrous as it would have been a few weeks ago but there is still a lot of work for both sides to do yet to ensure themselves of another season at this level in what is probably the tightest bottom half of the table ever at this level with twelve teams still separated by only eight points and approximately one third of the season to go.

Final Score : Hitchin Town 4 St Ives Town 0

Goals :

HITCHIN: Stead 43 & 78, Hutchinson 67 & 69

ST IVES:

Teams

HITCHIN: Horlock (capt), Green (Ackom 76), Brown (Tearle 83), Coldicott-Stevens, Moloney, Jones, Stead, Georgiou, Hutchinson, Cawley (Da Silva 84), Black, Unused subs : Kinoshi

ST IVES: Goff, Westwood, Flanagan, Richens (capt), Davison-Gordon (Dwumfou 54), Toseland, Baker, Hottor (Hicks 75), Shariff (Aiyelabola 83), Johnston, Williams, Unused subs : Rhaman, Manangu

Ives Supporters man of the match : Nabil Shariff

Attendance : 546

Report by Nigel Howlett. Photos by Louise Thompson.

Hitchin Town vs St Ives Town

Hitchin Town 1 St Ives Town 0

Evo-Stik League Southern Premier Division Central – 19-12-18

Not for the first time this season a sluggish start cost the Ives dear as the resurgent Canaries grabbed an early goal to claim all three points extending their unbeaten League run to five and moving them yet further away from the relegation zone.

The only goal of the game came after just six minutes as Ben Baker was robbed inside his own half by Michael Cain he fed the ball inside to Matt Lench who found space where he should not have done and strode forward to the edge of the D before cracking in a low drive that skipped off the wet turf forcing keeper Martin Conway into a diving save low to his right. Inexplicably none of his team mates reacted as Conway parried the ball away and the first person to pounce on it was Cain who had continued his run into the box and he gleefully hammered the loose ball home from close range.

After that the game settled down into an even affair with both sides probing for openings, but the now switched on Ives back line were as effective in snuffing out any Canaries sorties into their territory as were the switched on from the start hosts back line in dealing with anything that Ives could create. The two sides exchanged long range shots Conway making a comfortable save to keep out a Lench effort with home keeper Michael Johnson untroubled as Danny Kelly’s effort flew well wide.

The Canaries had a shout for a penalty turned down on the half hour as a low Cain cross from the right appeared to deflect off Sam Cartwright and hit the arm of Jarvis Wilson. Referees Joel Mannix looked across to his assistant who probably had the best view of the incident, fortunately the two between them decided that any contact was unintentional.

Ives came close to levelling things up from their first corner of the evening in 34^th minute. Ben Seymour-Shoves in-swinger from the right deceived everyone at the near post but was hacked clear by the foot of keeper Johnson in unorthodox style. The ball went out for a throw deep in Canaries territory and Charlie De’ath hurled it back into the mix at the near post. Kelly climbed highest and his knock down fell to Cartwright by the penalty spot but his goal bound effort struck a defender and Seymour-Shove’s follow up effort suffered the same fate before the under pressure hosts finally managed to hack the ball clear.

Ives spent most of the remaining period to the break on top but were still unable to test keeper Johnson. In fact the closest either side came to another goal was in 41^st minute when a quick break by the hosts saw Ezra Forde get away down the left Lench looked favourite to get on the end of his low cross to the near post only to be denied by an excellent saving tackle from Cartwright. The visitors struggled to clear the resulting corner giving ex Ives man Lewis Ferrell chance to curl an effort just wide from the edge of the box.

The visitors started the second period a lot better than they started the first and enjoyed a lot of possession inside the hosts half but they were still struggling to find a way through and the Canaries were still looking dangerous on the break. Ferrell again went close to scoring against his former team mates in 51^st minute as he got in front of his marker to get on the end of a Lench free kick from the left but he directed his near post header a couple of feet wide.

Ives went very close to levelling things up twice in less than sixty seconds in the 55^th minute. Another De’ath long throw was cleared to Munashe Sundire 30 yards out but rather than go for goal he played a perfect ball to the right to get Baker to the bye line the speedy winger picked out Wilson by the penalty spot with his cross and the big centre back powered in a header that beat Johnson but deflected over off the top of the crossbar. Less than sixty seconds later Baker was away again down the right outpacing his marker to deliver a low cross along the six yard line. Kelly sliding in at the back post looked like he must score only to be denied by a miraculous reaction save by Johnson at point blank range.

Ives continued to press forward in search of the equaliser but looked likely to go two behind ten minutes later as Wilson suffered an unfortunate sixty seconds. Initially screwing an effort well wide at one end of the pitch when another De’ath long throw had been knocked down to him. Then getting caught the wrong side of Canaries substitute Alfie Cue and being forced to bring him down inside the box at the opposite end. Isaac Galliford struck the resulting penalty well to keeper Conway’s left but the Ives custodian had done his homework and went the right way palming away the effort at full stretch.

The save lifted the visitors to renewed efforts and having escaped going two down they found themselves with a golden opportunity to get level only six minutes later. Hesitation in the hosts defence allowed Seymour-Shove to nip in and nick the ball off Canaries skipper Daniel Webb on the edge of the box. Like Wilson earlier the hosts centre back was forced to bring down the Ives winger inside the box, again referee Mannix had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Up stepped the usually reliable Robbie Parker he struck his spot kick well but Johnson matched the heroics of his opposite number a few minutes earlier as he plunged low to his left to push the ball away.

This set back only slightly took the wind out of Ives sails as they continued to push forward in search of what most people in the ground would probably agree would have been a deserved equaliser. The two central strikers combined to set up a shooting opportunity for Seymour-Shove 15 minutes from time. Newman got the initial flick onto Conway’s long punt down the park and Kelly held off Webb to play the ball into the path of the Ives winger cutting in from the left but his rising drive from 15 yards was straight at Johnson who held on well.

In spite of going three at the back and throwing De’ath forward to join the attack no further clear cut opportunities came the way of Ives in the remaining time and it looked like Forde was going to finish off the visitors deep in added time after he was put clear through the centre but as Conway came to meet him the striker dallied just long enough to allow Ben Jackson to get back and make an excellent recovery tackle.

A frustrating evening for the visitors in which they will definitely feel that they deserved something from this performance against a side who had put five past Halesowen on the previous Saturday and will continue to climb the table now that their thrilling FA Cup adventure is over. A good reflection on the Ives efforts is that the Hitchin match announcer who was also the sponsor for the evening awarded their man of the match accolade to their hero for the evening keeper Johnson. His save to deny Kelly was even more impressive than his penalty save the unfortunate thing is that had Ives start been up to scratch his heroics should have been preventing Ives taking all three points not just claiming one point.

The Christmas and New Year fixtures now come thick and fast five games in fifteen days over the festive season means it is a busy and crucial period in the League. Come along and support the boys in their big local derby at Westwood Road against the Crows and remember it is a 1.00 pm kick off, see you there.

Final Score : Hitchin Town 1 St Ives Town 0

Goals : none

Team : Conway, Jackson, De’ath, Sundire, Cartwright, Jarvis Wilson, Baker (Bailey 72), Parker (capt), Newman, Kelly, Seymour-Shove (Ward 87)

Unused subs : Hood, Coulson, Wallis

Supporters man of the match : Ben Seymour-Shove

Attendance : 241

Report by Nigel Howlett