St Ives Town v Godmanchester Rovers

Godmanchester Rovers v St Ives Town

Huntingdonshire FA Senior Cup Final played at St Neots Town FC 26-04-2022

At times Goddy belied the 39 places between these two sides in the football pyramid but one always felt that having got an early two goal cushion courtesy of two well worked short corner routines Ives were doing just enough and so it proved as they unseated the holders to claim the Hunts FA Senior Cup for the first time since 2016.

Goddy started well and a dangerous early ball into the box by Alfie Warman was won in the air by Ross Munro and it took some quick feet from Ives keeper Eddie Brearey to just take the ball away from Mohammed Akhtar who was lurking by the penalty spot.

Having started their previous three games at break neck pace it should have been no real surprise that Ives got their noses in front early on. Goddy were caught napping in ninth minute as Dylan Williams played a quick short corner back to Luke Fairlamb and his low driven cross was thumped home from eight yards by Josh Flanagan.

Ives continued to press forward and Ed Hottor skimmed a 25 yarder inches wide three minutes later. The shooting opportunity had been carved out by a little bit of trickery from Williams cutting in from the left and drawing in defenders before laying the ball into the path of Hottor.

The opening goal had come courtesy of one of Ives Northampton Town loanees and the second in 21^st minute came courtesy of the other. Once again it was a short corner routine that caught out Goddy. Fairlamb was again involved, this time taking the corner himself on the left. Ethan Johnston came short to receive it and exchanged passes with Fairlamb who the picked out Liam Cross in a little bit of space 25 yards out. A little sidestep then a brilliant curling shot that found the top corner giving Jamie Greygoose in the Goddy goal no chance.

For the remainder of the first half Ives played keep ball moving it around throughout the team and forcing Goddy players all over the park to work very hard to win it back. Only sporadically did Ives really threaten Greygoose’s goal again before the break and when they did Cross was usually involved in the move. In 23^rd minute he got away onto a Callum Milne ball down the line and seemed to get caught in two minds as he cut inside onto his left foot. His clip to the back post may have been an ambitious attempt to curl the ball into the corner from a narrow angle or set up a simple header for Nabil Shariff who had ghosted in but in the end the ball proved to be just to high for Shariff as it drifted just wide of the upright with Greygoose beaten.

It took an excellent save from Greygoose to prevent Ives increasing their advantage only seconds later. Cross was again the provider teeing up his skipper Michael Richens for a thunderous drive from 25 yards that the Rovers keeper did very well to keep out plunging low to his left to get a good solid hand behind the ball.

There were a couple of controversial incidents as the half wore on. In 32^nd minute Greygoose appeared to handle the ball outside has area as he slid in to just beat Johnston to a ball through the left channel. But excellent referee Neil Hair was perfectly positioned to see and immediately waved away Ives appeals, maybe the contact was on the line and the hands came off the ball as he slid out.

The second incident two minutes before the break also involved Johnston as he showed an excellent turn of pace to rob a dallying Frank Nzeh just outside the box. The Goddy centre back reacted swiftly to cynically chop down the Ives striker just inches outside the area. The fact that the incident occurred in a wide position with other defenders coming around to cover saved the struggling number four from a card. The free kick came to nothing and so ended a first period dominated by the men in black and white.

The visitor’s man of the match Greygoose pulled off an even better save than his one in the first half to deny Johnston five minutes after the restart. Flanagan threaded a ball down the right that once again put the speedy Cross away his low ball to the near post was met perfectly by Johnston arriving at pace and the Ives striker was left sat on the turf in disbelief as Greygoose produced a brilliant reaction save to deflect the ball onto the crossbar from where it was scrambled away by his colleagues.

Having barely threatened all evening Goddy then missed a golden opportunity to put themselves back in the game in 57^th minute. Simon Unwin’s corner from the right was met cleanly by CJ Lewis who was somehow unmarked eight yards out. The big number ten should have buried the chance but perhaps he was as surprised as the rest of us that he was completely un-challenged and he directed his header about a foot over the top much to Ives relief.

That chance lifted Goddy to even greater efforts and another Unwin corner eight minutes later also produced an effort on goal. This time Milne won the first header but the ball fell to Lewis on the edge of the box. Fortunately for Brearey the striker’s shot struck Nzeh on it’s way towards goal taking all of the sting out of it and making the save a lot easier for the young keeper.

Those two near misses for Goddy seemed to make Ives realise that they could not quite coast through the remainder of the game as they appeared as if they were intending to and the dangerous Cross continued to threaten a third goal to kill the game off at the other end. He was twice denied that all important killer goal by Greygoose in 67^th minute. The young winger created the first chance for himself cutting in from the right past Jack Dickinson before testing the Goddy keeper with a fierce low drive that he did well to keep out. But the ball rebounded to the edge of the box where Hottor won it back and again fed in Cross with the same result again keeper Greygoose reacted well to push the shot away low to his left.

Ives did get the ball in the net again in 73^rd minute as Richens burst through the right channel from midfield and clipped the ball to the near post where Shariff side footed home. But his celebration was cut short by the assistant’s raised flag.

To give Goddy their due they continued to go in search of an unlikely route back into the game and it took an excellent double save from Brearey fifteen minutes from time to keep them at bay. Toseland’s poor ball out of defence was cut out in midfield by Unwin who fed in substitute Danny Baulk down the right. His low cross into the box picked out Lewis in a central position but Brearey once again showed his reactions and agility to keep out not only the striker’s initial effort but also his follow up at point blank range.

That was battling Goddy’s last real opportunity of the evening as Ives sensibly opted to see out time. The only opportunity in the remaining time came at the other end with eight minutes left on the watch. The most influential player on the park went close to grabbing his second of the evening. A speedy burst across the park from substitute Tyrone Baker ended with him feeding in Cross who just beat the fast approaching Greygoose to the ball and dinked it over him. The effort was net bound but did not manage to cross the line thanks to a gallant last ditch effort by covering defender Reece King who scooped it away at the expense of a corner.

As the gallant Goddy began to run out of steam Ives were able to retain possession and run the clock down to claim this worthy piece of silverware and give them a fitting reward to the end of an excellent second half to the season. Their sixth season at step three has seen them finish fourteenth in a particularly tough and unforgiving division. They claimed some excellent scalps along the way and saved the best until last. Unbeaten in their last four games played over only eleven days where they scored seven and only conceded a solitary goal. They well deserved their post match celebrations on St Neots’s excellent surface.

Final Score : Godmanchester Rovers 0 St Ives Town 2

Goals :

GODMANCHESTER:

ST IVES: Flanagan 9, Cross 21

Teams

GODMANCHESTER: Greygoose, R. King, Dickerson, Nzeh, Warman, M. King, Allan (Dear 78), Unwin (capt), Munro (Baulk 46), Lewis, Akhtar (Hammond 66), Unused subs: Moss, Butler

ST IVES: Brearey, Flanagan, Fairlamb, Richens (capt), Toseland, Milne, Cross, Hottor, Shariff (Osei-Bonsu 87), Johnston (Baker 54), Williams, Unused subs : Goff, Solkhon, Faris Rhaman

Ives Supporters man of the match : Liam Cross

Attendance : 257

Report by Nigel Howlett.

Cambridge City Ladies v St Ives Town Ladies

St Neots Town vs St Ives Town

St Neots Town v St Ives Town

Evo-Stik League Southern Premier Division Central – 01-01-19

Ives took the bragging rights from their struggling hosts in the Cambridgeshire derby but the one goal margin in no way reflects the superiority which the visitors had in this game particularly in the first half where they exploited some naive defending from the Saints and should have effectively killed off any remote hopes that the hosts had of getting back into the game.

Jake Newman gave them an early lead capitalising on an error from home keeper Finley Iron but also in the opening half Charlie De’ath twice rattled the crossbar with powerful headers and Ben Jackson had a close range effort well saved by Iron as the host struggled to deal with a number of well directed dead ball deliveries into their box.

Saints defensive frailties were exposed as early as sixth minute when De’ath completely lost his marker to get on the end of a long Robbie Parker free kick into the hosts box. Keeper Iron stayed on his line giving the Ives centre back a free header from eight yards but he got his angles all wrong and directed the effort back across goal and wide of the keeper’s left hand post.

The visitors went in front only six minutes later as Newman closed down Iron on a back pass. The keeper’s hurried attempt at a clearance went straight to Danny Kelly just outside the box. The tall Ives striker tried to jink his way around his marker Ryan Hughes and went down under challenge from the Saints defender claiming a penalty. Whilst others dallied awaiting a decision from the referee Newman seized on the loose ball and curled it home around the out of position Iron to spark much celebration amongst the large travelling Ives contingent.

The pace and trickery of Ives wide men Ben Seymour-Shove and Ben Baker was also causing problems for the Saints shaky back line and in 21^st minute Baker sprinted away down the left before cleverly feeding the ball back to Munashe Sundire in space thirty yards from goal. He instantly fed the ball onto Seymour-Shove wide on the right to keep the flowing move going. Seymour-Shove’s attempted cross took a deflection off Jordan Norville-Williams and looped up to the back post where Taylor Parr did very well to prevent the late arriving Kelly from forcing the ball home. The resulting corner was delivered to the near post by Seymour-Shove where De’ath rose strongly above the crowd to power in a header that beat Iron all ends up but cannoned off the underside of the crossbar and was scrambled clear.

Hughes was perhaps fortunate to escape with only a yellow card after he had got caught out the wrong side of Newman in 25^th minute. Newman was clear onto a Seymour-Shove ball over the top and was within inches of breaking into the box when he was taken down by the struggling Hughes who only escaped the obligatory red because Parr was also making a desperate attempt to get around and cover. The resulting free kick was wasted as a planned move did not quite work out and the ball ended up in the side netting.

The Saints have been struggling to score goals all season and had made three signings in the lead up to this fixture one of them being ex Ives striker James Hall and he was heavily involved in what turned out to be the hosts best effort of the afternoon in 28^th minute. He did well to hold up a ball played into his feet under heavy pressure from Sam Cartwright before eventually feeding it into the run of Dylan Williams fully 30 yards from Ives goal. The youngster took a touch before unleashing a wicked drive that twisted and turned in the air like an Exocet missile tracking its prey. Fortunately Martin Conway in the Ives goal was fully on his toes and although he had to react late he managed to get a good solid hand in the way of the cannonball and push it up in the air staying alert to catch the dropping ball before any other forward could react.

Conway was called into much less taxing action to deny the same player ten minutes before half time. This time the Ives custodian made a comfortable catch to a free kick from 25 yards that Williams curled over the visitors three man wall. The opportunity had come about when Sundire had brought down Hall as he tried to worm his way through Ives back line have been fed the ball through the centre by Tom Wood.

It seemed that Saints had not learnt their lessons from the early exchanges as they twice more went close to conceding in the run up to the break. In 37^th minute a Mark Coulson corner from the right was not dealt with and the ball dropped in the melee at the back post. Jackson prodded it goalwards from inside the six yard box only to be denied by a smart reaction save from Iron. The ball looped up giving Kelly the opportunity to go for the spectacular and he contacted well with his attempted overhead kick and was unlucky as the ball struck a Saints defender and rebounded away.

De’ath came within millimetres of doubling Ives advantage just seconds before the break. Seymour-Shove chased what looked like a lost cause wide left to keep a loose ball in play. Saints defenders were slow to close him down allowing him to curl in an in-swinging cross that De’ath rose majestically to meet by the penalty spot his towering header flash past the despairing dive of Iron but again rebounded to safety off the crossbar.

The second half started in similar vein with Ives still on top and in search of the second goal which would surely kill off the game. Kelly went close three minutes after the restart as he found enough space inside Saints box to skilfully take down a Coulson corner beyond the far post. He side stepped the first defender but his left footed effort was blocked by a covering Saints man.

Ives pressing continued and they went close again on the hour in very simple fashion. Kelly flicked on a long Conway free kick Newman held up the ball well before teeing up Cartwright who saw his shot from the edge of the box deflected wide by a defender. The resulting Seymour-Shove corner bounced inside the six yard box and flashed across the face of the goal without anyone able to get the all important touch to force it home.

Having failed to get the second goal Ives decided that it was time to preserve the lead they had and started to drop back into their very solid defensive formation. This meant that the Saints began to enjoy a lot of possession in the centre of the park but when it came to trying to find a way through they lacked the necessary invention or finishing ability. The closest they came in the remaining time was fifteen minutes from the end when Parr dropped off at the back of the box to head a Williams corner back into the mix. Wood won the header in the middle and directed his header goalwards but Conway made a good save by his right hand post.

Long range shots from Norville-Williams, Hall, Luke Knight and late substitute, another ex Ives man Scott Sinclair all looked in more danger of damaging cars in the station car park than testing Conway and as so often happens when the time ticks down with a side one behind they begin to throw more bodies forward and gaps appear at the back. Ives had two golden opportunities to put a more accurate reflection on the score line in added time. In 91^stminute substitute Ty Ward robbed Saints sub Matty Miles and put Baker away. He unselfishly drew in the covering defenders and then fed the ball square to fellow Ives replacement George Bailey the young Ives striker could have probably taken a touch but took on the opportunity first time and fired straight at Iron from the edge of the box.

Only sixty seconds later Kelly robbed a dallying Wood deep inside his own half and broke into the box before squaring the ball to pick out Baker in space at the back post on this occasion the Ives wide man did take a touch and ended up making the angle to narrow for himself eventually firing into the side netting.

Referee Alex Rayment brought a close to proceedings a few minutes later and whist a tired but very happy looking Ives group of players celebrated the victory with their fans who had gathered behind the goal at the Eastern end of the ground a very dejected Saints squad were summoned into the centre circle where there appeared to be something of an inquest going on which lasted fully fifteen minutes after the final whistle.

Not only is it the result of this game or simply the two teams respective teams League positions that give you a big clue to the reasons for each teams end of match itinerary. The results of each sides respective four Christmas fixtures give you a clue to their present fortunes. Ives achieved their stated pre-Christmas target of eight points from the four games whilst the struggling Saints did not pick up a single point and only scored one goal from a similar number of games.

The tired footballers from both sides must force their weary bodies through another game in four days time Ives visit to the high flying Biggleswade will be another tough road trip but one they will make in a very positive frame of mind. Saints on the other hand will be hoping that under achieving Royston do not hit form against them.

Final Score : St Neots Town 0 St Ives Town 1

Goals : Newman 12

Team : Conway, Jackson, Coulson, Sundire (Ward 88), Cartwright, De’ath, Baker, Parker (capt), Newman (Bailey 76), Kelly, Seymour-Shove (Snaith 63)

Unused subs : Hood, Wallis

Supporters man of the match : Robbie Parker

Attendance : 428

Report by Nigel Howlett. Photos by Louise Thompson.