Saturday 17th July 2010 - Pre season Friendly

St Ives Town 1 Cambridge United 1

Att : 536    MoM : Lee Ellison (St Ives Town)

In front of yet another bumper crowd at Westwood Road the Saints displayed  another clinical performance against the professional outfit of Cambridge United.

The U's turned out with a strong, young side made up of many Reserve players from their CRC side why have been succesfull in the Ridgeons Premier Division of late.

The game started well for Town as their early pressure and clinical one touch football gave the home support a taste of good things to come for the season. Man of the match; Lee Ellison cam e close for St Ives as he saw his right footed effort go just wide of the post. Moments later a ball through the centre of the U's defence saw Scott Fielding pounce on the indecision between keeper and centre half and the attempted clearance rebounded of Fielding and into the net to make it 1-0 to the home side.

Immediately at the other end, Gavin Armitage was called into action to cleverly push the ball round the post to prevent an equaliser by United. Youngster; Conor Washington came close to doubling the lead when his header shaved the edge of Lewis Fenny's goalpost. Ozie Foster picked the ball up from just outside the box and let fly a low drive then deflected into the opposite direction causing Fenny to re-adjust and acrobatically tip over the bar to prevent yet another clear cut chance for the Saints to extend their advantage. Local crowd favourite; Dan Newman, saw his right footed volley rattle the post to frustrate the home side who could have been four goals to the good before the interval.

After the break, the scores were soon level when Blaine Hudson latched onto an inswinging cross to head home to make it 1-1 after only 49 minutes. Saints new signings; JP Dunncliffe and David Cobb seemed composed and brought a calming influence to the side that was eager to get their goal advantage back. Both sides enjoyed good passages of play throughout the second half and Armitage was again put to the test by Adam Marriott to save well.

The Saints used their squad by making several changes throughout the second half but looked comfortable throughout against the professional outfit which included many players with first team experiences at the Abbey Stadium.

After the game Saints Co Manager; Jez Hall spoke to the website to give his views over the days' events: "Today was a great day for the club and the lads performed very well in front of a great crowd" he added "our new lads seemed to fit in very well and you can see that they will bring us something extra for this coming season"

Commercial Director; Mark Taylor added "I would like to say a big thank you to our match day sponsors today; The Luminus Group, LW Page Haulage and buy-my-place.co.uk for their continued support" he added "Today was a great day for the club both on and off the field so on behalf of everyone here at St Ives Town we would like to thank the supporters for their attendance"

The Saints now enjoy a few days break before they travel across to Burton Park Wanderers on Thursday evening for a 7pm kick off against their fellow UCL side.