Match Report
Barwell v St Ives Town
Pitching-In Southern League Premier Central 09-08-2025
An opening day defeat for Ives for the third season in a row but this one will rankle even more than the others as two goals to the good ten minutes after the break and looking comfortable they failed to defend two corners effectively and then to really turn the knife lost out on even a single point as they conceded an injury time penalty to allow the Canaries to complete an amazing comeback.
Both teams had been decimated by departures in the summer and were at a similar point in their rebuilding process. This was most clearly shown when comparing the corresponding fixture played in late March. The hosts starting eleven for today’s game had four players left from five months ago, whilst Ives had two.
It was the visitors who started on the front foot and they took the lead with the first real chance of the game after nine minutes. The goal came from a man who has been missing with serious injury for almost a year and it was a clear sign that he has still got what it takes as Kobe Chong picked up a ball on the right corner of the box and cut inside before unleashing a left footed effort that thudded into a defender and bounced straight back to the tricky striker who kept his composure to fire first time low past home keeper Finn Osborn.
Now in front Ives started to play the ball around and look comfortable. The hosts were busy without really looking threatening. Their first half chance did not arrive until 26th minute when a corner from the right was headed away at the near post by Jiah Medrano but the ball dropped to Kane Richards just outside the box. The Canaries skipper struck his first time half volley well enough but it was always going over the top.
Canaries only other effort at Ives goal before the break ended in similar style as Callum Chettle fired over Will Grewal-Pollard’s low cross from the left in 31st minute. The visitors went into the half time break well satisfied with their first half efforts with the only concern on their mind being Liam Cross limping out of the game just before the break to be replaced by Amir Hadi. Things got even better for them early in the second period. Initially Hadi had done well to win the ball in the middle of the park, he fed it into the feet of Neo Dobson who in turn teed up Albie O’Keefe for a 25 yard effort that the youngster fired straight into the arms of Osborn.
Having scored after nine minutes in the first half Ives repeated the trick in the second as Northampton Town loanee Dobson showed his poachers prowess. Medrano’s long throw from the left was flicked on at the near post and the youngster was first to react hooking home the ball at the near post with his left foot to double the visitor’s advantage.
But that two goal cushion was short lived as only two minutes later the tricky Charlie Dowd jinked his way into the box from the right before unleashing a fierce drive that deflected just wide off the covering Jordan Williams. The resulting corner from the right was won powerfully in the air by the penalty spot by Tyrell Waite and it took a fantastic flying save by Ollie Taylor to fingertip the effort onto the crossbar but the keeper was helpless to keep the ball out as it was bundled over the line from close range by Sidik Atcha.
Halving the arrears so quickly lifted the hosts and they enjoyed a good spell without testing Taylor. The closest that they came in that twenty minute period was when Chettle dragged a thirty yarder wide in 65th minute.
Having weathered that spell Ives went in search of what would surely be a clincher. A lung busting overlapping 75th minute run by full back Matty Miles saw him get to the bye line and direct his low cross to the near post where Dobson was arriving at pace. The young striker was just beaten to the ball by his marker Atcha who was fortunate to see the ball deflect off his knee and loop inches over Osborn’s crossbar. But the best chance to sew things up came only sixty seconds later when a rampaging run from Hadi saw him burst through a tackle and jink past two other defenders before beating the exposed Osborn from the edge of the box, unfortunately for Hadi the effort crept inches the wrong side of the upright.
But having failed to kill the game off Ives then found themselves back on level terms with five minutes to go. The Canaries second goal coming in very similar fashion to their opener. The only differences being that the corner was delivered from the left but it was won cleanly by Atcha at the back post. His header back into the middle was nodded home from close range by the lurking Zayn Hakeem.
Ives did not give up and the hard working Jernade Meade forced a save out of Osborn only one minute later. But the Canaries made their come back complete one minute into added time as full back Kornell McDonald bust into the box and went down under challenge from Medrano. Excellent referee Kieron Rogers was in the perfect place to see that Medrano made no contact on the ball and only took the legs of McDonald. Substitute Tyree Wilson kept his cool to send Taylor the wrong way from the spot and make it a miserable opening day for the Ives.
On the positive side for the visitors. It was good to see Chong get an excellent sixty minutes of competitive football under his belt after his long lay off and the man that replaced him after the hour was another long term absentee Michael Richens who perhaps unsurprisingly for a man who has been off for well over a year was way off the pace. But hopefully if they have both come out of it with no negative reaction both will continue to improve in the next few weeks to clearly strengthen the Ives small squad.
Final Score: Barwell 3 St Ives Town 2 Half Time 0 – 1
Goals:
BARWELL: Atcha 56, Hakeem 85, Wilson 90+1 (pen)
ST IVES: Chong 9, Dobson 54
Team Line Ups:
BARWELL: Osborn, McDonald, Grewal-Pollard (Miekle 79), Chettle, Atcha, Mancinelli, Dowd (Sandhu 77), Waite (Wilson 71), Richards (capt), Hakeem, Rowe-Turner (Frances 90+5), Unused subs: Singh
ST IVES: Taylor, Mills, Medrano, Meade (capt), Williams, Idehen, Chong (Richens 62), O’Keefe, Dobson (Creary 89), Cross (Hadi 41), Alexandrou, Unused subs: Njie, Adams
Referee: Kieron Rogers
Cards: Yellow: BARWELL: Dowd (52), Grewal-Pollard (53) ST IVES: none
IVES SUPPORTERS MAN OF THE MATCH: Jernade Meade
Attendance: 217