Match Report
Berkhamsted v St Ives Town
Emirates FA Cup First Qualifying Round | 30-08-2025
A below par performance saw Ives tamely tumble out of the FA Cup at the first hurdle at the hands of Southern League Premier Division South high flyers Berkhamsted. The result also had the sweet taste of revenge for the Comrades who had been unceremoniously dumped out of this competition last season at the quattro tech Westwood Road. It was also the first time that the hosts had achieved victory over the Ives at the fifth time of trying.
To add insult to injury two of the stars for the hosts were ex St Ives players former fans favourite centre back Charlie Johnson ensured that the threat of Theo Alexandrou was almost completely extinguished and perhaps a less well remembered player American winger Michael Harding latched on a loose ball just after the break to grab the Comrades second.
Although we did not know it at the time the closest that Ives came to scoring came from their first real attack in sixth minute. Jiah Medrano whipped in a teasing cross from the left, Alexandrou got between the centre backs and lunged at the ball only six yards out. He just failed to get a touch but did enough to force home goalkeeper Charlie Horlock to move to cover his attempt. The in-swinging cross skipped off the turf between them and flashed inches wide of the far post. Had that gone in the afternoon could have been so different.
The hosts took a little while to settle and their first real threat on goal arrived in 15th minute when Jonathan Lacey and Harding broke at pace exchanging passes down the right, the latter picked out Luke Andrews with his pull back and although the Comrades number 8 did not strike the ball cleanly he forced a save out of Ives keeper Ollie Taylor at his near post.
The resulting corner was turned out for another and from that follow up Duncan Idehen was forced into one of his many timely interceptions of the afternoon. The initial flag kick was fed back to Lacey who curled an in-swinger that Matt Bateman looked likely to bury until the head of the flying Idehen took the ball away from him.
It was the turn of Idehen’s fellow centre back Jordan Williams to come to Ives rescue in 25th minute. Harding was again involved in the move as he combined with Andrews down the left before pulling the ball back to Lacey on the edge of the box. Williams flung himself across the line of the midfielder’s fierce first time effort.
The pressure from the hosts continued and Idehen was again Ives saviour in 28th minute as he bravely blocked a fierce cross shot from Lacey that looked destined for the bottom corner. Idehen was caught out once in the game and that was just after the half hour when the lively Harding managed to turn him forcing the Ives man to clip his heels just outside the right edge of the box. Lacey cleverly drilled the free kick to the near post where Bateman saw his first time effort deflected wide.
Another Lacey free kick two minutes later carved out another chance for the hosts. This time he delivered it deep from the right picking out Kwad Kyei ghosting in unmarked at the back post. The full back got plenty of power in his header but fortunately directed it straight at Taylor who held on well. That almost inadvertently lead to a chance at the other end less than a minute later as Taylor’s long punt drifted on the wind forcing Johnson to concede a corner. Williams almost forced home Jernade Meade’s in-swinger winning the header inside the six yard box and being unlucky to see it rebound over the top off James Curteen.
Just when it was looking likely that the game would arrive at the half time mark goalless Ives fell behind to a sucker punch in 41st minute. Taylor came to the edge of his box looking to claim a long ball over the top but the ball held up in the wind allowing Adam Watkins to get to it first and lift it over the top of the stranded keeper and into the net.
Ives had one half chance to get back on level terms before the break as Alexandrou was taken down by Curteen just outside the box in the final minute. Meade fired the resulting free kick straight into the Comrades four man wall but the ball ricocheted to Idehen on the edge of the box. But the cultured centre back only succeeded in firing a tame shot straight into the arms of Horlock.
The visitors needed to get a good start to the second period but they got anything but. Four minutes after the restart Taylor pulled off an excellent reaction save to keep out Bateman’s close range flick to Lacey’s near post free kick. But the keeper undid all his good work at the resulting corner. Lacey delivered it to the back post where Harding reacted first to beat the keeper to the header down and fire it home from close range.
Now two goals to the good the confident hosts continued to move the ball around well. Another brilliant block from Idehen prevented Bateman turning home Andrews’s low cross at the near post in 56th minute. A clever dummy from Harding created a 67th minute shooting opportunity for Lacey but he fired just wide from the edge of the box.
Manager Ricky Marhieneke introduced the power of Jamal Adams and the trickery of Kobe Chong for the ineffective Liam Cross and Matty Miles respectively but it made little difference to the flow of the game. Cyrus Babaie should have made it three with ten minutes to go as Williams misjudged a long ball on the breeze allowing the Comrades substitute to go clear. But the striker fired wide from the edge of the box as Taylor came to close him down.
The hosts went close to adding to their lead twice more in the following four minutes as initially Curteen did well to keep alive a deep corner from the right and delivered the ball back into the centre where Harding got in between defenders but directed his close range header over the top. A long ball over the top almost caught out Ives again in 84th minute as substitute Darnell Braithwaite latched on to it and lifted the ball over the stranded Taylor but this time it bounced wide.
Ives twice went close to what would have been no more than a consolation in added time. Adams almost burst through onto a Chong flick but Johnson recovered to toe poke the ball inches over his own crossbar. The final action saw Alexandrou fire a 25 yard free kick around the hosts four man wall but inches wide of the post.
So ends a sad afternoon for the visitors with a performance that is undoubtedly their worst to date lacking creativity in midfield and any real threat up front. At times it looked like Idehen and Williams were the only pair preventing the Comrades running riot. Having said that both goals were poor ones to concede and Taylor will probably blame himself but no one else came to his aid particularly on the second one. Without those errors Ives could have been looking forward to a replay on Monday night. But as it is they must learn and move on quickly from this performance and result and start to pick up some more league points to lift themselves away from the drop zone.
Final Score: Berkhamsted 2 St Ives Town 0 Half Time 1 – 0
Goals:
BERKHAMSTED: Watkins 41, Harding 50
ST IVES:
Team Line Ups:
BERKHAMSTED: Horlock, Rosner, Kyei, Watkins (Babaie 68), Johnson, Gurteen, Lacey (Braithwaite 82), Andrews (Barker 78), Bateman (capt) (Christie 66), Wadkins, Harding (Mitchell 82), Unused subs: Hyde,
ST IVES: Taylor, Creary, Medrano, Richens (capt) (Shepherd 89), Williams, Idehen, Cross (Chong 73), Miles (Adams 70), Meade, Hadi (Njie 78), Alexandrou, Unused subs: Smith
Referee: Patrick Nixon
Cards: Yellow: BERKHAMSTED: Andrews (21) ST IVES: Idehen (31), Marheineke (35), Alexandrou (65), Hadi (71),
IVES SUPPORTERS MAN OF THE MATCH: Duncan Idehen
Attendance: 240