Match Report
Royston Town v St Ives Town
Pitching-In Southern League Premier Central 06-04-2026
After just over 100 days, that winning feeling finally returned to St Ives Town as manager Ricky Marheineke’s men produced a dominant display to claim all three points against Royston Town on Easter Monday. Two goals from skipper Michael Richens saw Ives run out 2-0 winners on the day, in a result that confirmed Royston’s relegation to Step 4.
Marheineke made two changes from his side’s 2-1 defeat to Harborough Town last Friday, with Kai Source and Amaru Kaunda coming in for Aaron Smith and Jernade Meade.
Royston Town manager Chris Watters made three changes to the starting XI that defeated Banbury United on Good Friday, with Ollie Stephenson, James Brighton and Konstantin Ivanov being replaced by Joe Iaciofano, Bradley Smith and Jamie Judge.
Ives started the brighter of the two sides as they looked to impose themselves on the contest from the beginning. The early pressure forced a miscommunication between defender and goalkeeper that almost allowed Theo Alexandrou to take the ball off Royston keeper Reuben Rabstein, but the Crows shot stopper just managed to gather the ball.
On 14 minutes, Alexandrou did manage to test Rabstein with a shot from the edge of the area, but the keeper was equal to the effort and pushed the ball to safety.
All that was missing from Ives’ fast start to the game was a goal and they had the opportunity to get themselves on the board with 15 minutes gone, when Richens was brought down in the penalty area as a corner was played in. Referee Alfie Finch-Critchley wasted no time pointing to the spot, awarding a penalty. Dan Lawlor, who scored his one and only spot kick this season against Quorn, stepped up to take but was not as fortunate this time around as Rabstein sprung to his left and denied the midfielder from giving his side the lead.
In a season that has been characterised by missed opportunities to seize the momentum in matches, the travelling Ives faithful were hoping history was not about to repeat itself. 10 minutes later, Kaunda was played in behind the Royston backline with an onrushing Rabstein to beat, only for the Ives forward to see his attempted lob saved by the Crows shot stopper.
The visitors continued to come forward and finally broke the deadlock on 35 minutes, with Richens producing a superb solo effort to drive towards the box, holding off the challenges of three Royston players, before unleashing a cute outside of the foot curler that found the bottom left-hand corner.
This goal gave Ives a deserved lead heading into the half time interval, but with the away side having a bad habit of letting leads slip through their fingers, the travelling support knew there was still a long way to go in this one.
Ives picked up where they had left off in the first half at the begging of the second period and could’ve doubled their advantage with 50 minutes on the clock, when Kaunda found himself bearing down on Rabstein’s goal, only for Ives’ number nine to be denied by a good save from close range.
The next 15 minutes of the game saw very little in the way of clear cut opportunities for either side. Royston looked to create some uncertainty in the Ives backline by producing dangerous deliveries into the box, but the Ives defence remained resolute and were more than up for the task of dealing with a physical Crows forward line.
Duncan Idehen, who looked solid throughout, almost got himself on the scoresheet 65 minutes in when his header was cleared off the line by Judge, who was well placed to nod the ball away to safety.
Some more heroic defending kept the home side in the contest six minutes later as a good low save by Rabstein denied Neo Dobson from close range, before the ball found its way to Alexandrou inside the penalty area, whose well-struck effort at goal was acrobatically cleared off the line by Alfie Thornett. Despite the lowly league position Crows find themselves in, the commitment of the players on show couldn’t be questioned.
Despite the stubborn resistance from Watters’ men, an unfortunate miscommunication in the Royston backline saw Theo Alexandrou pounce on the loose ball and look to round Rabstein, only for the Crows shot stopper to bring down Alexandrou in the penalty area and deny a clear goal scoring opportunity. The penalty was given and the inevitable red card was shown to Rabstein, which saw centre back Archie Locke handed the gloves. It was Richens who placed the ball on the spot, looking to double his side’s advantage and his goal tally for the day, which he duly did, drilling the ball hard and low into the bottom right corner 76 minutes into the contest.
Though it may not come as much of a consolation for Locke, the defender can be proud of his performance between the sticks, making some superb saves to prevent Ives from grabbing a third and fourth goal in the contest. Kaunda had the best of the late opportunities, with the striker getting himself on the end of a pinpoint ball across by Lawlor, only for the former Cambridge United man to see his effort saved.
Following six minutes of added on time at the end of the second half, referee Finch-Critchley brought the game to a close, with Ives claiming their first victory since the 27th of December and their first clean sheet since the 1st of November. Marheineke’s men still find themselves in the relegation zone following Stamford’s win against Quorn, but now sit only a point behind Bromsgrove Sporting in 18th, who they play this Saturday at Quattro-Tech Westwood Road.
Final Score: Royston Town 1 St Ives Town 2 Half Time 0 – 1
Goals:
ROYSTON: none
ST IVES: Richens 35, 76 (pen)
Team Line Ups:
ROYSTON: Rabstein, St Clair-Burton, Murray (capt), Locke, Iaciofano (Nicholas-Davies 83), Harness (Ciuffa 83), Smith (England 69), Matthews (Avgoustidis 56), Warner-Eley (Ivanov 46), Judge, Thornett Unused subs: none
ST IVES: Taylor, Creary, Source, Richens, Idehen, Dobson, Hart (Miles 85), Kaunda, Wyatt, Lawlor, Alexandrou (Meade 92) Unused subs: Smith, Njie, Baker
Referee: Alfie Finch-Critchley
Cards: Yellow: ROYSTON: Smith (24), Matthews (29), St Clair-Burton (79), Murray (81) Red: Rabstein (75)
ST IVES: Yellow: none
IVES SUPPORTERS MAN OF THE MATCH: Michael Richens
Attendance: 357