Match Report
Royston Town v St Ives Town
Pitching-In Southern League Premier Central 21-04-2025
This was certainly not a Bank Holiday classic that will live long in the memory of any of the 500 plus crowd present but it is a vital point that takes Ives to the cusp of survival and an amazing tenth season at step 3. The hard bumpy pitch with the top freshened up by a couple of hours of morning rain made it almost impossible for either side to play flowing football and the game was punctuated with misplaced passes throughout lifting above what could only be described as a scrappy affair on very few occasions.
The prospects of Ives playing anything resembling their usual flowing home style were not helped by pre-match news that midfield playmaker Jernade Meade had succumbed to illness and was replaced in the centre of the park by enforcer Ed Hottor. This proving to be the visitors only change from the team that fought all the way to gain another vital point from Saturdays 1-1 draw with fellow strugglers Bishop’s Stortford. The mid table Crows seized the opportunity to freshen up their squad with five changes from the team who had gone down 1-0 at Kettering 48 hours earlier.
Ives won an early corner almost straight from the kick off and it took a very strong fist from under pressure keeper James Head to prevent Peter Abimbola’s in-swinger going straight into the net. The keeper recovered his ground well to cling onto Claudio Dias’s attempt to loft the ball back into the net.
Keeper Head was called into action again in seventh minute as Ives kept up the early pressure. But the experienced keeper was in the perfect position to turn Alex Collard’s flicked header to Aaron Smith’s long throw around his near post. Dan Wilks in the visitor’s goal was called into his first meaningful action only seconds later as the Crows made a powerful break from the resulting Ives flag kick. The move ending with Damaray Anyadike being put clear with only the big keeper to beat but Wilks kept his cool and stayed big before picking the perfect moment to bravely plunge in and take the ball off the striker’s toe just inside the box.
Wilks made another excellent save to maintain the parity as he plunged low to his left to turn away Josh Coldicott-Stevens well struck free kick from the left corner of the box in twelfth minute. Ethan Creary had conceded the free kick by bundling over Aaron Greene as the tricky front man tried to burrow his way through. Coldicott-Stevens curled his effort around Ives four man wall and it took a wicked deflection off the turf right in front of Ives keeper to make his save all the more impressive.
The game was punctuated by a total of 28 free kicks so it is perhaps not surprising that Ives next opportunity came from another dead ball situation in 16th minute. Claudio Dias delivered the perfect inviting delivery into the no man’s land between keeper and defenders. Amir Hadi looked like he had judged his run to perfection to get a free header eight yards out but somehow he managed to hit keeper Head with his downward header. The hard running number nine’s blushes were saved by the upraised flag of an assistant proving that his run was not as well timed as it looked.
The hosts then enjoyed a good spell in the run up to half time and Wilks was called upon to make another excellent save in 33rd minute. Archie Locke was almost put clear through the right channel with Collard just doing enough to get in sufficient challenge to delay him enough to allow Wilks to sprint from his line and spread himself to make a point blank save.
Five minutes before the break Smith took one for the team as he pulled back Luke Johnson to prevent him getting clear cutting in from the right. The wing back picked up a yellow card for that challenge but he was vindicated in his action when ex Ives man Luke Warner-Eley fired the free kick wide.
Ives got one final first half chance on the break in the first of two added minutes when Abimbola rampaged through the centre to set up a shooting opportunity for George Munday just outside the box but the big striker was not helped by a bobble off the surface and only succeeded in giving Head catching practice with his attempted lob.
Both sides had half chances in the first ten minutes of the second half and perhaps not surprisingly both came from dead ball situations. Wilks did well to leap high and punch away a 53rd minute Crows corner. The ball dropped to Anyadike on the edge of the box but he was unable to keep down his attempted half volley. Ives opportunity three minutes later came from another of Smith’s long throws. Keeper Head got mixed up in the crowd at the near post and the ball sailed over all landing inside the six yard box where attackers were slow to react allowing Ed Asafu-Adjaye to scoop the ball over his own crossbar.
Keeper Head almost claimed an assist as his 72nd minute free kick caught on the breeze and floated over Ives back line allowing Adam Murray to get onto it but the ball kept on going and the stretching Murray could only lift it into the arms of the waiting Wilks.
With time ticking down and a vital point in sight the nerves began to jangle amongst Ives supporters but the players were in no mood to give anything away at this stage. As the Crows pressure built the free kick count against the visitors continued to click up. But the impressive Wilks was equal to everything thrown into his box. He came through the crowd to claim Ben Weyman’s free kick delivery from the left in 76th minute.
But the big keeper was almost beaten with seven minutes to go as Johnson latched onto a clearance from an Ives corner and ran half the length of the pitch before clipping the ball past the exposed keeper. But for once the luck was on Ives side as the ball rebounded off the base of the post and was scrambled clear by recovering defenders.
The hosts pressure continued and Johnson again went close as he fired inches wide from the left corner of the box three minutes later. Creary conceded a needless corner in 89th minute and the flag kick was well defended away to Asafu-Adjaye on the edge of the box. But like so many before him the Crows number two was undone by the pitch and sliced his first time effort well wide.
The board went up for an added five minutes. Wilks was again the hero three minutes in as he once more found a way through the crowd to bravely claim another Crows corner. Then in the final minute it looked like all of Ives hard work might be undone but for the second time in the game Smith came to Ives rescue and got a red card for his pains. Murray looked like he was going to break clear onto a lob over the top only for the big striker to be tugged back by Smith inches outside the box. The Ives wing back was on his way back to the changing rooms when Wilks pulled off his final excellent save of the game to ensure that Ives hung on for that vital point. Substitute James Brighton curled the free kick around Ives five man wall and the ball was destined for the top corner until the palm of the flying keeper deflected it around the post.
Just how vital that point was to be emerged later in the day as both Redditch and Barwell fell to defeat leaving Ives sitting three points above the drop zone with one game to go. But with a much superior goal difference on both of those rivals. Ten goals better off than Redditch and eleven on Barwell. Whilst not mathematically safe it would take some freak results to turn things around.
Final Score: Royston Town 0 St Ives Town 0 Half Time 0 – 0
Goals:
ROYSTON:
ST IVES:
Line Ups:
ROYSTON: Head, Asafu-Adjaye, Coldicott-Stevens (capt) (Beckett 71), Murray, Anyadike (Weyman 58), Akubuine, Johnson, Warner-Eley (Brighton 86), Dawodu, Greene (Harness 64), Locke, Unused subs: Dixon-Hodge
ST IVES: Wilks, Creary, Smith, Hottor, Abimbola, Collard (capt), Allen (Gyamfi 72), Glennon, Hadi, Dias (Williams 90+2), Munday (Pereira 83), Unused subs: Watkins, Makanjuola
Referee: Mario Stetakovic
Cards: Red: ST IVES: Smith (2xyellow) (39), (90+5)
Yellow: ROYSTON: Akubuine (15), Dawodu (81), Murray (90+8) ST IVES: Munday (65), Abimbola (75)
IVES SUPPORTERS MAN OF THE MATCH: Dan Wilks
Attendance: 504