Harborough Town VS St Ives Town-Match Preview
Date: Saturday 23rd August
Location: Harborough Town Community Football Ground
The Ives’ tough start to the season continues as they prepare to make the trip to Leicestershire, where they take on high-flying Harborough Town on Saturday afternoon.
On paper, Ives will be pretty pleased with a return of four points from their first three outings in the PitchingIN Southern League Premier Division Central season, with manager Ricky Marheineke’s side picking up a nervy point against Stourbridge last Saturday, which followed an impressive 1-0 win against Stamford 48 hours earlier.
They may well feel they should be going into their 4th game of the season still unbeaten, with a 3-2 defeat to Barwell on the opening day the only blot on the Ives coffee book so far this campaign.
Following his side’s 2-2 draw against Stourbridge, Marheineke was asked about Saturday’s opponents and the sort of challenge they would pose to his side.
“Harborough are big, physical, strong side but also have unbelievable ability. The players at the top end of the pitch are frightening.”
“We’ll be ready for Harborough, whether that will be enough I don’t know but I always back us, so going into the game I expect nothing more than competing for the three points.”
Ives supporters will have been buoyed by the full return of club captain Michael Richens last week, who marked his first start for Ives in almost 16 months with a superb finish. He was taken off after just over an hour, as the coaching staff look to continue managing his journey back to full fitness.
However, the home supporters will not have enjoyed seeing talented forward and joint top-scorer this season Theo Alexandrou go down just before the break, which forced Marheineke into a half-time substitution, which saw Alexandrou replaced by Liam Cross. There is no indication yet whether he will be fit for Saturday’s game against Harborough.
Harborough Town
The Bees, who finished in the promotion places last season, are tipped to be one of the early contenders for promotion to step 2, with penalty shootout heartbreak against Kettering Town causing them to miss out on a place in the 2024/25 Play-Off Final.
Manager Mitch Austin’s side have made an unbeaten start to the 2025/26 campaign with a 1-1 draw with Spalding sandwiched in between impressive wins against Needham Market and Bury Town, which sees Harborough take third spot in the early-season table.
Saturday’s opponents have made a number of new additions to their promotion pushing squad from last season, including midfielder Brady Hickey, who made the move from fellow Southern League Central side Barwell in July and managed to open his goalscoring account for the season with a goal against Bury Town last week.
Last Time Out
The last time these two sides met was at the back-end of last season, as late drama saw substitute Johnson Gyamfi score the winner in the 93rd minute, with Ives securing a huge three points in their bid for survival.
Josh Allen fired Ives into an early lead before a goal from Ben Stephens in the 69th looked to be enough to earn the home side a point on a sunny afternoon in Leicestershire. However, Gyamfi’s strike proved to be decisive as Ives, managed by assistant manager duo Adam Fisher and Jim Freeman, took a win back to Cambridgeshire in front of 746 fans in attendance.
Previous Meetings
Harborough Town 1-2 St Ives Town-12th April 2025
St Ives Town 4-1 Harborough Town-14th December 2024
St Ives Town 3-0 Harborough Town (Friendly)-22nd July 2022
Harborough Town 0-1 St Ives Town (Friendly)-6th July 2021
