IVES FALL TO DEFEAT AGAINST COLESHILL
Pitching In Northern Premier League Midlands Division-05/09/2026
There will have been hope amongst the Ives faithful in attendance at quattro-tech Westwood Road that a first home league outing in nearly a month would produce a good opportunity to get some much needed points on the board, against a side who have also struggled to get off the mark so far this campaign. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be for the home side as visitors Coleshill Town came away from Cambridgeshire with an impressive 4-1 win, which included a debut hat-trick for new summer addition Joey Butlin.
Colemen’s first win of the season sees Manager Harry Harris’ side move out of the relegation zone, whilst Ives find themselves amongst the dreaded bottom four, having played three games more than Bourne Town in 18th.
Ives Manager Ricky Marheineke made four changes from his side’s 4-1 defeat away at Wellingborough Town last weekend, with Matty Miles, Eze Williams, Kai Source and Archie Riordan coming into the starting XI.
Coleshill came out of the blocks meaning business and it didn’t take long at all for the away side to make a dent in the score line. With about a minute and a half on the clock, Jonah Gill is forced into a good early save to deny a Coleshill forward from close range, but the ball is not fully cleared and finds Daniel Gyasi. The Coleshill number seven takes a touch and delivers a ball into the box for Butlin, who finishes well from close range to give his side the lead.
Ives almost provided the perfect response four minutes later, when a superb ball over the top of the Coleshill defence from Neo Dobson found Archie Riordan through on goal, but the youngster couldn’t quite guide his effort past Cameron Belford in the Coleshill goal.
Ives were left to rue that missed opportunity two minutes later as with eight minutes on the clock, Butlin was once again on the scoresheet as an attempted cross by Callum Witts was only half cleared by the Ives backline, with the ball finding its way to Butlin, who waited for the ball to drop out of the sky, volleying the ball past Gill from close range.
The next 20 minutes saw both sides trade chances as Ives looked to try and find a way back into the game. Charlie Manners nearly put his side out of site on 13 minutes when his header looked to be looping towards the far corner, only for Kai Source to hook the ball away from danger. Ives’ best opportunity in that period fell to Riordan, who was found at the back post by Dobson, but his low shot was saved by the feet of Belford.
Ives got themselves on the board in the 32nd minute when Aidan Edwards cut inside and curled a shot towards goal that was tipped onto the post by Belford. The ball pinged off the woodwork and found the feet of Mark Jones, who was in the right place at the right time to smash the ball home from close range to make it 2-1.
Despite an improvement in performance level from Marheineke’s men in the last 25 minutes of the first half, they weren’t able to shift the momentum in their favour enough to get back on level terms. A third Coleshill goal just before the break certainly didn’t help matters, with Butlin finishing low past Gill in the 42nd minute to complete his first half hat-trick, having been found over the top by Manners.
If the home side were to complete an unlikely turnaround, it was imperative that they found a way to break the cycle of conceding early in the second period of games. Unfortunately for the Ives faithful, this unwanted habit reared its head once again as Colemen all but put themselves out of site on 49 minutes.
Gyasi, who was a thorn in the side of the hosts throughout, was picked out at the back post by low driven cross along the penalty area, with the winger taking a touch before finishing past Gill to make it 4-1.
Despite facing an uphill task, the home side continued to create opportunities to try and spark an unlikely comeback. Marheineke also looked for inspiration from his bench, with Josh Ward and Junior Varela replacing Ben Kaninda and Archie Riordan on 54 minutes. Academy graduate Alife Shepherd was also introduced to proceedings a few minutes later, replacing Eze Williams.
The travelling Coleshill spectators thought their side had made it 5-1 just after the hour mark as Will Marshall made a gut-bursting run through the heart of the Ives midfield, finding himself one-on-one with Gill at the edge of the area, only for the Ives keeper to make a good save with his feet to deny the number 11. Dan Lawlor had a similar opportunity moments later down the other end, with Belford managing to deflect the ball over the crossbar with his toe.
Lawlor had to produce a gut-busting run of his own on 72 minutes to prevent Gyasi from bagging his second of the afternoon, as Ives’ number eight did extremely well to get in front of the Coleshill forward and take the ball off his toes, just as he was baring down on goal. The chance was a result of a counterattacking move by Harris’ men, who looked to exploit the home side’s requirement to throw players forward and chase a way back into the contest.
Substitute Mbunya Alemanji carved out a couple of half chances towards the end of proceedings, with the forward using his strength to hold off his man and create the space to hit a shot on the turn on two separate occasions, with both efforts being saved comfortably by Belford.
The last meaningful chance of the game fell to Coleshill substitute Tristan Dunkley, who found himself bearing down on goal having latched on to a long ball over the top, only for Miles to come across and clear the danger before Dunkley could get his shot away.
Referee Liam Botten’s full time whistle was greeted with huge cheers from the travelling Coleshill faithful, who had seen their side produce an impressive performance on the road. For Ives, the feeling was that of frustration on and off the pitch. They now have over a week to rest up before their next fixture, which sees Marheineke’s men make the midweek trip to Bourne Town.
Final Score: St Ives Town 1 Coleshill Town 4 Half Time 1 – 3
Goals:
ST IVES: Jones 32
COLESHILL: Butlin 2, 8, 42, Gyasi 49
Team Line Ups:
ST IVES: Gill, Miles, Edwards (Alemanji 75), Williams (Shepherd 58), Kaninda (Ward 54), Lawlor, Jones, Dobson (Ankrah 88), Source, Riordan (Varela 54), Gash (capt) Unused subs: None
COLESHILL: Belford, Brookes (capt) Sweeney, Allison, Cleet, Witts, Gyasi (Usher-Shipway 77), Rees, Butlin (Dunkley 77), Manners (Mandey 67), Marshall (Coyle 77) Unused subs: Fitzpatrick
Referee: Liam Botten
Cards: Yellow: ST IVES: Lawlor (56), Ward (60),
COLESHILL: None
IVES SUPPORTERS MAN OF THE MATCH: Dan Lawlor
Attendance: 155
