St Ives Town VS Bishop’s Stortford-Match Preview
Date: 27/09/25
Location: Quattro-Tech Westwood Road
Following back to back away trips Ives return to the Quattro-Tech Westwood Road as they prepare to host Bishop’s Stortford on Saturday afternoon. The game was originally scheduled to be played in October, but has been moved forward with Ives having a free weekend due to their early FA Cup exit.
The only other league fixture being played in this round is on Friday evening as Stourbridge, who were knocked out of the cup by Sutton Coldfield, travel to Barwell who suffered the same fate against Alvechurch.
Manager Ricky Marheineke’s men come into this fixture having come through two difficult away trips. Last weekend, they put in a strong defensive performance before succumbing to a late goal which gave Halesowen all three points. They then produced some late drama of their own on Tuesday night as an 88th minute equaliser from Amir Hadi helped Ives secure a point away at Leiston.
Despite an indifferent away record, Ives will be buoyed by their impressive home record so far this season, which has seen them remain unbeaten whilst also producing three clean sheets out of four. The defensive partnership of Duncan Idehen and Jordan Williams has been a big feature of Ives’ strength at the back, with Ethan Creary and Matty Miles making up a defensive unit that has proven a tough nut to crack so far this campaign.
Up the other end of the pitch, Ives have started to put their early season goal scoring woes behind them, with Marheineke’s men averaging two goals a game in their last four. With Williams opening his goal scoring account on Tuesday night, he became Ives’ 10th different goal scorer so far this campaign.
Taking all of this into account, Ives come into this game in 11th position, five places below Saturday’s opponents who have played a game less, having picked up 12 points from their opening nine fixtures.
Bishop’s Stortford
The Blues have made a very positive start to their Southern League Premier Central campaign, with manager Steve Castle’s side currently sitting in 6th place having taken 15 points from eight games. With their trip to Stratford being postponed on match week four, Stortford have only played three away games so far this season, beating Bromsgrove Sporting and Needham Market, whilst tasting defeat against Kettering Town.
Stortford will be looking to improve on last year’s league campaign, which saw Blues have an indifferent season where they finished 15th , just one point above Ives who at one point were facing the drop.
Saturday’s visitors have been busy in the transfer market and have recently acquired the services of experienced ex-pro Scott Kashket, who has over 150 football league appearances to his name, playing for clubs like Leyton Orient, Wycombe Wanderers and Gillingham.
Last Time Out
The last time these two sides faced off was back in April as Habib Makanjuola’s second half effort rescued a point for Ives in a match that was delayed by 50 minutes due to a broken leg sustained by Zach Howell. The game also saw Stortford go down to 10 men as Fabio Virciglio was sent off for denying a clear goal scoring opportunity.
Previous Meetings
St Ives Town 1-1 Bishop’s Stortford-April 20th 2025
Bishop’s Stortford 1-0 St Ives Town-September 7th 2024
Bishop’s Stortford 4-3 St Ives Town-3rd February 2018
St Ives Town 0-1 Bishop’s Stortford-17th October 2017
