St Ives Town VS Carlton Town
Pitching In Northern Premier League Midlands Division-08/08/2026
To many it will have felt like it wasn’t long ago that referee Luke Scott brought Ives’ Southern league Premier Division Central campaign to a close, but after a mere 104 days, league action finally returned to Quattro-Tech Westwood Road.
Carlton Town were the visitors in Ives’ first game back at step 4 in over a decade, with the Millers proving to be a stern test for Ives Manager Ricky Marheineke’s men. A good first 45 from the home side saw Ives take the lead in the 11th minute through Mark Jones before three second half strikes from Carlton put them in the driving seat. An 81st minute goal from Captain Michael Gash couldn’t inspire an Ives comeback as the game finished 3-2, to the delight of the travelling supporters.
Marheineke’s first starting XI of the season featured a number of players who played for the club last season, including Neo Dobson, who returns to the club on a youth loan from Northampton Town. It also featured a host of new faces, including midfielder Ezekiel Williams, who shone on his first competitive start for the club.
It was the away side who came out of the traps the quickest as they looked to put early pressure on Alex Fisher’s goal. With just two minutes on the clock, Carlton’s number 11 Sam Tomlinson delivered a pinpoint cross that found the head of Ashley Chambers at the back post, but the forward couldn’t guide his header into the far corner on this occasion.
Tomlinson caused the Ives backline problems throughout and was central to the visitor’s attacking threat on the day. He showed good feet to glide past Aaron Smith and deliver another dangerous ball across the box, only for Gash to get his head on it and clear the danger.
Whilst it was the Millers who had all the momentum in opening exchanges, the wind was taken out of their sales in the 12th minute as Ives opened their account for the season. A superb bit of pressing from Dan Lawlor on the halfway line saw the Ives midfielder win the ball back just inside his own half, before the number eight played a perfectly weighted through ball to Jones, who opened up his right foot and curled the ball into the bottom right-hand corner to give his side the lead.
The home side kept their foot on the gas and could’ve doubled their advantage 10 minutes later, when some excellent skill by Dobson on the edge of the area allowed him to create some room for a shot, only for his curling effort to be palmed away for a corner by Dan Jezeph in the Carlton goal.
The pressure from the home side continued with both Dobson and full back Matty Miles having efforts at goal that had Jezeph worried. This visitors did begin to wrestle some momentum back from the home side towards the break with some chances of their own. The best of them coming from the boot of Carlton skipper Niall Davie, who cut inside from the right before unleashing an effort towards the near post that found the side-netting.
Ives went into the break with the one goal advantage, but with last season’s habit of dropping points from winning positions still fresh in the minds of many inside Quattro-Tech Westwood Road, the importance of a strong second half performance was not lost on the Ives faithful.
Despite a positive start to the second period from the home side, which saw Dobson produce a good searching cross to the back post to find Jones, who couldn’t quite find the bottom corner with his header, it was the visitors who got the all-important goal after the break to pull themselves back level in the contest.
Chambers, who pounced on a loose bouncing ball in the Ives defence, found himself one-on-one with Fisher in the penalty area before slotting the ball underneath the keeper to open his account for the season after 49 mins.
The goal caused yet another shift of momentum in the game as Ives were put on the back foot by a Carlton side with their tails up. Marheineke made his first change of the match after 56 minutes, when Lovell Edwards came on to replace Andrian Ankrah.
Carlton continued to come forward and looked to be the most likely to take the lead in the contest. A superb clearance off the line by Callum Milne prevented Millers from going 2-1 up on the hour mark. The visitors finally made their dominance pay in the 66th minute as a Carlton breakaway from an Ives corner saw Tomlinson cut the ball back to the penalty spot from the right and find Jack Thomas, who strolled into the area and struck his first-time finish past the diving Fisher to give Carlton the lead.
The away side made it 3-1 on the 78th minute as a break down the right-hand side saw a ball across by goal scorer Thomas palmed out into the path of Davie, who made no mistake from a few yards out and tapped home to give his side a two goal advantage.
A late push from Ives saw Marheineke’s men pull a goal back in the 81st minute as Milne’s deflected cross found Gash at the back post, who blasted the ball low past Jezeph to give his side hope heading into the last 10 minutes of the contest.
The closest the home side came to an equaliser was in the 89th minute, when Lawlor’s corner was met at the back post by the head of Jones, whose effort cannoned off the crossbar. The ball eventually dropped down to Dobson in the penalty area, but his effort was well-blocked on the line and cleared away to safety.
Following five minutes of added on time at the end of the second half, referee Joshua Burns brought the game to a close, with Ives left to rue some of their missed opportunities. Carlton, who narrowly missed out on promotion to step 3 last season, were always going to prove challenging opposition for Ives in their first game back at step 4. Ives will be looking to bounce back on Monday night, when they host Sutton Coldfield.
Final Score: St Ives Town 2 Carlton Town 3 Half Time 1 – 0
Goals:
ST IVES: Jones 12, Gash 82
CARLTON TOWN: Chambers 49, Thomas 66, Davie 78
Team Line Ups:
ST IVES: Fisher, Miles (Alemanji 82), Smith (Varela 83), Williams, Milne, Tessler (Source 88), Lawlor, Jones, Dobson, Ankrah (Edwards 56), Gash (capt) Unused subs: Alfie Shepherd
CARLTON TOWN: Jezeph, Flynn (Durow 58), Thompson-Harris, Bateman, Freeman, Watson, Davie (capt) (Bakare 85), Thomas, Chambers, Clark, Tomlinson (Perkins 79) Unused subs: Matt Thornhill, Toby Moore
Referee: Joshua Burns
Cards: Yellow: ST IVES: Edwards (65)
CARLTON TOWN: Clarke (34), Tomlinson (77)
IVES SUPPORTERS MAN OF THE MATCH: Ezekiel Williams
Attendance: 223
