ST IVES STAY RESOLUTE IN VICTORY

ST IVES TOWN 1 REDDITCH UTD 0
EVOSTIK SOUTH PREMIER CENTRAL @ WESTWOOD ROAD
13 APRIL 2019 --- 3PM

A STRONG ST IVES DEFENCE CLEAR

A single strike ten minutes into the second half from Andrew Osei-Bonsu was all that St Ives needed to pick up three points admittedly his effort took a sharp deflection to beat the visiting keeper and I guess summed up the game that was looking like it wouldn't produce a goal.  But there is no denying the 'togetherness' of St Ives having seen them twice now on the road at Stourbridge and at home today.
Its often been a thought to write this blog in reverse but today it sort of developed by accident when time to take a look at the little town centre of St Ives came after the game and I'm glad the effort was made to visit.  The journey came about after assisting a friend with their travel plans to visit a nearby village and after working some times out I thought it would be a waste not to put it to good use and go myself especially after seeing the 'Ives' in the West Midlands a few weeks earlier and although the game wasn't great the club seemed a friendly bunch.
The travel part of this blog continues to be repetitive needless to say departing base station it was all standing and by the time Nottingham travellers boarded we arrived at Grantham and it had become a sardine tin yet again.  Thankfully here the passengers who were diverted to catch London trains at Mrs T's town left us but EMT in their wisdom had left a 2 carriage unit on the service making no attempt to upgrade knowing of the planned maintenance problems, we are having a chat.  Changing at Peterborough the luxury of eight cars with just 2 of us in the front carriage was bizarre but the departure at Huntingdon did find a calmer feel in the air than 2 hours earlier.

THREE STAND ON ONE SIDE AT WESTWOOD ROAD

Arriving in the former constituency of Sir John Major a swift departure on service B went the elongated route via the bus station and then a myriad of housing estates on the northern edge of the town.  The town was the birthplace of Oliver Cromwell former republican and a major influence in 1600s England strangely the reminder of his relevance to the area is in St Ives where he lived for a period of time with a statue in the centre of town, sadly the sun was the wrong way around to use a decent picture of the suited and booted gentleman.
Good time was made up from leaving Huntingdon at 1.15 thirty minutes hence and we departed adjacent to Westwood Rd a pleasant walk to the ground found the large imposing leisure centre with the home of St Ives to one corner along a dog legged lane.
A friendly welcome at the gate allowed for entry to have a circuit in the bag before purchasing some raffle and the clubs 30p mini programme, you see St Ives are one of the clubs that now produce on line which is probably the only let down of a visit here but I knew this before travelling.  On the plus side though there is a small 4 page programme and a team sheet available so the club have tried to cater there is also a nice little club shop on a table by the entrance.

THE MAIN BUSINESS ENCLOSURE

This is a homely ground and one you probably feel is short of a major stand out structure but its one that immediately you cant help but love it's smart and tidy with a super recycling job made of boundary boards made up of former wooden decking.  To the right the walkway takes you behind the goal and onto the far side which has firstly an Atcost structure before its main stand has a selection of tip up and just seat base types of accommodation, the roof is clad in scaffolding I guess for anybody that wants to film the proceedings.  Beyond this is a wooden homemade structure with the newer type of part corrugated cover, moving round the far goal has just the walkway and you are soon back to the business end.  A difficult structure to describe with the changing rooms, snack bar, bar and a directors seating area alongside a covered terrace it has the feel of a 70's structure with the dug outs to the front of this enclosure.  Its not one of the big boys in ground terms and neither to that matter are St Ives but I really enjoyed visiting and will keep a keen eye on their progress.
To the encounter then that was after we had seen off the snow and sleet shower that visited us ten minutes before kick off good grief you had to laugh as club stall was covered up raffle books were quickly taken into the dry and the turnstile stopped clicking as everybody went for cover.  Thankfully there was a late surge that saw the crowd rise to 179 for todays match.

ST IVES IN CONTROL

Redditch arrived very much the form team but when I watched them a few weeks ago its was an entertaining 0-0 and today they also managed to secure nil although I'm not sure how they didn't register.  They dominated the first half but St Ives after a tremendous performance at high flying Stourbridge were giving me the impression of a defensive counter attacking side. 
The first half had certainly called on their back line to be resolute and a debut for 18 year old keeper Shay Griffiths proved to be one of the highlights.  He saved superbly from Robbie Bunn and then moments later Luke Yates saw his goal bound effort finger tipped onto the post.

CRAIG ADAMS IN ENCOURAGING POSE

St Ives were struggling to put anything of note as an attacking force but Griffiths and the line at the front of him were doing a sterling job.  In this they were assisted by Craig Adams the Ives assistant manager who you have to love he plays every ball and encourages the players to keep their concentration high so that when chances come they can take advantage.
This they did within ten minutes of the start of the second half Osei-Bonsu cut on off the right edge of the penalty box striking a sweet shot that had the misfortune, for Redditch, of striking the back of defender Josh Hawker and completely wrong footing Reece Francis and so the winner was claimed.
The second period though was a more open affair with the home side taking part a little more in the visitors half indeed Francis had to be on hand to deny Ives substitute George Bailey.  At the other end debut boy Griffiths was on hand to save from Richard Batchelor and even when keeper Francis came up for a last minute attack that resolute defending of St Ives won the day with a towering headed clearance from Tom Wood.

A CLOSE RUN THING

A game that never really got going but produced a valuable three points for St Ives in their attempt to have a successful completion to the season and even though Redditch needed a win to guarantee survival other results saw to that for them.
Here's were the blog goes the wrong way round, now for the town!  With a bus more or less immediately returning to Huntingdon I opted to take 45 minutes out in St Ives and return later.  The Waits by the River Ouse where in floral bloom and in the town centre Mr Cromwell was still overseeing proceedings, the quaint chapel on the bridge and the bridge itself had plenty of takers as a pleasure cruise headed back to town.

CHOCOLATE BOX VIEW OF THE OUSE AT ST IVES

A visit to Waitrose found a woeful, again, shortage of sandwiches although I guess its all canapés around here.  The bus station that would supply the bus to take me back to Huntingdon was based on the former cattle market, the irony was lost on me as I feared the return cattle class service for the transport using public.

BUS STATION FORMER CATTLE MARKET YOU WORK IT OUT

The station forecourt was soon in sight and after a small wait the Great Northern train to Peterborough gave me 25 minute of down time before boarding the 7.30 to Nottingham and once again after 25 minutes wait amidst some drunken scenes, quite amazing for half past eight, we were off to arrive at base station just after 9.30pm.
No Chip shop chips today but I did manage to probably throw the young 'uns in the snack bar into chaos by asking for a chip cob, non-local alert.  However there was time to sample a West Cornish Pasty at Peterborough all for the princely sum of £19.99, not quite but you get the drift.  A superb day and very enjoyable visit to little old St Ives FC and its town hopefully I can catch up with them soon.