Mens 1 vs Bury St Edmunds 1

St Ives entered the slip weekend looking to make it 5 wins on the bounce away vs Bury St Edmunds, who sat just one place below them in the league but 12 points adrift. The opening 10 minutes was a bit frantic and it was the home side that took the lead through a crash ball deflection. From then Ives imposed themselves on the game and began to turn the screw. After a steal in midfield, Adam Stefanelli-Wilson showed great composure to take the ball round the keeper to equalise before repeating the trick 5 minutes later to take the lead. Ives were comfortable in possession and easily moved the ball around and through the Bury press to create more scoring opportunities. More good work down the right hand side presented Ashley Welland with the chance for a first time finish hard past the keeper into bottom corner for his 10th league goal of the season.

With a 3-1 lead at half time, Ives called for more of the same in the second half and continued to retain the ball well. At times the front 5 for St Ives were unplayable and continued to earn penalty corners and create scoring opportunities with their connections. These were not converted before Adam Stefanelli-Wilson showed more excellent composure in the D to beat defenders and then fire past the despairing Bury keeper to secure his hattrick and the 3 points for St Ives. Bury had a couple of half chances but Ives were able to see out the game relatively comfortably. The midfield of Alec Bryden, Alex Grange, Dave Haslegrave and Ash Welland worked hard all game in the press to nullify Bury.

Man of the match went to Adam for his sublime finishing but in truth all of the team were excellent.

Ives look to continue their momentum with a home game against bottom side Cambridge City. There are now just 3 points separating Ives and the top 4 teams in the league.