Mens 3 vs Cambridge Nomads 2

The first game of a new season is always a nervous occasion for any team, and this was no exception.

St Ives sported a somewhat changed lineup from the previous week, with Ben Thatcher, Andrew Smith, JT, and George all unable to make it, but with Myles, Isaac, Carl making returns and Michael Boyle making a very overdue return to the club and team.

Upfront, summer signing Piers was with his strike partner JW, ready to cause mayhem, and a reshuffled back half of the team saw Jago make his seasons debut at CB.

Ives started at the bottom of the legendary OLSIO hill, with a little bit of a breeze in their face, with their opponents taking pushback.

From the offset, there was a lot of panic in both teams defending, with neither team particularly threatening for the first 10 minutes. Nomads were looking particularly dangerous on the break, whilst Ives were looking the more attractive hockey team. An exciting game.

The deadlock was broken in the 13th minute when some delicious passing hockey saw David Jack and Piers link up, with the latter finishing in a calm composed style.

The next ten minutes continued in much the same vein until a nomads player dispossessing Tristan (by kicking his stick) in the middle of the circle and got an essentially free shot at goal which was taken

A couple of short corners were also given away by St Ives, but both kept out by Denman's glove and feet respectively.

The half time jelly babies were 1-1

The second half was a much more sedate affair for the St Ives defense, with the nomads attack held quiet for large parts thanks to some good work rates from Isaac and David helping out Carl . Ives did get a break in the 49th minute after a Nomads player did a reckless sliding tackle against a player in possession of the ball - before it got blown the follow up from that saw their keeper get beaten and dangerously take down the player through on goal. A Penalty stroke was awarded for the first offense , which was duly scored by Vice Captain Jones for St Ives, to put them in the lead.

Nomads only had 2 real chances in the second half, the first was a hard shot saved by denman, then the follow up deflected into the air, where Denman saved again. The second also lead to their second goal - a ball hit hard across the goal from outside the circle was going dangerously close to the left post, where keeper Denman thought he had seen someone attacking the back post - in fact the attacker had pulled up on his run just before. Thinking he was still making that run, Denman did a full stretch scissor lunge to his left, only for the ball to go exactly where the attacker had stopped. Despite scrambling to make the save, which he was incredibly close to, and despite Jago's best attempts on the line, the latter was only able to deflect it onto the inside of the post.

Honours remained even for the rest of the match, to see St Ives 3s improve on their two losses vs the same team last year (5-1 and 6-1 last season) with a draw.