Leiston 4-4 St Ives Town - Match Report

The Blues put just their second league point on the board for the current campaign on Tuesday night as they drew 4-4 with St Ives Town, in a match sponsored by THE DOUGLASS FAMILY.

Ian Cornforth had to make enforced changes with Rhys Henry out injured and Siju Odelusi and Jerry Kamanzi unavailable.

Not many chances were created early on by either side but Leiston were knocking the ball around positively well. However, St Ives should have taken the lead in the 15th minute as Dylan Wilson somehow managed to head over the crossbar from just yards out. Rob Eagle shot over for Leiston before Ben Jackson suffered a nasty head injury that needed treatment but he got up and continued. Leiston continued to build pressure with balls into the St Ives box after some good build up play. Josh Hitter’s free kick was easy for Finley Iron to save but the Blues did open the scoring in the 25th minute when a great run from Mason Sinclair into the penalty area allowed him to pass to TOM WOERNDL who finished from close range. Noel Aitkens and Josh Hitter were controlling the midfield at this stage and it was no surprise when goal number two came. This time, LOUIE BLOOM let fly from 25 yards as the ball took a slight deflection but still went into Iron’s top left hand corner. Leiston managed the game well but in the second minute of added on time at the end of the first half, MATTHEW FOY punished some bad defending to get St Ives back into the game.

The second half started poorly for the Blues as the away side got in behind the visiting defence and although Harry Knights fouled on the edge of the area, MATTHEW FOY finished very well to give Charlie Beckwith no chance and restore parity. Then, just a few minutes later, James Gaffer was sent off for a second bookable offence and Leiston were down to ten men. It looked as though the sending off would change the game as Ben Seymour-Shove forced Beckwith into a good save but put in the loose ball just past the hour mark to put St Ives into the lead for the first time. Leiston kept plugging away and with fifteen minutes of normal time to play, the Blues levelled as JOSH CHEETHAM scored a scrappy goal from a corner. However, once again Leiston switched off as a cross from the right allowed MATTHEW FOY to score his hat-trick as he got in between Beckwith and the Blues defence and put St Ives ahead again. Josh Hitter and Harry Knights went close but just as time was running out, Charlie Beckwith’s delivery into the box wasn’t cleared and NOEL AITKENS turned well to unleash a great finish past Iron.

Leiston now look forward to the visit of Hitchin Town at the weekend in another massive match.

FT: - Leiston 4-4 St Ives Town.

Line-ups: -

Leiston: - Beckwith, Sinclair, Woerndl, Aitkens, Knights, Keys, Gaffer, Hitter (Bacon 87 mins), Davies (Cheetham 72 mins), Eagle (Allen 55 mins), Bloom. Subs not used: - Pons Llado, Jessup.

St Ives Town: - Iron, Phillips (Woodward 90+1 mins), Ward, Wood, Jackson, Johnson, Jarvis Wilson, Rogers, Foy, Dylan Wilson (Dawkin 71 mins), Seymour-Shove. Sub not used: - Moyes.

Match Sponsors The Douglass Family’s Man Of The Match: - Louie Bloom.

Attendance: - 139.