St Ives Town face relegation battle after Stourbridge defeat

The Ives were unable to back up their dramatic deadlock at Stourbridge on March 11 when they were beaten 5-1 by the same opponents at Quattro-Tech Westwood Road on March 18. 

It is a result that leaves Ricky Marheineke’s team three points above the Southern League Premier Division Central drop zone, having played more games than some of their relegation rivals. 

“The opportunities they got were down to our individual errors, certain players not being able to follow simple instructions,” Marheineke told the club website. 

“We’re never going to win games if we make glaring individual errors, but we have got to remain positive.” 

St Ives Town were beaten 5-1 at home by Stourbridge. (Image: Louise Thompson)

Jason Cowley pounced on a short goal-kick from Ives goalkeeper James Goff to put Stourbridge in front, before Stanley Obinna Anaebonam struck on 33 minutes. 

Ives earned themselves a lifeline through Ed Hottor in first half stoppage time, only for Anaebonam to net his second from the penalty spot after Cowley was fouled by Jordan Williams. 

And the visitors scored twice more after half-time when Anaebonam completed his hat-trick and Cowley headed home to complete a miserable afternoon for the hosts. 

“We have known we’ve been in a relegation battle for some time,” said Marheineke.

St Ives Town boss Ricky Marheineke feels individual errors have cost his team in recent matches. (Image: St Ives Town FC) “Our problem in the last seven, eight games apart from last week [draw vs Stourbridge] is we have not scored the first goal.  

“And often, the first goal came in an early part of the game from an individual error.” 

Marheineke, who believes his squad are capable of playing at step three, added: “If I don’t believe and I’m down in the dumps, the players are certainly not going to believe.” 

St Ives head to top five side Rushall Olympic on March 25, 3pm.