St Ives Town boss Ricky Marheineke may have found the solution to his striking poser – inside his own dressing room.

Marheineke has been fruitlessly attempting to draft in a new frontman for several weeks.

He continues to talk to an unnamed target, but has so far drawn a blank in his transfer-market search for extra firepower.

That prompted a decision to move Ben Seymour-Shove into a central attacking role from his usual wide position and he responded with a goal in a 4-2 success over Northwood at ProEdge Westwood Road – the Saints’ first success of 2015.

Marheineke said: “I decided to move Ben up front and he responded with as good an individual performance as I have seen from any of my players in any game this season.

“He scored a good goal and his all-round display was terrific. He could certainly be an answer in that position as he and Stuart Eason played together with a lot of success at Huntingdon last season.”

St Ives trailed for much of the first half after conceding an eighth-minute opener, but two goals in the space of three minutes just before the break turned the contest.

Scott Sinclair rifled in a poorly-cleared Seymour-Shove delivery to level before Jon Stead coolly converted a pass from fellow midfielder James Peters to fire them ahead. Eason saw another effort ruled out for an offside call against strike-partner Seymour-Shove soon after the re-start and the Saints had to wait until the final quarter of the contest for further goals.

New recruit Luke Knight, introduced from the substitutes’ bench, fed Seymour-Shove to finish smartly in the 71st minute before another replacement, Kieran Fitzgerald, bagged a long-awaited first goal for the club after arriving from Daventry Town early in the season.

Northwood grabbed a late consolation despite the best efforts of defender Luke Smith, but Marheineke’s men were convincing winners.

Dan Banister also returned to the fold as a second-half substitute following a run of games at United Counties League Premier Division level for Peterborough Northern Star. Captain Jordan Lambert was absent due to work commitments but will return for a trip to Uxbridge this Saturday.

It’s a trip that Marheineke says is winnable. He added: “We are within two wins of our 40-point safety target and we wanted to get there as soon as we can.”