ST IVES progressed to their third successive final of the Huntingdonshire Senior Cup after knocking Eynesbury Rovers out of the competition at Westwood Road on Saturday. The hosts took a second minute lead through Barry Albone, but Eynesbury equalised af

ST IVES progressed to their third successive final of the Huntingdonshire Senior Cup after knocking Eynesbury Rovers out of the competition at Westwood Road on Saturday.

The hosts took a second minute lead through Barry Albone, but Eynesbury equalised after 25 minutes through Chris Brown. Giantkillers Eynesbury, who had knocked out St Neots in the previous round, stormed into the lead when Scott Kingsbury fired home after 37 minutes to put the underdogs 2-1 ahead at the break.

The half time team talk in the St Ives dressing room proved decisive, as the hosts came out firing and Jamie Blackwell drew them level 15 seconds after the restart. Just one minute after that he scored again to put Ives ahead and they held out for the win.

St Ives co manager Warren Everdell was pleased to see his side knock Eynesbury out of the competition for the fourth time in five seasons and described it as a "massive, massive result for us".

"It was an exciting game and we played a good first 10 minutes and could have been two or three ahead but then we took our foot off the pedal and they went in 2-1 ahead at half time," said Everdell.

"At half time I felt we had been lacklustre in our approach to the game and I told a few home truths to the boys. Jamie Blackwell responded fantastically to his criticism and they all put on a good performance and were strong going forward and defending, which we had been poor at in the first half.

"I think if we hadn't got the two goals early on it would have been difficult for us but because we scored so quickly it shocked them. After that we played quite well and were always in control and made chances but it was still a worry that they would equalise with only one goal in it and their front two were always dangerous.

"After the defeat in the Vase we wanted to bounce back as soon as possible and we've done that. We should feel confident about the final but if we don't have the right attitude then it will become an even game but if we don't underestimate them then we should not have a problem."

Co-manager Jez Hall said: "We told the lads how we felt at half time and thankfully they took it on board and performed better. The first half saw our defending be as bad as it has been all season but we got a fantastic reply from the team after the break.

"It was very important to win on Saturday because last year everyone got carried away with the Vase and we lost the next few games so this year we have got straight back to winning again. The most important thing was for us not to mess up after a bad result.

"We have a Cup final in the bank and we thought from the start we were the favourites to win so I expect us to win the final. It's in our hands and we have already beaten tough teams."

Eynesbury Rovers co-manager Pat O'Keefe said: "We can't fault the lads that much but we're still disappointed. We said at half time that they will come at us and we need to be concentrating but we didn't and ended up conceding two goals in 90 seconds and that killed us.

"We should have wrapped it up in the first half as we had three one-on-ones and should have scored more to be three or four ahead. They are a stronger team than us but we matched them in every department.

"We didn't play for the first 15 minutes but after we scored we looked like we would beat them. Rob Mackney made some good saves but that's what he's there for and we put a good performance in we just didn't switch on at the start of the second half."

St Ives will now face AFC Fletton in the final after they knocked Hemingfords United out of the Cup with a 3-0 win.