NON-LEAGUE FOOTBALL: Super year ends in Boxing Day deadlock for St Ives Town while Eynesbury Rovers sign off from a fine 2016 with a win
Ben Seymour-Shove forced a good save in St Ives Town's goalless draw with Cambridge City. - Credit: Archant
A fine year ended in stalemate for St Ives Town.
Craig Smith was among the goalscorers as Eynesbury Rovers won their final match of 2016. - Credit: Archant
Saints were held to a goalless draw by tenants Cambridge City in a Southern League Premier Division derby clash.
A fixture which attracted a crowd of 539 to ProEdge Westwood Road was dominated by defences with clear-cut scoring chances being few and far between.
The best of them arguably fell to City with Saints defender Mark Coulson being required to make a goal-line clearance from Matty Stevens on the half-hour.
Josh Dawkin saw an effort deflected wide by advancing City goalkeeper Enol Orodonez before that while Ben Seymour-Shove and Danny Kelly both worked the visiting number one around the hour mark.
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Ordonez, a former St Ives shot-stopper, also kept out a Jack Higgs free-kick as both sides settled for a point – one which leaves Saints in 13th place in the Premier Division standings and 12 points clear of the relegation zone.
“It was a game that lacked any real quality if I’m being brutally honest,” admitted boss Ricky Marheineke.
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“Cambridge City are rejuvenated under their new manager, Robbie Nightingale, and they’re showing plenty of fight, whereas we just didn’t have the class on the day to cut them open.
“We’ve had a lot of games in a relatively short space of time, with a lot of travelling involved, and I felt the players looked tired.
“Perhaps I should have freshened things up a bit and I take responsibility for not doing that, but it was not a game we ever really looked like losing.”
Eynesbury Rovers are another team to have enjoyed a terrific 2016.
Mark Ducket’s men saw off Newport Pagnell at Hall Road in their final United Counties League Premier Division fixture of the year.
Jordan Brown set them on the way to a 3-1 success with a second-minute opener before top-scorer Craig Smith doubled the advantage after a quarter of an hour.
Pagnell halved their arrears five minutes before the break through a Darren Woodend goal, but Tom Coles sealed victory for second-placed Rovers with 17 minutes to go.
They now sit five points behind table-toppers Peterborough Sports, but have played two more games.
