ST IVES Town will be hoping for a turnaround in fortunes when they face Daventry United in the Extra Preliminary round of the FA Cup at home on Saturday. Saints stuttering start to the season continued with a disappointing 1-0 home defeat on Tuesday eveni

ST IVES Town will be hoping for a turnaround in fortunes when they face Daventry United in the Extra Preliminary round of the FA Cup at home on Saturday.

Saints stuttering start to the season continued with a disappointing 1-0 home defeat on Tuesday evening to Holbeach United.

Holbeach also lost on the opening day of the season, but they managed to get that result out of their system with a narrow win at Westwood Road.

Ives had early chances with Ozzie Foster being denied by the Holbeach goalkeeper on two occasions.

The Tigers fired a warning shot across Saints' bows when Peter Sutton sent a header just wide, but the goal was not long in coming.

On the half hour, a threaded through-ball left Liam Nimmo with just the goalkeeper to beat, and he obliged to put Holbeach ahead. Gavin Armitage in the Saints goal prevented Nimmo adding another soon after.

With a forced substitute at half time, to the injured Matt Bannister, Conor Washington came off the bench and started to change the game for the Saints, leading to long periods of Saints dominance.

Washington almost gave the home side a lift when he managed to create some space on the right hand side and turned to shoot, but the Holbeach keeper pulled off a fine one-handed save to keep his team ahead.

Further chances fell to Carl Foreman, Ozzie Foster and Will Fordham but the United defence stood strong for the win.

Co-manager Jez Hall said: "In the first half we were inept. We made too many defensive errors which enabled them to get on top. The change of formation and the desire to win soon changed but we could just not score."

St Ives now turn their attention to the Daventry United FA Cup tie this Saturday, with Soham Town awaiting the winner later in the month.

St Ives Town : Gavin Armitage, Matt Bannister (Conor Washington), Carl Taylor, Dan Newman, Will Fordham, Ricky Dear, Lawrence Church, Dan Matson (Carl Foreman), Ozzie Foster, Jamie Blackwell (James Wallis).

Subs not used : Declan Rogers, Lloyd Howard.