St Neots Town battle back to win a clash of the Huntingdonshire titans

St Neots Town produced a late comeback to win the big footballing battle of Huntingdonshire last night.

The higher-level hosts struck twice in the space of eight minutes to overcome St Ives Town 2-1 in the opening round of the Southern League’s Red Insure Cup competition – but the victory came at a cost as they saw influential skipper Adam Tann limp off injured in the first half.

St Ives hit the front at the Premier Plus Stadium when new recruit Jared Cunniff hit the first goal of his second spell in Saints colours.

Cunniff raced onto a fine pass from Chae Simons and fired past debutant St Neots goalkeeper Ollie Sutton – the son of former Premier League-winning striker Chris Sutton – after 17 minutes.

That’s the way it stayed until five minutes from time when Lee Clarke pounced to level after a Tom Ward effort had been cleared off the line.

And a dramatic turnaround was completed in the third minute of stoppage time when Ryan Hawkins fired through a crowded penalty area after a goalbound Tom Meechan over-head kick had been cleared into his path.

Elsewhere last night, Godmanchester Rovers eased into the second round of the Thurlow Nunn League Challenge Cup.

Austen Diaper, James Hall, Luke Seaber-Shinn and Tom Spark hit the goals in a 4-2 triumph at lower-level Braintree Reserves.

Their reward is another away date against Long Melford in the next round.