United Counties League Premier Division Saturday, August 26 Desborough 0 St Ives Town 1 A CAPTAIN S performance from Will Fordham gave an under-strength Saints side their second win in succession and first league victory of the season, on Saturday. A ras

United Counties League

Premier Division

Saturday, August 26

Desborough 0 St Ives Town 1

A CAPTAIN'S performance from Will Fordham gave an under-strength Saints side their second win in succession and first league victory of the season, on Saturday.

A rash of injuries saw joint manager Warren Everdell pressed into service at left back just 24 hours after returning from holiday in America and the 44-year-old helped his side keep a clean sheet for the first time this season.

Fordham's brilliantly executed free-kick midway through the first half proved the match winner and Saints withstood a late barrage from the home side to hold on to the win.

Graeme Thackray missed a good opportunity after five minutes when through one-on-one while strike partner Chris Ewles missed a good headed chance a few minutes later.

Saints dominated but couldn't add to Fordham's 30-yard effort and as time ticked away Desborough threw everything they had at Town, including playing with four up front at one point.

Town stood firm, partly thanks to some impressive goalkeeping from Rob Mackney, to claim all three points and pull away from the wrong end of the table.

Joint manager Jez Hall, himself an emergency substitute, said: "We played really well for 75 minutes and should have been more goals up before Desborough started throwing everything at us and we defended magnificently to hold out.

"It's a relief to get the win and coming on the back of the cup win it's been a good week. There's more to come from this team, we were missing six today so there's definitely room for improvement."

FA Cup

Extra Preliminary Round Replay

Tuesday, August 22

St Ives Town 2 March Town United 1

SAINTS won an FA Cup tie for the first time in more than 50 years in a frantic game of two sendings off and three penalties.

A crowd of 195 packed Westwood Road to see Saints striker Chris Ewles score twice from the spot and book his side a trip to Cornard United on Saturday.

Saints were boosted by the return from injury of Graeme Thackray who took his place up front alongside Ewles.

And it was Ewles who opened the scoring, netting his first penalty after nine minutes after Thackray was brought down in the area following some neat skill.

Midway through the first half a poor clearance from Saints keeper Rob Mackney led to him fouling March's Paul Shafer in the area. Teddy Rimmell confidently dispatched the spot kick to equalise.

The second half began in dramatic circumstances when a volleyed effort by Saints' Dan Newman bounced up and struck a March arm in a crowded penalty area and the referee pointed to the spot.

Ewles stepped up to score his second penalty of the match, and third of the tie, with a calm finish while the March supporters berated the referee.

Three minutes later the referee was the centre of attention again as he sent off a player from each side. Saints man Ian Fovargue was dismissed for an alleged spit and March's Harry Roe was also ordered off by the referee for retaliation.

Saints joint manager Jez Hall said: "I'm very pleased with the performance and it's great to get that first win under our belt.