ST IVES TN 3, PETERSFIELD TN 0

PETERSFIELD suffered a second successive heavy away defeat, this time in deep Cambridgeshire.

St Ives probably deserved the points, but the Rams were in contention for most of the game and thought they should have won two penalties for fouls on lively striker Oli Bailey.

After two straight losses and no goals, St Ives rang the changes and it seemed to work, with their players hungry for the ball and eager to impress.

However, Petersfield made the brighter start and Tim Trebes made a sharp save low to his right to deny Howard Neighbour as he ghosted in at the far post to get on the end of a Joe Briggs free-kick.

For all their early possession, the Rams fell behind on ten minutes. Hesitation between keeper Anthony Ender and centre-back Mike Needham proved fatal as Ben Seymour-Shove nipped between them and toe-ended the ball into the net.

St Ives then played some smart football, but it was far from being one-way traffic and the Rams almost equalised when Briggs robbed Charlie De’ath and his driven low cross to the near post was only just smothered by Trebes ahead of Bailey.

Two minutes into the second half, Trebes had to be at his best to preserve St Ives’ lead. A corner by Briggs was only half-cleared to Needham whose scorching 20-yard volley was arrowing for the top of the net before being finger-tipped over the top.

St Ives, though, doubled their advantage on 55 minutes with an excellent solo goal from Andy Phillips who held off Needham before firing across Ender and into the far corner.

Needham made amends with a brave block from Jared Cunniff’s pointblank shot, but just a minute later Phillips met Seymour-Shove’s cross with an acrobatic volley and it was 3-0.

St Ives almost lost their clean sheet in added time. Trebes tipped away a powerful drive from the tricky Briggs and then De’ath headed off the line as a Briggs corner was met powerfully by Neighbour at the near post.