John Walker Match Reports 2021-2022

StNeotsTown 1 FCRomania 2

After their impressive pre-season showing of just a single defeat in eight outings a pallid looking St Neots side was deservedly beaten in their opening league match of the new season by newcomers FC Romania. It was a disappointing underperformance and even theirlateaddedtimegoalwasnoconsolation. Therewasnothreatinattackfromaside that had found the back of the net twenty- three times in eight friendly matches and their midfield quartet created very little despite enjoying a much greater share of possession. There are still injured players to return to the squad, but this performance can only be described as disappointing in front of an excellent shirt-sleeved crowd that expected a continuation of the pre-season form. Only skipper Lee Watkins had survived from the previous starting line up in their last league match almost ten months earlier, andthelatesubstitutionscametooneartheendofthematchtobesignificant. Itisfour years since St Neots lost their opening day league match at the Premier Plus Stadium and on that occasion, they did not record a league victory until their seventh match – a runtheywillnotwanttorepeatthistimearound.

The visitors were fortunate not to be reduced to ten men after just four minutes when EusebioDaSilvawasonlyyellowcardedforadangerousscythingtackleonMilesCowling as he skipped through the visiting defence.That established a pattern of no nonsense tackling by the visiting side that seemed to knock St Neots out of their early stride. St Neots first attempt on goal after twelve minutes saw Neo Richard-Noel unselfishly set uptheunmarkedJoeRider,butheappearedoffbalanceasheplacedhisefforthighover thebar. Thevisitors’moredirectapproachwaspayingdividendsasstrikerDaSilvatwice took on the St Neots defence to give himself scoring opportunities but both times his finish was off target. After 22 minutes the hardworking Charley Barker found Joe Rider in space and his first-time volley was well saved by visiting keeper Adrian Darabant and the same St Neots player headed over the bar from a Barker free kick.In a very lively midfieldbattleMylesCowlingwasbookedforanoverenthusiasticchallengeandtowards the end of the first half the visitors’ seemed to grow in confidence, and home keeper Luke Chadwick had to produce a couple of smart saves. Then with just a minute to go before the break, Romania made an important breakthrough as an attack down the right ended with Anthony Edgar producing a skilful lob beyond the reach of Chadwick to claimahalftimeleadforthevisitingside.

SOUTHERNLEAGUEDIVISIONONECENTRAL

StNeotsTown 1 HertfordTown 1

A much-improved performance by St Neots saw a conceded added time equaliser that left them still searching for their first league victory in the new season. It was the ultimate sucker punch dealt out by visitors Hertford Town after the home side had dominated much of the second half. A combination of outstanding goalkeeping by visiting custodian Luke Mewitt and some speculative finishing cost Manager Pete Gill’s sidetwopointstheirperformancehaddeserved. So,aftertwoleaguematcheswithouta victory, St Neots now make the short trip along the A421 to face neighbours Bedford Town in the FA Cup in their next outing. The Manager made just one team change with Arel Amu replacing Joe Rider up front and his pairing with Nehemiah Richard-Noel in attack promises much for the future. Again, it was St Neots’ midfield energy that ensured their greater share of possession but early second half saves by Mewitt from Amu,Richard-NoelandWatkinsearnedhissideanunexpectedshareofthespoils.

The opening phase of the match was evenly contested and after an early effort by Jack Hewitt that sailed over the home crossbar, Myles Cowling shot narrowly wide from a Charley Barker free kick. Visiting striker Samuel Faniyan had two openings but failed to findthetargetbutStNeotswerelookingconfidentinpossessionandcreatingchancesof theirown. Theydeservedlytooktheleadafter17minuteswithaslickmoveasBenHeal foundspaceontherightflankbeforesettingupNehemiahRichard-Noelwhospottedthe visiting keeper out of position to net at the near post. However, that was to be the visiting keeper’s only mistake! After 33 minutes he dived bravely at the feet of Richard Noel after good approach play by Cowling, but the visitors were exploiting the full width ofthepitchwiththehomedefenceguiltofplayingtoonarrowadefence.LouisChadwick saved well from Obinna Ogbonna and right on the break St Neots almost doubled their lead when Richard Noel went clear of the defence from a neat Amu flick, but the keeper savedwellathisfeet.

St Neots began the second half well and Barker and skipper Lee Watkins combined well for the latter to test the keeper with a low shot. The keeper then pushed an Amu shot for a corner at full stretch and some desperate defending by the visiting side saw Ben Weyman booked for a cynical challenge. Play was moving swiftly from end-to-end with St Neots getting the ball in the net but being denied by an offside flag, and from the free kickHewittsawhiseffortreboundfromtheStNeotscrossbar.

FACUP FIRSTQUALIFYINGROUND

BedfordTown 3 StNeotsTown 0

St Neots’ FA Cup adventure this season was short-lived as they were well beaten by BedfordTownaftertheirshorttripdowntheA421intheFirstQualifyingRound. Itwasa pallid display by St Neots who discovered that genuine effort and commitment was insufficient again their expensively assembled neighbours and despite competing well, the visitors finishing lacked confidence and penetration with the home keeper seldom tested. Both sides finished a man short with Bedford losing central defender Charlie Sanders after a horror two-footed tackle on Ben Heal early in the second half, and St Neots substitute Joe Sutton followed him for an early bath nine minutes from time followinganincidentwiththehomecrowd. Allthreeofthehomesides’goalscamefrom headed efforts to set pieces and this will have given St Neots’ Manager Pete Gill food for thought as he constructs his defence for future matches. In theory St Neots’ defence should have been boosted by the return of central defender Charlie Johnson with Aaron Smith moved to his more familiar full back slot but further tightening at the back looks the main priority. True, the home attack was taller and more positive, but some remedial action is urgently required. Also included in the starting line-up for the first time were striker Lawrence Hammond who received little service and Erin Amu in midfieldinplaceofCallumAnderson.

The first ten minutes was fairly even, and the visitors registered the first real noteworthy mention as Johnson won the ball in the air from a corner but never really tested the home custodian. After twelve minutes an unfortunate clearance struck a defender to play Connor Tomlinson clear on goal, but Louis Chadwick stretched, to fingertip the ball for a corner. However, Bedford took full advantage as Lewis Miccio’s corner was met by a towering header by Charlie Sanders to put Bedford in front. Seven minutes later the lead was doubled as from a teasing Danny Setchell free kick, former PeterboroughUnitedStrikerReneHowegotinfrontofhismarkertoglancetheballpast thehelplessChadwick. StNeotswerebeingoutplayedandhadsomedefendingtodofor a spell but towards the end of the first half they rallied to create chances of their own. SkipperLeeWatkinsmakinghis50thappearanceinaStNeotsshirtscythedthroughthe Bedford defence but saw his shot blocked by a defender and then Nehemiah RichardNoelcutinfromtherighttotesthomekeeperAlexStreet.

FACUP FIRSTQUALIFYINGROUND

men following a

tackle by Sanders on Ben

with former

The home side regrouped with a

striker Crain

left to

but shot well over the

St Neots, meantime tried to

up front.He cut in after 61 minutes to open up the

their

but made little significant progress. Pushing forward they were caught on the break after 65 minutes, conceding a corner from which Zac Brown rose high above the defence to convert a Danny Setchell’s cross. St Neots’ play became ragged, and they never really took advantage of their extra player, although from a Myles Cowling cross, Charley Sanders dived full length to put his effort just wide. Afterthegames’secondsendingofftherewaslittlegoalmouthactionalthoughStNeots substitute Arel Amu replaced his brother to shoot over the bar from St Neots’ best second half move. Finally, Richard-Noel created an opening for himself following good

by the

again at the same

but his finish was also

in five weeks’ time in the

The two sides

KempstonRovers 0 StNeotsTown 3

St Neots rounded off a very successful Bank Holiday 72 hours’ period completing their first away win of the season finishing with seven goals and six valuable league points. Star of the show was striker Joe Rider who recorded his first hat trick in a St Neots shirt since 20th January 2019 when he scored three goals in a 4-1 Hunts Youth Cup victory at Yaxley. It was the first away hat trick by a St Neots player since Tom Meechan performed that feat at Bideford on 8th August 2015! For the trip to Kempston Manager Pete Gill named an unchanged starting line-up for the first time this season and his only concern will have been injuries picked up by Charley Barker, Ben Heal and Neo RichardNoel all of whom had to be substituted as a result. However, with no match this coming weekend, the injured players now have twelve days to recover prior to the trip to Welwyn Garden City on 11th September. Now up to seventh in the table with a healthy goal difference in their favour St Neots will go into their next six scheduled matches fourofwhichareawayfromhomewiththeirconfidencehigh.

It was a rather strange first half. St Neots had much the larger share of play but mainly on the break Kempston created two or three decent openings that could have seen St Neots having to come back from behind. However, as the half wore on the visitors created their own chances and only some inspired goalkeeping by home custodian Carl Knoxensuredparityforhissideathalftime. StNeotsearlypressurepromisedmuchbut delivered little before Miguel De Matos breaking down the flank set up Emmanual Dahio but he put his header well wide before the unmarked Daniel Naylor headed tamely over the bar. An early injury to Charley Barker saw Erin Amu on as substitute and he sent MylesCowlingonaforwardrunwhichendedwithKnoxgoingfulllengthtopushtheball foracorner. After27minutesthekeeperdistinguishedhimselfwithafinesavefromJoe Rider and ten minutes later, he produced an even more impressive save to deny the same St Neots player. On the stroke of half time a four man move from the back ended withafreekickfromwhichRidernoddedwide.

CONTINUED

Immediately after the break Neo Richard-Noel was sent tumbling in the box but the Referee waved away the visitors’ penalty appeals. As St Neots increased their hold on the match, Kempston had two defenders cautioned and after 57 minutes Rider then got the ball in the net but was ruled offside. However, he was not to be denied for less than a minute later in St Neots’ next attack Richard-Noel picked up a long clearance from Louis Chadwick to set up Rider for his first goal his third in as many appearances.Kempston broke away with Charlie Hayford feeding former Saints striker Chris Manangu but he was driven wide and the chance lost. Cowling was again the live wire for the visitors, and he brought another excellent save from Knox at the expense of a corner. As the second half wore on Kempton visibly flagged and the last ten minutes was one-way traffic towards the home goal. After 81 minutes Wynford Marfo powered forward to feed Rider and he produced an electric burst of speed to round the final defender and shoot powerfully across the home keeper into the far corner of the net to make it 2 0.The icing on the cake came four minutes into added time when visiting skipper Lee Watkins powered his way into the penalty area to be upended by William Peck and when the Referee pointed to the spot there was only one St Neots player going to take the kick.Joe Ride calmly placed his kick into the corner of the net to take his

WelwynGardenCity 1 StNeotsTown 4

St Neots recorded their first ever league victory over their Hertfordshire hosts by four goals to one with a commanding performance to lift them to the fringe of the play off places. The last time the two sides had met, St Neots squandered a two goals lead to collapse to an odd goal in five defeat, but this time there was never any fear of a repeat asStNeotsdominatedalmostthroughout. AaronSmithmissedthegamethroughinjury and Charley Barker was not fully fit and started on the bench, so Erin Amu made his second start of the campaign, whilst the latest teenage Cambridge United loanee Mamadou Jobe made his debut in defence. There was also a welcome first appearance of the season for Dequaine Wilson-Braithwaite who came on as a late substitute. Joe Rider’s double took his personal goals tally this season to seven in four starts whilst MylesCowlingwasalsoonthescoresheet-again.

St Neots assumed control from the start. In their first attack Erin Amu shot just wide andafter12minutestheydeservedlytooktheleadasJoeRiderpulledtheballbackfrom the bye line for Myles Cowling to rap home. Cowling was terrorising the home defence and he was scythed down by David Keenleyside to earn the home skipper a deserved booking. WynfordMarfothenbeatthreeplayersinamazyrunforwardafter25minutes, but his finish was too high, and in the next move a home defender cleared off the line from an Amu finish to a Callum Anderson corner. Little was seen of the home attack with Louis Chadwick not tested at all in the first half and St Neots might have made more of their superior possession, but home keeper Charlie Crowley produced a couple of good saves. Then after 35 minutes a bizarre incident saw St Neots given a controversial dropped ball advantage on the edge of the Welwyn penalty area after a midfield head injury has stopped play, and St Neots took full advantage as Joe Rider knocked in a Cowling cross to extend the lead. Welwyn almost produced an instant reply, three minutes later when Benjamin Spaul played Jordan Watson clear of the visiting defence but covering defender Ben Heal got back to block his finish at the expenseofacorner.

CONTINUED

St

them

from

a third St

came after 56 minutes when a home defender

stole the ball to beat Crowley with a firm cross shot. Six minutes later the game was over as a serious contest when Joe Ride went clear of a square lying defence and

little careless as Welwyn were clearly stung by their seemingly hopeless position and in the last 15 minutes Welwyn enjoyed their best period of the match. After Crowley had made a good save from Amu, Welwyn deservedly earned some consolation for their determined efforts when Jordan Kinoshi pounced on a poor defensive clearance to claim their consolation goal, but the match was far from over as Cowling sent a free kick over the bar and Rider was denied a hat trick after he sidestepped two defenders, but

NorthLeigh 2 StNeotsTown 0

St Neots mini run of three consecutive league victories ground to a halt at the hands of unbeaten League leaders North Leigh. After an even but largely unproductive first half for either side, the home side took control playing up their favoured slope, and St Neots lost confidence and rhythm conceding the two goals that afforded the home side all three points. The match hinged at both ends on the two towering home central defenders who gave the visiting forwards no room and supplemented their performance byscoringthefirstandlayingonthesecondgoal. StNeotswerestillbelowfullstrength, especially in defence, with recent signing Mamadou Jobe joining Dequaine WilsonBraithwaite on the injury list.However, on the substitutes bench Joe Sutton returned to actionaftersuspensionandtherewasafirsttasteofsenioractionforU18starletJulinho Gomes. Harvey Steel returned to the side at full back with Wynford Marfo resuming in centraldefence. StNeotsnowembarkonabusyspelloftwomatcheseachweekforthe nextmonth,sothereturnoftheinjuredplayerswillbeawelcomeboost.

Although the action was stop/start with the over fussy official booking four players in the first 26 minutes – two from each side – with only one of those cautions looking warranted, when Ben Heal was brough down by Roger James. The action that was worthyofmentionwasNeoRichard-Noelweavinghiswaypasttwodefenders,butAdam Northsavedwell,andasecondeffortbythesamevisitingplayeralsosaved. Asearlyas the19thminuteErinAmusufferedaninjurywhichsawJoeSuttonbackinactionandthe home side only twice seriously threatened the St Neots goal late in the half when following a free kick, a close range shot from Lance Williams was bravely blocked by a defender, and a second effort – the best chance of the first half – coming from a Roger JamescrossthatfoundtheheadofWilliams,buttoStNeots’reliefheheadedwidewhen scoringlookedeasier.

Despite the lack of goalmouth action, the home side shaded the first half with the visitors too often outmuscled by the well-balanced host side, and St Neots doing themselvesnofavoursbyconcedingfreekicksthathadtobedefendedwithdifficulty.

TheRefereewasinactiontwominutesintothesecondhalfbookingathirdhomeplayer foraninnocuouslookingchallengebutjustsixtysecondslaterNorthLeightookthelead. Another free kick just outside the penalty area delivered by Aaron Heap, saw the tall LukeCarnelloutjumpthedefenceandnetwithaperfectlyplacedheaderthatgaveLuke Chadwick no chance. St Neots tried to boost their defence sending on taller full-back Aaron Smith for Harvey Steel, but by now the home side were relishing their superior possession and midway through the half Jordan Thomas was played clear of the defence but as Luke Chadwick narrowed the angle, he shot tamely wide.After 73 minutes a second goal effectively put the outcome of the match beyond St Neots because they were seldom troubling the home defence. A free kick by Heap was headed back across goal by Carnell and Jensen Wright crashed home an unstoppable shot for that 2-0 lead. Now North Leigh rang the changes with all three permitted substitutes introduced and apart from one shot by Richard-Noel blocked by a defender, St Neots had little to offer, until the final eight minutes when they gave U18 winger Julinho Gomes his first taste of seniorfootballandherespondedwithtwosearchingcontributions thefirstacross just beyond the two St Neots attackers and the second a lob over the advancing goalkeeper thatonlyjustclearedthecrossbar.

StNeotsTown 6 BartonRovers 2

St Neots twice came from behind to record their highest league victory for eleven months. They were aided by the sending-off of one of their former players, Martel Powell, who was dismissed just before the break for verbally abusing the Referee. A feature of the match was a second hat trick this season for striker Joe Rider, two of which came from the penalty spot. Barton battled well in the second half despite their numerical disadvantage and a key point in the match came immediately after the break when St Neots man-of-the-match goalkeeper Louis Chadwick saved a penalty kick that could have given the visitors the lead in the match for the third time. With Callum Anderson injured at North Leigh three days earlier, the enforced St Neots team change saw the return in midfield of Charley Barker in an otherwise unchanged starting line-up. Two of the goals came in time added at the end of the game but St Neots totally dominated the second half and will have been disappointed not to have scored more goalsagainstapackeddefence.

Barton issued an early wake up call to the home side when they took the lead after just five minutes when former Saint Nathan Frater was involved in the build-up as Christopher Regis fired home from close range. St Neots replied quickly, and Joe Rider wastwicedeniedanequalisinggoal–firstwhenvisitingkeeperKyleForstermadeagood save and then a minute later when Paul Andrews blocked his close range finish. However, after 17 minutes the scores were levelled when St Neots central defender Wynford Marfo netted following a short corner to record his first ever goal for St Neots. ThecontestcontinuedatbreakneckpacewithLeeWatkinshavingashotdeflectedwide and Martel Powell clearing acrobatically off the goal line to deny Neo Richard Noel. St Neots then uncharacteristically gifted Barton their second goal as an emergency clearancebygoalkeeperLouisChadwickwentstraighttotheunmarkedBradleyBellwho fired into the unguarded net. Unperturbed St Neots regained the initiative swiftly as Rider headed over the bar and then had another effort thwarted as the visiting keeper saved bravely at his feet. Richard-Noel then set up his strike partner again but off balance he fired over the bar.As the first half moved into added time Harvey Steel was upended just inside the penalty area and the Barton protests earned a booking for skipperAndrewsandaredcardforPowell.AfterthefurorehadsubsidedJoeRidercalmly slotted home from the penalty spot to send the sides to their half time break on equal terms.

ThedramaresumedimmediatelyafterhalftimewhenBartonwereawardedapenaltyin the 48th minute when Ben Heal was judged to have brough down Luke Williams, but Chadwick pushed away Charlie Smith’s penalty kick and just four minutes later St Neots were ahead for the first time in the match.Richard-Noel rounded his marker on the left andcrossedforJoeRidertoslothometomakein3-2. ItgotevenbetterforStNeotsfour minutes later when the best move of the match saw Charlie Johnson feed Rider from deep in the St Neots half and his early cross picked out Neo Richard-Noel who netted. Barton regrouped with substitutes introduced and they adopted a more defensive approach making it difficult for St Neots to break down their defence. Myles Cowling had a shot deflected and Forster twice saved well from Watkins and defiantly Barton tried to attack the home defence on the break. Bell should have reduced the deficit when played clear, but Chadwick saved well with his legs and as the game moved into added time there was still much drama to unfold. Joe Rider was brought down in the penalty area but got to his feet to slot home to complete his hat trick and three minutes into extra time another smooth three man move produced a sixth goal for St Neots, substituteJoeSuttonfeedingRiderandhissquarepasssetupMylesCowlingforhisthird goalofthecampaign.

FATROPHY FIRSTROUNDQUALIFYING

BedfordTown 1 StNeotsTown 0 St Neots bowed out of the FA Trophy at the first hurdle with a deja-vu moment having lost to the same opponents five weeks earlier in the FA Cup. However, their overall performance against neighbours Bedford Town was on this occasion very much better. In fact, given the balance of play over ninety minutes, they can consider themselves unlucky not to have taken the match at least to a penalty shoot-out for they dominated possession late in the game but could not find an equalising goal. Manager Pete Gill had the luxury of naming an unchanged starting line-up from that which had won 6-2 at home to Barton Rovers in midweek and he will have been pleased with the performance but disappointed with the result. Bedford scored early in a storming start to the match but after that the play was largely end to end with St Neots unable to find the critical finishing touch. Sadly, this is the first time since joining the Southern League eleven seasons ago that the Saints have been knocked out of the two National competitions at thefirsthurdle.

Bedford’s brisk start seemed to catch the visiting side by surprise with Craig MackailSmith bringing an important save from Louis Chadwick at the expense of a corner after fifty seconds, and then after four minutes in their second sortie forward, former Peterborough United striker Rene Howe took full advantage of a momentary lapse in defensive concentration as he converted a Will Summerfield cross, to score what proved to be the only goal of the match. St Neots replied with skipper Lee Watkins outpacing the home defence to feed Joe Rider, but his shot was deflected for a corner. Charlie Johnson then won a Charley Barker corner in the air, but Alex Street saved well.Bedford were also creating their own openings and from a Shaun Keane cross a Howe header skimmed the crossbar, and Mackail-Smith headed over when well placed. St Neots resorted to lengthy shooting and both Rider and Erin Amu had chances with the latter seeingStreetmakeanimportantsave. St Neots were fortunate when Josh Page was left unmarked but his shot from a Summerfield cross clipped the crossbar and bounced to safety. The half ended with Street saving at the feet of Rider and defender Johnson spottingtheBedfordkeeperoffhislineandalmostchippinghimwithalengthyfreekick.

FATROPHY FIRSTROUNDQUALIFYING CONTINUED

Neots half time

with

by

foil

twice early

also continued in

Richard-Noel shot

One of those, Danny Setchell shot over the bar after being released by a Zac Brown cross and then St Neots sent on substitute Joe Sutton and in the last ten minutes the visitors dominated possession. However, the experienced Bedford side pulled players back to crowd out St Neots’ best efforts and had two played booked for desperate tackles. Despite their dominant possession St Neots seemed to be unable to create anything seriously threatening, ever though they moved defender Johnson up to join the attack.Ironically Bedford could have settled the issue just before full time when the dangerous Howe found space in a counter attack, but saw his header to a Keane cross deflect off the base of a goalpost to

their efforts by utilising all three permitted

St

next cup test comes on Tuesday week (5th

when

BiggleswadeFC1 StNeotsTown 2

It was back to the Eyrie at Bedford four days after their FA Trophy defeat, for hardworking St Neots who ground out this important victory over Biggleswade FC to move to third in the League table. It was not an impressive performance by the visitors who were unable to make any real headway against a stubborn home side that had to playforthelast75minuteswithtenmenafterlosingaplayertoanearlyredcard. With little progress on the player injury front, St Neots named an unchanged starting line up for the third successive time, but there a late substitute appearance for Jake Battersby appearing in a St Neots shirt for the first time for almost a year. On the plus side there was an eleventh goal this season for Joe Rider – and that proved tobe a welcome winner justfourminutesfromtime.

Much of the early play was in midfield except for one glancing header from Matthew Richardsonthatflewwideforthehomeside,whowerethenreducedtotenmenafter17 minutes when Harry Roberts caught Erin Amu with a horror ‘studs up’ tackle. St Neots respondedasathroughpassfromNeoRichard-NoelfreedJoeRider,buthislowshotwas the wrong side of a goalpost. Biggleswade operating with just one-man up front saw theirstrikerevadetwoStNeotstacklestoshotwide,butasthefirsthalfprogressedthe visitors seemed to become frustrated, unable to capitalise on a much greater share of possession with little significant finish against a well-drilled home defence. Seven minutes before the break the home side almost took the lead when from an Alex Marsh cross, Jack Dreyer forced the save of the match from Louis Chadwick at the expense of a corner. At the other end a low Rider shot faced the same fate and then St Neots were forced into a first half change with Aaron Smith coming on for the limping Ben Heal.As half time approached Myles Cowling weaved through the home defence to set up Rider buthisfinishagainflewwide.

CONTINUED

The second half began badly for the visitors when after just two minutes home skipper Alex Marsh opened the scoring with a 30 yards drive through a packed defence with Chadwick possibly unsighted. St Neots responded quickly and after Richard-Noel had been thwarted as home keeper Dan Green dived bravely at his feet, an equaliser arrived four minutes after the opening goal. An attacking move down the left saw Aaron Smith feed Neo Richard-Noel, and despite having his back to goal he wriggled past his marker to beat Green with a low shot. The keeper then saved a rising shot from Lee Watkins, butaidedbysomeloosepassing,StNeotsseemedtolosetheinitiativeandsubstitutions by both sides seemed to upset any rhythm. However, St Neots do not seem to know when they are beaten and with the short home side tiring as the game wore on, there were just four minutes of normal time remaining when a cross from substitute Jake Battersby was not cleared and Joe Rider pounced to net from close range for what proved to be the winning goal. The home side stunned by this setback threw everything forward in a bid to salvage a point but under pressure the visiting defence held out for allthreepoints.

HarlowTown1 StNeotsTown 1 InaveryentertainingandcompetitivematchStNeotscamebackfromahalftimedeficit to deservedly share the points with hosts Harlow Town. It ended a three-match winning run for the home side and left the sides third and fourth in the embryonic league table.

The only contentious point in a very balanced match came in the 45th minute as home goalkeeper Thomas Middlehurst stole the ball at the feet of Joe Rider but he was offbalance and spilled it. Myles Cowling was quickly in to take advantage, but he was clearly brought down by the keeper, and to St Neots fury the Referee only awarded a corner kick. The sides went to half time with St Neots believing they had been robbed but to their great credit they recovered to have the better of the second half and crown their performance with an equalising goal and a deserved away point. There were two enforced St Neots team changes.Erin Amu had decided to move on after just eight appearances (two as substitute), and Ben Heal had failed to recover from a hamstring strain. They were replaced by Mamadou Jobe, fit again after missing four matches, and theirmostrecentsigningBrendonShabani,aformerLeytonOrientacademist.

In a bright start both sides could have registered an early goal. St Neots were fortunate when their defence let in Sammy Dadson after seven minutes on the left and his cross foundleadinghomescorerAlexanderRead,butwiththegoalathismercyfromsixyards his shot rebounded from a post. St Neots struck back immediately, and a low Joe Rider shot was pushed for a corner by Middlehurst. St Neots defence were again culpable as they allowed Read to go clear and his unselfish cross set up the unmarked Demaray Anyadike who saw his shot deflected for a corner. New St Neots signing Brendon Shabanimadeanearlymarkwitha21stminutecurlingfreekickthatjustpassedthefar post with the keeper beaten and then at the other end when Wynford Marfo conceded a free kick, Hector Mackie forced a good save from Louis Chadwick. By now St Neots were beginningtohavethebetteroftheexchangesandRider(twice)broughtgoodsavesfrom the home keeper and Neo Richard-Noel shot narrowly wide. Marfo then joined the attacktoexchangepasseswithRiderandskimthecrossbarwithhisfinishbutthenafter 42minutesfromanDemarayAnyadikecorner,defenderJoshuaSteelesentaheaderinto thenetviatheinsideofagoalposttogivethehoststheirhalftimelead.

StNeotsTown1 HitchinTown 1 (StNeotswon4-3onpenalties)

In a dramatic penalty shoot-out after a 1-1 draw, St Neots kept their nerve to knock out higher graded Hitchin Town to repeat a first round Challenge Cup victory over the same visitors in the 2013/14 season when the Saints went on to win the trophy. The home hero of the hour was home goalkeeper George Whitehall who saved three of Hitchin’s thirteenspotkicks.ManagerPeteGillchosetousethisoccasiontogivesomeofhissquad players some match time making six changes in his starting line up from that which had appeared three days earlier at Harlow. This included two new signings Kwai Marsh Brown and Ayub Kadiri and two of the talented U18 squad were also included on the substitutes bench.Conditions could hardly have been more testing with a swirling wind and heavy rain, yet the two sides produced an entertaining and competitive match with thehomesidecomingbackfrombehindtoearntheirchanceintheshoot out.

Playing against the elements in the first half, St Neots made a bright start creating the firstrealopeningasaHarveySteelcrossfoundtheheadofNeoRichard-Noelbutvisiting keeper Charles Horlock saved well.An early injury to a visiting defender saw Hitchin forced into a change and they responded with a slick move that saw a shot from Rio DaSilvadeflectedforacorner. Withbothsidesstrugglingtomastertheconditionsmany efforts on goal were from distance with Joe Sutton trying his luck at one end and Luke Brown bringing a useful save from George Whitehall at the other.New signing Ayub Kadiri looked bright and three minutes before the break he lit up the game with a mazy run past two defenders, but his finish was wide of the far post. Jake Battersby making hisfirststartwasalsoofftargetaftergoodworkbyactingskipperMylesCowlingandthe first period ended in added time as Kai Marsh Brown was denied by the crossbar from a Battersbycorner.

SOUTHERNLEAGUECHALLENGECUP ROUNDONE CONTINUED

Goalless but never dull summed up the first half action, and the end-to-end pattern continued after the break with defender Mamadou Jobe keeping St Neots in the match with a dramatic goal line clearance after 55 minutes.Having utilised Brendon Shabani as a second half replacement for Kadiri, St Neots replaced their second debutant with strikerJoeRiderinapositivemovetobreakthedeadlock. Hewasquicklyinthethickof the action and after 64 minutes he forced the save of the match full length from Horlock. A third St Neots substitution with the exciting Julinho Gomes replacing Battersbyafter69minutesappearedtohavegonewrongwhentwominuteslaterfroma LawrieMarshthrowfoundtheunmarkedLewisBarkerandhiscrossintotheareasetup Ryan Smith arriving late to open the scoring.This seemed to motivate St Neots and for a spell they dominated possession being rewarded after 78 minutes when a header from a GomescrossbyRiderreboundedfromthebarwiththevisitingkeeperstranded,andNeo Richard Noel was quickly on hand to level the scores. In the last few minutes both sides went looking for a winner and St Neots thought they were denied a penalty when Richard-Noelwasupendedinthearea,buttheRefereewavedplayon.

StNeotsTown2 WantageTown 1

In their first home Saturday match for seven weeks St Neots flattered to deceive before running our rather unconvincing winners against a pallid visiting side who seldom looked like scoring themselves.Wantage are struggling at the bottom of the league table and managed just one serious shot before being gifted with an unexpected goal in time added. St Neots were so much on top with an embarrassing amount of possession, yet they lacked that final touch in front of goal and this failing will cost them dear against more gifted opponents. After making several changes for the recent League Cup match against Hitchin to give his squad players some game time, Manager Pete Gill made just two changes in his line-up from the previous League match, with his most recent signing Elliott Sartorious making his debut and a return for Brandon Shabani at the expense of JoeRiderandtheunavailableMylesCowling. For 45 minutes St Neots looked poised and confident,butitseemedadifferentsidethatturnedupafterthebreak,totallyunableto takeadvantageoftheirsuperiorpossession. After a cautious start by both sides Wantage had the first real chance with visiting defenderJackAlexanderupforasetpiecehavinghiseffortblockedbyahomedefender. St Neots then settled to an attacking routine with the visiting keeper having to distinguish himself after five minutes with a full length save to deny debutant Elliott Sartorious. Neo Richard Noel went tumbling in the area as he burst through, but his penalty appeals were ignored and then an indirect free kick inside the visiting penalty areasawskipperLeeWatkinsfirehighoverthebar. However,thepressurepaidafter21 minutes when Sartorious unselfishly pulled the ball back to Kwai Marsh-Brown who left Joseph Gorman helpless with a fierce 25 yards drive to open his account and the scoring. That lead was doubled just five minutes later with another first goal for the club from CharleyBarkerwhotookapassfromBrendonShabanitoshootpastthevisitingkeeper.

SOUTHERNLEAGUEDIVISIONONECENTRAL CONTINUED

That should have opened the floodgates, but a combination of desperate defending and poorfinishingkeptWantageinthegame.WynfordMarfosetupSartoriouswhonearpost effort was just wide of the post and then Mamadou Jobe ventured forward to link up with the attack to bring a backbreaking save from Gorman’s fingertips. The half ended with Marsh-Brown robbing a hesitant defender to send his shot over the bar when he shouldhaveaddedtothelead.

The home crowd was anticipating further goals after the break, but they were to be disappointed. With Sartorious lacking match-fitness he was replaced by Julinho Gomes who livened up the home attack and Richard Noel was going for goal when brought down from behind by Jack Alexander who looked lucky to only pick up a yellow card. From the free kick, the same St Neots player brought another fine save from Gorman.The only Wantage shot came just past the hour when the underworked George Whitehall saved comfortably from Alexander Fragate and then in a bid to boost his attack, the St Neots Manager sent on Jake Battersby for Marsh-Brown. The substitute twiceproducedsearchingcrossesthatcouldnotfindafinishandasthegameworeonSt Neots began to look frustrated with their own efforts. They still had much the better of possession with their midfield players getting plenty of possession, but the final shot lacked conviction. In added time St

as a

AylesburyUnited1 StNeotsTown 2 (atCheshamFC)

St Neots buried their hoodoo at The Meadow in Chesham as they defeated tenants AylesburyUnitedbytheoddgoalinthreethankstoJoeRider’stwelfthleaguegoalofthe season in just ten starts.They had never before beaten Aylesbury and it was their seventh visit to the ground having drawn two and lost four against the host club in Southern League Premier Division meetings. With George Whitehall unwell they had to recall goalkeeper Louis Chadwick from a loan spell at Arlesey, and he responded with one of his best performances that included three important saves. Still awaiting players backfromtheinjurylistandapartfromthechangeingoal,StNeotsmadejustoneteam changebringinginfitagainJoeRiderforElliottSartoriuswhowasonthebench.

St Neots could not have had to recover from a worse start to a league match for after kickingofftheylosttheballtotheiropponentsandjust18secondsafterthefirstwhistle they conceded the opening goal of the contest. Max Hercules received the ball on the left and drifted past his marker to cross for striker Ty Deacon who twisted his way past Mamadou Jobe to beat the keeper with a fine finish. St Neots look stunned and after Jordan Jenkins had gone close to second goal for the home side – a header from a Jake Bewleycorner–thevisitorslostmidfielderCharleyBarkeraftertwelveminutestoinjury with fit again Ben Heal replacing him. Chadwick then produced an excellent save from Ben Seaton following a corner and he was then relieved to see a cross-shot from Hercules rebound from the far post to be cleared. St Neots were not at their best in attack despite sharing possession with their finishing hopeful rather than accurate and Neo Richard Noel set up by Heal had their best chance to level the scores, but home keeper Archie Davis saved well.Just past the half hour a bad mistake by Wynford Marfo let in Deacon but Chadwick saved well and then with the keeper off his line Seaton tried his luck with a 45 yards lob that was inches too high.The lively Kwai Marsh-Brown then shot over the bar but on the stroke of half time St Neots levelled as skipper Lee Watkins firedinalowshotfromtheedgeofthepenaltyareaforhissecondgoalofthecampaign. There was still time in added time for the home keeper to make an important near post savetokeepoutacleverRiderflick.

CONTINUED

StNeotsTown3 WareTown 4

Trailing 3-0 after just 26 minutes, St Neots looked destined for a second home defeat of the season, but they fought back doggedly and drew level with just ten minutes remaining. Both teams looked like they would rather not share the points but an inexplicablehandballoffencebyStNeotsdefenderCharlieJohnsonpresentedWarewith a winning goal from the penalty spot with just six minutes remaining.It had been a breathless contest in front of St Neots best home crowd of the season and Ware could hardlybelievetheirgoodfortuneastheywerehandedthewinnerafterbeingreducedto ten men ten minutes from time when full back Marcus Milner picked up a second yellow card.St Neots will rue their lack of concentration at either end of a game when they could and should have netted all three points against one of the fancied side in the division. WithCharleyBarkerstillinjuredandKwaiMarsh Brownunwelltherehadtobe team changes, so Manager Pete Gill brought back Miles Cowling and Ben Heal both after injury and handed Jake Battersby his first league start at full back with Wynford Marfo leftonthebench.

St Neots made their worst start to a match this season and the visitors must have been pleasantly surprised as they raced into that three goals advantage. Neither side had mounted a serious attack until the twelfth minute when a fairly innocuous shot to the near post by Taufee Skandari saw home keeper Louis Chadwick allow the ball to slip through his hands and nestle in the net. If that was a shock worse followed three minutes later when a cross from Robbie Buchanan should have been dealt with, but an attempted clearance struck a St Neots defender to present Leigh Rose with a tap in gift goal. Now St Neots looked stunned and offered very little in reply with Chadwick atoningforhiserrorwithafull-lengthblocktodenyBuchananwhohadgoneclearofthe homedefence. After 24 minutes with Ware looking rampant, he then produced the save of the match at the expense of a corner, to deny Skandari a second goal. However, the visitors persisted and two minutes later from a Buchanan corner Louis Rose scored the thirdgoalinagoalmouthscramble. To their credit St Neots improved and the fight back was mounted after 39 minutes when a Jake Battersby shot was pushed away. From two yardsNeoRichard-NoelmanagedsomehowtohitthepostbutluckilytheballrantoBen Heal who pulled a goal back and in their next attack St Neots were really back in contention as Richard-Noel finished off a smooth attacking move involving Battersby andJoeRider.

ROUNDTWO

BiggleswadeFC1 StNeotsTown 1 (StNeotswon4-2onpenalties)

St Neots fourth trip to The Eyrie this season (two v Bedford and two v Biggleswade) produced a very pleasing outcome as they progressed to Round Three of the Southern League KO Cup for only the second time the last being seven seasons ago when they wentontolifttheTrophy. ItwasalsotheirsecondvictorythisseasonoverBiggleswade, and their second KO Cup shoot out in four attempts. Like the league match it was a closelyfoughtencounterwiththehostsidecomingbackfrombehindtoearnthesudden death finale. Goalkeeper George Whitehall again contributed at the death with an important save in the shoot-out, and Marc Abbott making his Southern League debut conjured up the all- important St Neots goal. He was one of five changes to the side that had played the previous Saturday with Manager Pete Gill utilising the depth of his squad for this Cup match. Into the starting line up also came goalkeeper George Whitehall for Louis Chadwick, and there were returns to action for Wynford Marfo, Elliott Sartorious andKwaiMarsh-BrownwithHarveySteel,BrendonShabaniJoeRiderandLeeWatkinsall rested.

There was a fairly even start to the match and after Jake Battersby had sent the visitors’ firsteffortoverthebar,BenHeadhadtoheadoffthelinetodenyAlexMarshfollowinga corner. Marc Abbott announced his arrival by picking up an early booking and then Tom Colesforthehosts,sawhiseffortreboundfromthecrossbar. StNeotsfinishedthefirst half with a flourish as Mamadou Jobe and Myles Cowling combined to set up Neo Richard-Noel to go clear, but home keeper Tyler Josephs saved bravely at his feet, and then an attack down the left saw Battersby send in a testing shot that was not cleared andMarcAbbottarrivedonthescenetoopenthescoringwithaneatfinish.

Although twenty minutes later including the half time break, Biggleswade had levelled within ninety seconds of the restart as a goalmouth scramble saw St Neots’ acting skipper Charlie Johnson concede a penalty with a mistimed challenge and Alex Marsh climbedtohisfeettostrokehomethespotkicktolevelthescores.

SOUTHERNLEAGUECHALLENGECUP ROUNDTWO CONTINUED

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ThameUnited2 StNeotsTown 0

As the match finished Saturday firework displays began to light up the darkening sky in stark contrast to St Neots performance which had been akin to a damp squib. The visitors dominated play especially in the first 45 minutes yet never produced a single threateningshotatthehomegoaluntilthe89thminutewhenNeoRichard-Noelfailedto seriously test the home goalkeeper.With midfield pair Brendan Shabani and skipper Lee Watkins back in midfield, replacing Mark Abbott and Jake Battersby, and leading scorer Joe Rider in for Elliott Sartorius, St Neots were almost back to full strength, but they just failed to deliver against a host side that had only stubborn defence in their armoury in the first hour of the match. St Neots boasted lots of early possession. Despite playing some attractive approach football the important end product was sadly missing from a side that boasted an average of almost two and a half goals per league match prior to this visit to Oxfordshire. With a visit from second placed Berkhamsted on the agenda next Saturday, Manager Pete Gill will be looking for a return to form – especially for his frontplayers.

Winning the toss St Neots elected to play with wind advantage but seemingly had no idea how to use it to their credit. Too many forward balls went harmlessly through to the home keeper, but to their credit St Neots persisted with their patient approach with rare forward sorties by the home side only coming when careless passing surrendered the ball. When St Neots did threaten the home side were not afraid to concede free kicks to halt their visitors progress and early in the match Jack Tompkins became the first of four home players to be booked. Kwai Marsh Brown was St Neots’ Rider most dangerousplayerandheshotjustwideandhadasecondeffortdeflectedforacorneras the first half wore on. St Neots were fortunate when Mamadou Jobe carelessly gave the ball away four minutes before the break, but Charlie Johnson came to his rescue with a well times tackle to dispossess Jack Tutton. Just on the stroke of half time Joe Rider limpedoffwithahamstringproblem-ElliottSartoriussubstituting.

FCRomania 1 StNeotsTown 2 (atCheshuntFC)

After 65 minutes St Neots were in danger of suffering a mugging at Cheshunt. Their rather physical opponents had picked up six yellow cards in stopping St Neots best attackingmoves,butinthesecondhalftheythenbrokeawaythroughavisitingdefence caught short, to score the first goal of the match.However, thankfully this proved to be thespurStNeotsrequiredandtheyrecoveredtoscoretwice,anddeservedlytakehome the three points avenging their opening day league defeat at St Neots. The visitors controlled much of the match throughout but failed to turn their possession into goals and at times seemed intimidated by the home sides’ tactics. There were three changes in the St Neots line up with Aaron Smith back from his loan period, replacing Wynford Marfo at full back, Elliott Sartorius leading the attack for Neo Richard-Noel, and most recent signing Ky Marsh-Brown (brother of Kwai) replacing the departed Brendon Shabani.

This most recent signing excited with his pace and skill and looks to be a very useful addition to the squad making an early impact after just six minutes as he rounded the home keeper to set up Myles Cowling but his shot from 25 yards sailed harmlessly over the crossbar.Four minutes later St Neots could have been behind as George Whitehall spilled a cross from Jonathan Edwards, but Charlie Johnson hacked the ball clear. Ky Marsh-Brown was then upended in the penalty area, but the referee waved play on whilst at the other end Olluwatobi Coker brought a full length save from Whitehall. His oppositenumberLinconMarquesthenemulatedhimwithanimportantsavefromalow Cowling effort and after 33 minutes Coker’s cross picked out the unmarked Anthony Edgar,buthemiskickedwiththegoalathismercy. Towards the end of the half St Neots were well in control and Ky Marsh-Brown was twice in significant action, bringing an importantsavefromMarquesbeforeroundingoffamazyrunthroughthehomedefence byshootingoverthebar.

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The closest to a goal for the visitors came after 64 minutes when Ky Marsh-Brown was again brought down earning the sixth caution for the home side but the free kick on the edge of the area Ky Marsh-Brown came to nothing. Just a minute later the home side carved out their first significant attack of the second half and a skilful interplay between Usman Adejini and substitute Kieran Bishop saw the former find the net beyond the dive of Whitehall. It took St Neots eight minutes to recover when Mamadou Jobe scored his first goal for St Neots following a Cowling corner, and four minutes later, substitute Neo Richard-Noel netted what was to prove the match winning goal as he wriggled through a cluster of defenders to score with a clinical low shot. Romania threw everything forward in search of a late equaliser, but the St Neots

RoystonTown2 StNeotsTown 1

An injury torn St Neots side produced a very courageous performance against higher rated Royston Town in the third round of the League Cup before bowing out by the odd goal in three. All the goals came in the final twenty minutes of a competitive and entertaining contest in very testing conditions. In the first half that was evenly contested,thehomesideseemedshockedbyStNeotspositiveapproachtothegamebut both sides were hampered by a series of injuries and substitutions. St Neots had to reshuffle in advance with skipper Lee Watkins and Wynford Marfo serving their one match ban for picking up fifth yellow cards this season, and Charlie Johnson nursing the injury suffered in the last match. Into their places were drafted Dequaine WilsonBraithwaite for his first start of the season, Mamadou Job after his one match suspension, and what proved to be a partly fit Joe Rider who unfortunately only lasted for seventeen minutes. That was only the start of St Neots’ problems because his replacementCallumAnderson,aftermissingthelastgamethroughinjury,alsohadtobe replaced after just twenty-five minutes on the pitch with a recurrence of his injury.If that were not enough Kwai Marsh-Brown had to be substituted twenty-five minutes from time with a serious calf injury. This meant that the stretched St Neots squad saw two of their U18 players have considerable time on the pitch less than 24 hours after theirimportantleaguematchwithDeepingRangers.

From the start St Neots playing against the wind took the game to their hosts and after the early skirmishes the match suffered a four minutes’ delay as Freddie Brown was injured and eventually replaced by Makai Murray. St Neots then enjoyed a good spell of pressure on the home defence with a cross by Neo Richard-Noel being well saved under pressurebyhomedebutantgoalkeeperDimitrosKyriatzis,andthekeeperthenfieldeda low shot from Joe Rider who then limped off. The visitors continued to press and Kyriatzis had to leave his line quickly to gather at the feet of Richard-Noel but towards the end of the first half the home side came more into the match with Ed Asafu-Adjaye shooting over the bar when well-placed and George Whitehall saving well from the lively BrandonAdams.ThefirsthalfendedwithStNeotsreshufflingtheirsideastheystroveto bedintheirtwosubstitutes

StNeotsTown 0 AFCDunstable 4

Visiting striker Bernard Christie earned the man-of-the match award as he claimed all four goals as visitors AFC Dunstable humbled an injury-hit understrength St Neots side scoring twice in each half. It was the visitors’ first ever victory at the Premier Plus Stadium. The match was littered with cautions each side picking up five as Referee Tom Hancock ensured his mention in the match report – and St Neots lost defender WynfordMarfosentoffafterpickinguptwocautionsuponhisreturnfromsuspension!St Neots have struggled recently with injuries, suspensions, and unavailability resulting in their inability to field a settled side, and this has been a major contributory factor to themwinningonlyoneoftheirlastsixleagueandcupmatches. Onthisoccasionfurther injuries to Ben Heal, Kwai Marsh-Brown and Joe Rider plus the recall of central defender Mamadou Job by parent club Cambridge United, saw the return to the side after their injury breaks of Dequaine Wilson-Braithwaite and Kyjuon Marsh-Brown, and skipper Lee Watkinsaftersuspension,withloaneeJoshuaGreenmakinghisdebut.

After Lee Watkins had shot narrowly wide, the match became fragmented as a spectacle with the Referee booking three players in the first fifteen minutes. Gradually the visitors began to dominate the attacking play and Kieran Hamilton broke through to shoot across the face of goal from a narrow angle. Up for a corner Samuel McClelland was brought down by a St Neots defender and from the resultant penalty kick Bernard Christie opened his account. St Neots hit back with Myles Cowling setting up Kyjuon Marsh-Brown to bring a full length save from visiting keeper Jamie Head, and Charlie Johnson had a header from a Charley Barker corner headed off the goal line with the keeperbeaten. However, Dunstable were creating the better openings and after half an hour home custodian Louis Chadwick at full stretch had to touch a Newman Carney corner over the bar and from the resultant corner Ryan Frater had a header cleared off the line by Aaron Smith. Then after 33 minutes Johnson was dispossessed by Hamilton who fed Bernard Christie who claimed his second goal. The half ended with three more cautions for what seemed trivial offences, so the visitors went to the break week in control.

ColneyHeath 1 StNeotsTown 0

Bottom of the table Colney Heath recorded their first victory in twelve games at the expense of a hapless out-of-touch visiting St Neots side. In awful conditions on a less than perfect pitch neither side really managed to play with any rhythm or belief. It was therefore almost inevitable that a deciding goal would come from a mistake, and that came from the visitors after 51 minutes, when a badly mistimed tackle by defender Charlie Johnson brought down an opponent, and Kwon Hepburn stepped forward to net from the penalty spot.Subsequently St Neots pressed forward with great determination, but only once did they force home keeper into a serious save. Now they have gone almost five hours league football without scoring a goal so their problem that is simple to identify has sent them plummeting down the league table from fifth at the end of October to twelfth. With top of the table Berkhamsted the next visitors to the Premier Plus Stadium, things are unlikely to get any easier. With Ben Heal, Joe Rider and Callum Anderson still on the injured list, they were joined by Wynford Marfo serving his one match ban, but there was a return to the side for Kwai Marsh-Brown and Nehemiah RichardNoelafterinjury.

St Neots made a confident enough start dominating possession for the opening ten minuteswithoutcreatinganythingsignificant,butthehomesidequicklysettledintothe contest with Matthew Walsh seeing a shot deflected and defender Toby Byron up for a corner heading narrowly over the bar. Louis Chadwick was then forced to touch away a cross by Kwon Hepburn and the only reply from the visitors was a shot from Kyjuon Marsh Brown easily gathered by the home custodian. His brother Kwai then found the side netting from distance and St Neots best first half effort came from the lively Kyjuon Marsh-Brownwhosawhiseffortsavedbythegoalkeepers’legs. Bothsideslookedhappy tohearthehalftimewhistlewiththegoallessscorelineafairguidetothefirstforty-five minutes.

StNeotsTown 1 Berkhamsted 1

St Neots’ best performance for several weeks afforded them a deserved share of the pointsashighflyingBerkhamstedcametotown. TheHertfordshiresidewerehopingfor a victory that would have taken them back to the top of the league table but in the event, they were fortunate to leave the Premier Plus Stadium with a share of the points.Injury ravaged St Neots produced their best team performance for almost two months and only their finishing in front of goal let them down. With Neo Richard-Noel side lined by an injury sustained in the previous match, and Joe Rider still not fit the home side went into the match without a recognised striker, yet still produced a performance that stunned a side that had spent most of the season at the top of the table. Kwai Marsh-Brown returned to the side after injury having to play up front, and Wynford Marfo was back after his one match ban with Marc Abbott dropping to the bench. The other team change saw Gradi Milange make his first start at the expense of DequaineWilsonBraithwaitewhowasalsoonthebench.

If the visitors had imagined that this would be a routine victory over a struggling side, it did not take long for this notion to disappear. St Neots adopted a defiant attacking policy from the start with visiting keeper Xavier Lomas-Leon having to save an early Charlie Johnson header from a Charley Barker corner. Aaron Smith then saw a net boundshotblockedbyadefender,andJoshuaGreenmakingonlyhissecondstarttested Lomas. St Neots then had a very credible appeal for a penalty waved away when Smith broke into the area to be brought down from behind and the first effort by the visiting side saw a Cheyce Grant volley sail harmlessly over the bar.In fact there were only five minutes remaining in the first half when Berkhamsted built their first credible attack.Alie Bangura broke on the right only to see his effort rebound from the woodwork, but before St Neots regained possession a searing 25 yards effort by Cheyce Grant flew into the net to afford the visitors a half time lead against the run of play. However,beforethebreaktherewastimeforthevisitingkeepertoproduceagoodsave to deny Lee Watkins before seeing another effort by Miles Cowling blocked by a defender.

CONTINUED

StNeotsTown 0 DidcotTown 4

St Neots produced a woefully inept home performance and visitors Didcot took full advantage to climb above their hosts in the league table. For the first time St Neots were COVID hit with three players missing (goalkeeper Louis Chadwick, midfielder Myles Cowling and striker Neo Richard-Noel), after testing positive following the midweek game, but this will be no excuse for a well below par performance. With their second senior goalkeeper George Whitehall nursing a broken finger St Neots had to call upon seventeen years old youth goalkeeper George Anthony to make his senior debut, and former manager Marc Abbott returned in midfield in a further patched-up side. They were particularly vulnerable in defence where Charlie Johnson and recent signing Gradi Milenge looked poor and uncoordinated, and they created little in attack without a recognised striker in their squad. It was Didcot’s first win at St Neots having failed to score on their two previous visits and the win took them above their hosts as St Neots dropped three places in the table to thirteenth. It is the goalscoring department that must be of the main concern to Manager Pete Gill because in their last five league matches, they have scored just once, picking up just five points out of their last twenty seven.Now the club physiotherapists take centre stage as they struggle to make an impactonthekeyplayerssidelinedbyinjury.

St Neots actually began well taking the game to their visitors without testing the goalkeeper but after eight minutes they were hit on the break when in Didcot’s first attack striker Noah Alabi cut inside from the left flank past two static defenders, before beating rookie goalkeeper George Anthony with an angled low shot. From a Charley Barker free kick Aaron Smith fired wide and four minutes after their first goal, Didcot wentfurtheraheadasacornerfromConnorBarrattwasheadedbackacrossgoalforthe unmarked Joshua Hedges to add a second goal. From a St Neots corner Barratt headed off the Didcot goal line and that was as close to a goal that St Neots got in a torrid first half. Visiting keeper Leigh Bedwell did have to save at the feet of Charlie Johnson following a Barker corner but despite St Neots sharing possession their attacking ideas were optimistic rather than accurate as Kwai Marsh-Brown fired wildly over the bar and brotherKyfailedtotestthekeeperfromcloserange. Significantlyfromhismidfieldrole St Neots skipper Lee Watkins looked the player most likely to test the visiting defence andStNeotswenttothebreakingsearchingforsomeinspiration.

CONTINUED They started the second half well enough and making for goal Ky Marsh-Brown was hauled down earning visiting defender Harley Giles a caution. Both Joshua Green and Kwai Marsh-Brown shot wide – the second following a Wynford Marfo cross after some patientbuildupplaybyStNeots. Itwasthehomeside’sdefensiveplaythatwascausing concern. Thereseemedtobelittleprotectionfortheirdebutantgoalkeeperbutafteran hour they could have struggled their way back into the game but from a Marfo cross Kwai Marsh-Brown was guilty of the miss of the match as he skied the ball high over the barfromsixyards. SubstituteMaxSmalleydidlivenupthehomeattackbutsentagood chance straight into the arms of the visiting keeper, but the pressure always seemed to beonthehomedefenceandafter75minutesGradiMilengefluffedaclearanceandfrom the edge of the penalty area visiting skipper Seth Humphries smashed the ball into the net for the third goal. Anthony did save bravely at the feet of Alabi before the visitors were reduced to ten men when Humphries was issued with a straight red card for a dangerous tackle. Even so the visitors left their best for last because two minutes into added time they added a fourth goal when Barker missed a tackle on the edge of the area and Connor Barrett became Didcot’s fourth scorer in what for them was a memorablevictory.

BedfordTown1 StNeotsTown 0

Despite losing central defender Charlie Johnson sent off twelve minutes into the second half,StNeotsproducedadeterminedgutsyperformanceagainsttheleagueleadersonly to be beaten by a single goal scored by the divisional leading scorer Renee Howe his 20th of the campaign. It was St Neots third away defeat at the hands of Bedford, the other two in National Cup competitions, and despite being without four key players the visitors pushed their hosts all the way.Once again team changes were a key factor for the visitors with Neo Richard-Noel and Myles Cowling returning from COVID, and Callum Anderson after injury and they replaced Kyjuon Marsh-Brown, Aaron Smith and Joshua Green with Dequaine Wilson-Braithwaite preferred to Marc Abbott who was on the bench. Bedford on an unbeaten league run of six matches cemented their place at the top of the table three points ahead of Berkhamsted whilst St Neots stayed anchored in thirteenthplace–adozenpointsshyoftheplay-offplaces. Johnson became the fourth player to see red this season and will miss the important trip to Barton Rovers next week.

OnaveryheavypitchStNeotsstruggledtosettleintoarhythmintheearlystagesofthe contest and were quickly finding the pace of the home side a problem. In their first attack Bedford sliced through the visiting defence and the lively Connor Tomlinson moved inside the last defender but fired high over the bar.Joe Butterworth was the next home player to find himself in a scoring position, but his effort was blocked by a defender. St Neots first attack after14 minutes resulted in them winning a corner when KwaiMarsh Brown’sshotdeflectedoffadefenderandthiswasararevisitingsortiewith the home defence dominant. Renee Howe’s strength and clever positional play was creating problems and he twice tested visiting keeper Louis Chadwick. St Neots persevered and began to look stronger towards the end of the half with the hardworking Neo Richard Noel seeing a well placed free kick neatly saved by home keeper Alexander Street. Both sides squandered late first half chances Will Summerfield finishing carelessly after a great run by Lewis Miccio whilst at the other end Myles Cowling looking off balance shot over the bar after excellent play by Richard-Noel and thehalfendedwithShaunKeeneshootingwideaftergoodworkbyHowe.

StNeotsTown 2 KempstonRovers 3

Having survived the trauma of conceding two goals in a minute early in the game, St Neots responded well deservedly drawing themselves level just before the break, but worse was to follow. With just two minutes left, having dominated much of the attacking play in the second period, they saw all three points disappear as Kempston produced an unlikely late winning goal. Unbeaten in their last three league matches Kempston are staging a midwinter recovery as they strive to climb away from the relegation zone and this victory lifted them to sixteenth in the table now just two places below their hosts. With defender Charlie Johnson serving the first of his three matches ban, St Neots brought in recently acquired defender Perry White in a reorganised back linethatincludedAaronSmithforDequaineWilson Braithwaite. There was also a debut for midfielder Dylan Switters who had joined from Step Three Leiston. He replaced CallumAndersonwhowasonthebench.

There was a bright start to the match with Luke Burrows screwing the first shot well wideafteraswiftKempstonattackandattheotherendNeoRichard-Noelsawhiseffort deflected for a corner. Then in just over a wretched sixty seconds’ spell St Neots found themselves two goals in arrears! After nine minutes the home defence failed to clear a crossfromTaylorBakogeorgeandRafalWielbladwasallowedtimetosteertheballwide of Louis Chadwick, and almost straight from the restart St Neots surrendered the ball in midfield and once again the speedy Bakogeorge rounded his marker to cross for Rafal Wielblad to double his sides’ score. It took St Neots just three minutes to recover as from a Charley Barker corner Gradi Milenge rose high above the Kempston defence to pull one goal back – his first for St Neots – but the home side were still trying to find a rhythm in their play. However, after 23 minutes new boy Dylan Switters took on the visiting defence but driven wide of target his shot only found the side netting. Myles Cowling then shot narrowly wide as St Neots attempted to repair the damage and gradually, they seemed to regain some confidence. Just sixty seconds before the break they found themselves level as Neo Richard-Noel won his way to the bye line to pull the ballbacktoMylesCowlingwhoselowshotbeatthediveofCarlKnoxtolevelthescores.

StNeotsTown 0 WelwynGardenCity 2

Welwyn extended their unbeaten run to eight matches against a host side that had not wonathomeinthreemonthsandhadlittletoofferexcepthonestendeavour. A goal in each half saw Welwyn ease to victory without ever dominating a rather pallid match. However, it cemented their position two points outside the playoffs with matches in handofalltheclubsaheadofthemwhilstStNeots languishinfourteenthplacewithout awinintheirlasteightleaguematches. Overallthehomeside’sperformancewasbetter thanoflatebutbothgoalsconcededwerepreventableandthevisitingkeeperwasnever seriously extended.Whether Manager Pete Gill needs to strengthen his defence or give his front players some confidence (or both) is the question facing him but with another testing away trip at in form Ware up next the future looks challenging. St Neots did welcome back striker Joe Rider and Ben Heal both after lengthy injury absences and this meant places on the substitutes bench for Neo Richard-Noel and Wynford Marfo, and therewasawelcome25minsreturnasasubstituteforKyjuonMarsh-Brownwholooked to be an inspirational improvement to a side lacking in ideas and confidence in front of goal.

WithstrikerJoeRiderbackaftermissingnineofthelasttenhomeside’sleaguematches, optimism on the goalscoring front was high and in St Neots first attack he produced the first shot of the match comfortably saved by visiting keeper Charlie Crowley. The lively KwaiMarsh-BrownthengotinontheactasheroundedadefendertosetupRideragain, butthistimehiseffortwasdeflected. After this early burst of action the visitors slowed the pace and in their first real attack after 17 minutes they were awarded a penalty whenRider,backassistingthedefence,trippedCampbellandGeorgeIrontonsteppedup to open the scoring. That was a clear setback for the home side, but they persevered and both Charley Barker and Dylan Switters produced efforts from outside the penalty area that failed to trouble Crowley. Ironically the closest St Neots got to levelling the scores came two minutes before the break when a Barker free kick eluded the defence tofindPerryWhiteunmarkedatthefarpost,buthewasflaggedmarginallyoffside.

SOUTHERNLEAGUEDIVISIONONECENTRAL CONTINUED As with the first half, St Neots looked very much on the front foot after the restart. The visitors had to resort to illegal practice to smother the home sides’ attacks resulting in two bookings and free kicks conceded but St Neots could not take advantage. MarshBrown’s pace was always a problem for the visiting defence and after 55 minutes he raced on to a Rider pass but could only shoot high over the bar and two minutes later a stinging shot from Barker was spilled by the visiting keeper, but a defender came to his recue. Meantime Welwyn failed to create anything meaningful, and it was very much againsttherunofplayandpossessionwhenthevisitorsproducedwhatwastoprovethe defining moment of the match. After 59 minutes Jon Clements – at the time a sole attackingplayer soldacleverdummytogetpastStNeotsfinaldefenderGradiMilenge, and he went on to beat goalkeeper Louis Chadwick with an angled low shot across the keeper’sbody.ThatsignalledactiononbothbencheswithStNeotsbossPeteGillsending on all three permitted substitutes and with four forward players now on view his intention was clear. Welwyn just pulled players back to smother the home side attacks and in the final twenty minutes with most of the play in the Welwyn half, St Neots created chances that they could not convert.From a Neo Richard-Noel cross, Kyjuon

WareTown 0 StNeotsTown 0

WithoutthreeplayerswhohadsuccumbedtoCOVIDduringtheweek,StNeotsdisplayed remarkableresiliencetoreturnfromhighflyingWarewithapointfromagoallessdraw their first goalless draw away from home for almost three years. In addition they survived the last ten minutes with just ten men after Dequaine Wilson-Braithwaite had seen red for a rash tackle. It was very fortunate that they deservedly earned that point because four of the clubs below them all picked up points two of them (Kidlington and Wantage) recording victories away from home! It was a contrast from the first meeting of the two sides this season at the Premier Plus Stadium where the Hertfordshire side had sneaked a victory in a seven goals thriller. With Gradi Milenge moving on and skipper Lee Watkins, Aaron Smith and Callum Anderson all isolating there had to be significant team changes and back into the side came Neo Richard-Noel, Dequaine Wilson-Braithwaite and Wynford Marfo plus Ky Marsh-Brown replacing his brother who was on the bench. However, it was rather a disappointing contest with far too fewer clearchancesthantheopenlyfoughtcontestdeserved.

St Neots certainly began well displaying no symptoms of a team lacking in belief and confidence. In less than two minutes they had carved out one of the best chances of the match when a swift attack caught the home side cold, and the ball fell to Neo Richard Noel and his close effort was well saved by the home keeper.Joe Rider off balance then headed wide from a Charley Barker free kick and a stinging shot from Dylan Switters required a double save from Bradley Robinson. Gradually Ware came into he contest, and they should have capitalised on their first effort on goal after 20 minutes but after Josh Williams had outpaced the St Neots defence to set up Liam Dulson, his effort was well wide of target. Making only his third appearance in the side Switters looked comfortable in midfield and he set up Ky Marsh-Brown whose effort sailed harmlessly over the crossbar.Ware’s best first half attack after 35 minutes saw Josh Williams power throughtoseehisshotblockedbyPerryWhitebuttheballspanawaytoLeeRosewhose effort clipped the St Neots crossbar on its way to safety. During that first half three home players had found their names into the Referee’s notebook as they defended sometimes over enthusiastically and in time added at the end of the first half a low shot fromRiderbroughtasignificantlowsavefromRobinson.

looked a

side after the

had to save

after just three minutes. There followed a spell of Ware possession that produced

although from a Thomas

to threaten the

needed two attempts to

the ball in the crowded penalty area. Ky Marsh-Brown had had a quiet first half but in a two minutes’ spell he took on the home defence to see his first effort blocked before being hauled down by a defender to concede a free kick which St Neots failed to take advantage of. After 69 minutes Richard-Noel beat a wide defender to make for goal, but he was brought down earning the home side their fourth yellow card, but again St Neots could not use the free kick to their advantage. St Neots’ downfall was the lack of accuracy with their final pass and when Swatters was injured ten minutes from time they had to

a frenetic final ten minutes neither side could press home the advantage

StNeotsTown 0 BiggleswadeFC 0

Prior to this match St Neots had gone nine matches without a win and their visitors had not been beaten in their last nine outings so nothing changed. In front of a big crowd neither side deserved to lose but neither keeper was seriously tested and although the visitors get the ball in the net two minutes from time an offside flag kept the scoresheet blank. The worrying thing for Pete Gill the St Neots Manager is that his side have now failed to score in eight of their last ten matches and although he has not been able to name an unchanged side during that run, the supply of goals seems to have dried up. Another worry is that although his side is still seventeen points above the drop zone, five of the six clubs below them in the league table all picked up points last Saturday. Three enforced team changes again had to be overcome with Dequaine Wilson Braithwaite serving the first of a three- match ban following his sending off at Ware, Dylan Switters nursing an injury picked up last week at Ware, and Ben Heal undergoing trials with Bristol Rovers. Into their places came fit again Callum Anderson, Charlie Johnsonafterhissuspension,andskipperLeeWatkinsrecoveredfromaCOVIDbreak.

StNeotsfoundthemselvesplayingagainstthewindinthefirsthalfandcouldhavebeen in trouble after nine minutes when they left Michael Simpson unmarked at the far post toaJackDreyercrossbutgoalkeeperLeeChadwickmadeanimportantclose-rangestop. At the other end the hard-working Neo Richard-Noel broke clear of the defence but was thwarted by a last-ditch interception by Charley O’Keefe as he bore down on goal. Ironically the closest to a first half goal came after 20 minutes from a long distance cross-cum-shotfromtheleftbyRichard-NoelthatvisitingkeeperJackBermanseemedto misjudge but the ball bounced harmlessly on the top of the crossbar and away for a goal kick. Adam Hunt then ran at the home defence leaving players in his wake, but his shot was deflected by the last defender. St Neots leading scorer Joe Rider looked out of touch and his sole effort was a header over the bar four minutes before the break, from a Charley Barker corner and the first half ended with a searching run down the flank by WynfordMarfotosetupKyMarsh-Brownbuthisshotwasdeflectedwideforacorner.

second half was

better than the first and it began with Louis

up substitute

(on

but his shot was blocked by

defender and then Barker tried a spectacular 40 yards effort that was tipped over the bar by the visiting

Neots now began to look more confident but too much of their passing waseitherspeculativeorinaccurateandtheyhadlittletoshowfortheirgreatershareof possession. A Barker free kick tested the visiting goal but in the latter stages of the game the visitors began to look dangerous on the break with attacking substitutes prominent. Visiting substitute Scott Joseph had a couple of chances to test the home defence and when he did get the ball in the net he was ruled offside. A worrying injury toCallumAndersonsawhimreplacedlateinthematchbyMarcAbbott,butBiggleswade returned home having yet to record a victory in six meetings at Senior level with St Neots.

StNeotsTown 0 GodmanchesterRovers 2

Just when St Neots thought it could not get worse, they were humbled by neighbours Godmanchester Rovers in the Senior Cup semi-final - the second time the step five side had pulled off a Senior Cup shock at the Premier Plus Stadium in three seasons. It was a classic case of the visiting side producing a triumph of match management get in front andthendefendinnumberswithorganisationanddeterminationtorepelanythingthat their hosts could muster. St Neots left several regulars out of their starting line-up givingvaluableexperiencetosomeoftheirfringeplayersandpaidthepricethatfurther damaged the self confidence of a side desperate for goals.In the second half visiting keeper Jamie Greygoose produced two outstanding saves to keep St Neots at bay and nowPeteGill’ssidemustregroupandfindsomeselfconfidencetoaddsomepridetothe remainder of their season. Joe Rider was again side lined by injury but skipper Lee Watkins, Callum Anderson, Wynford Marfo and Charley Barker were all rested and back into the starting line-up came Ben Heal, Aaron Smith, Kwai Marsh-Brown and Marc Abbott, with recent signing Joe Dearman given his first senior start, going on to earn the Supportersman of the matchaward.

The signs looked promising at the start as St Neots dominated the early exchanges and Perry White had the ball in the visitors net from a corner after nine minutes but the award of a free kick to the visitors chalked out that effort. MylesCowlingfiredoverthe bar from a Ben Heal cross and the early home side possession was effectively nullified when Godmanchester scored in their first real attack after 25 minutes. Mohammed Akhtar was allowed far too much space on the left and his cross was not defended as former Saint Lawrence Hammond stole in to open the scoring.That should have been a wake-up call and St Neots did create a couple of openings but from a Neo Richard-Noel cross an off balance Kwai Marsh-Brown shot well wide and then brother Ky fired tamely over the bar after good work by Cowling. Nine minutes before the break and in only their second serious affront on the home goal, the visitors doubled their lead as they breached the home defence again for Kian Harness to net at the far post. St Neots tried to respond, and a Marc Abbott free kick was well saved at his near post by Jamie Greygoose but then both sides lost players to first half injuries Reece King replacing JackDickersonforthevisitorsandclubskipperLeeWatkinsonforAaronSmith.

StNeotsTown 1 HarlowTown 1

St Neots third league point in as many games lifted them one place up the league table as they recorded only their third goal in their last five outings. They left it late that importantgoalcomingtwominutesintoaddedtime,givingthemasecond1-1drawwith their Hertfordshire visitors this season, when another home defeat appeared to be staring them in the face. It was no more than they deserved because despite their lack offinishingtheyhadcompetedwellthroughoutarathertorridmatchinwhichtherehad only been one effort on either goal to seriously test the goalkeepers. Skipper Lee Watkins’ fourth league goal of the campaign was treated with jubilation by players and supportersandshouldactasaspurintheirremainingmatchesastheyseekthecomfort of a mid table finish. Once again injuries prevented Manager Pete Gill from naming a settled line-up with Myles Cowling and Darren Switters side lined and a couple of others only partly fit on the substitutes bench. From their previous league match Myles Cowling, Joe Rider and Charlie Johnson were replaced by Ben Heal, Kwai Marsh-Brown andJoeDearman.

The first twenty-five minutes of an evenly contested affair produced very little of noteworthy interest with the two sides largely cancelling each other out with both defenceslookingcomfortablyincontrol. Whenthegamedideventuallyspringtolifethe Marsh-Brown brothers had St Neots first real effort with Kwai crossing for Ky to head well wide of goal. From a searching Joe Dearman free kick, Neo Richard-Noel won the ball at the far post but could only direct it into the side netting from a narrow angle. On thehalfhourthehomegoalwasthreatenedforthefirstimewhenacuttingthroughball fromAmarLewissplitthehomedefence,butSamsonMaagbeditheredinpossessionand only managed to win a corner that was cleared by Perry White. After 36 minutes Syrus Gordon pushed Louis Chadwick to a full length save and then Lewis shot wide after a promising attack by the visitors. With just two minutes of the first half remaining the visitorseasedintothelead. AnattackdowntheleftsawacrossfromTiannieWilsonnot cleared and in the resultant attempt to get the ball away a close range shot struck Wynford Marfo on the arm and the Referee awarded a penalty kick confidently convertedforthevisitorsbyAlexanderRead.

then he

a

by

before a

the

role, and he

to Kwai Marsh-

beat the

effort from

most promising efforts on goal were from

with the

were

beaten, and

on either side.

and then two

BartonRovers2 StNeotsTown 0

Two goals in a first half spell of three minutes plundered by the home side set St Neots back on their heels after their unbeaten run of three successive league draws.They had thrashed Barton 6-2 back in September to record their biggest league win of the season but there was never going to be a repeat of that result with St Neots unable to shake off their lethargy in front of goal. The home side just about shaded the first half but after the break St Neots looked re-energised and dominated possession but once again there was no finish in the final third of the pitch. Ironically it was the least St Neots changed line-up for three months with just Marc Abbott in for Callum Anderson the only difference from the weekend match with Harlow, but the defence that had been so reliable was breached twice and that was sufficient for a struggling host side to claim all three points. With their next two fixtures also against sides below them in the league table, St Neots must find the goals to give them confidence and league points or the remainder of the season is going to be a continuous worried glance over their shoulders fortheteam.

In the first attack of a disappointing first 25 minutes Kwai Marsh-Brown got free on the right but shot over the bar and at the other end Louis Chadwick was untroubled in goal other than one low save from Urijah Gordon-Douglas. From a Charley Barker corner a headerbyNeoRichard Noelwastoohighanditwasthenagainsttherunofplaythatthe hostsidetookthelead.

Maximillian Ryan was given space to turn the ball past the dive of Louis Chadwick after 27 minutes, and worse was to follow just three minutes later. Marc Abbott dithered on the edge of his own penalty area, and he was dispossessed by Ryan who added the second goal. St Neots was stunned and mustered no significant response to their plight before half time with Bradley Bell close to adding to Barton’s lead with a snapshot that skimmedthevisitor’scrossbar.

Neots came

from

in a

quickly introducing Myles

for

they began to dominate

was never exploited by a St Neots side looking short of

A further change five minutes later saw Callum Anderson replace Marc Abbott but there was still far too little effect on St Neots finishing. After 63 minutes Cowling freed Richard Noel who was thwarted when home keeper Matthew Boylan dived bravely at his feet and the match became untidy with the referee booking several players. A Kai Phelan free kick from 25 yards was only just too high as Barton began to rely on breakaway attacks and with a quarter of an hour left Ky Marsh-Brown was played clear by Ben Heal but ruled marginally offside. Barton had clearly settled for their advantage and ventured few players forward, happy to concede free kicks when St Neots threatened.Seven minutes from time Urijah Gordon-Douglas picked up a straight red card for a reckless challenge but the

and

It was the eleventh time in their last twenty two league outings

WantageTown 1 StNeotsTown 2

St Neots long awaited first league victory came at Wantage Town 84 days after their previous victory on 20th November at Chesham over FC Romania. It was a hard-fought victory in very difficult conditions courtesy of a goal four minutes from time by skipper Lee Watkins.However, it will have been a trying watch for their loyal band of supporters whohadmadethe150milesroundtripafterStNeotshadpresentedtheirhostswiththe softestofgoalsaswellasmissingapenaltythemselves. Theswirlingwindwasoftenthe driving force in this contest, but St Neots gritty determination drove them on for what could prove a pivotal victory as they move towards the end of the season. With a win and a draw in their last three matches Wantage looked to be bidding to get clear of the relegationzonebutanothermuchchangedStNeotsreturnedhomewithawell deserved tree points haul. Recent signing Rob Mason looked a real boost up front being a significant presence on his debut and he was one of four changes in the side that had lost at Barton Rovers in midweek. Back after injury came Charlie Johnson, Aaron Smith and Callum Anderson with the Marsh Brown brothers and Joe Dearman on the substitutes bench and Marc Abbott omitted from the squad. It was St Neots first victory in league and cup for fifteen matches, their first goal in seven outings, and it completed theirfirstleaguedoubleoftheseason.

Wantage won the toss and elected to kick with the strong wind at their backs. After CharlieKillehadheadedwideinafirstminuteattack,StNeotssettledquicklyandbegan to take the game to their hosts.From a Neo Richard Noel cross new boy Mason headed over the bar and in the next attack he collided with home keeper James Foster, who after receiving lengthy treatment limped off to be replaced by Kacper Kowalczyk. Sam Hartley squandered the home sides’ best first half chance sending a free header off targetwhilstStNeotsweredefendingwellandlookingdangerousonthebreak. After 26 minutes in the best move of the first half, Charley Barker exchanged passes with Aaron Smith on the left before sending Richard Noel clear of the defence and he netted with a narrow-angled shot to put St Neots in front. Just before the break a neat move by the home side ended with Ben Lodge sending a well struck shot just inches over the crossbar.

CONTINUED

St Neots began the second half in the ascendancy and long throws into the six yards box by Smith were testing the home defence. After49 minutes one such throw found the head of Richard-Noel forcing the replacement keeper into the save of the match at the expense of a corner but three minutes later disaster for the visitors as a measured back pass bobbled in front of Louis Chadwick who missed his clearance leaving Jamal Branker to walk the ball into the unguarded net to level the scores. Richard-Noel then had a net boundshotdeflectedforacorner,andonasmartStNeotsbreakfromaWantagecorner, St Neots were two on one and Ben Heal slipped the ball to the unmarked Barker who delayed his finish and Kowalczyk saved bravely at his feet. After 77 minutes Barker was brought down in the area by James Hammond, but Richard Noel sent the keeper the wrong way only to see his penalty kick rebound from a post. That miss might have cost St Neots two points but with four minutes left Ron Mason crossed to find the head of Barker and he laid the ball into the path of skipper Lee Watkins who netted to claim all threepointsforhisside.

WalthamAbbey 1StNeotsTown 3

A second consecutive away league victory for the first time since September eased St Neots concerns about being dragged into a relegation scrap and lifted them a comfortable twenty-one points above the bottom two sides in the table. An almost settled side from their previous outing saw just one change in the starting line-up with Cambridge United loanee Harvey Beckett replacing Perry White at the heart of the defence. It was their first ever trip to Waltham Abbey for a league fixture, although St Neots had lost 4-2 at Capershotts to their Hertfordshire hosts in the FA Cup in 2000. However, this time there was to be no repeat, and the victory improved on the goalless drawsharedbythetwosidesatthePremierPlusStadiumlastNovember.Theynexttake on promotion chasing North Leigh hoping to avenge a 2-0 defeat suffered in the first meetingofthetwosidesthisseason.

There was a slow start to the match with little early goalmouth action. In fact the home side might have scored with their first significant effort on goal after 17 minutes but the narrow-angledcrossfromNathanKorantengsawaheaderbyhomeskipperBillyHolland clip the crossbar with Louis Chadwick beaten.St Neots most effective form of attack was fromlengthythrowsbyAaronSmithintothesixyardsboxthatsawsomenervoushome defending. From one of these debutant defender Harvey Beckett saw a close-range shot blocked with the home keeper on the ground. After half an hour Neo Richard-Noel was brought down on the edge of the penalty area and from Charley Barkers’ free kick, Charlie Johnson headed narrowly over the bar whilst at the other end an Ace Laurent free kick was well saved by Chadwick. Almost inevitably when St Neots did manage a break-through, it came from a long throw by Smith after 36 minutes flicked on at the near post for Lee Watkins who netted with a low shot – his sixth league goal of the campaign. That strike separated the sides at half time to give the visitors a lead which theyjustaboutdeservedbasedonfirsthalfpossession.

CONTINUED It was the home side that began the second half in a more positive frame of mind. After Chadwick had saved at the feet of Christian Gyamti the home side levelled the scores after 50 minutes. The third of three second half corners proved significant as home skipper Billy Holland met a well struck corner at the near post with a header that gave Chadwick no chance. Once level the home side seemed to grow in confidence and for a quarter of an hour St Neots looked untidy, but Manager Pete Gill quickly reshaped his sidewithtwosubstitutions–FelipeMcConnellandMylesCowlingreplacingNeoRichardNoel and Wynford Marfo. Now St Neots looked more comfortable, but their defence could have been breached after 65 minutes when Gyamti stole in at the far post to head just wide. St Neots third substitution three minutes later saw the significant benefit to the visiting side as Joe Rider replaced Watkins and within two minutes, he had shot narrowly wide. Then just five minutes after his introduction he produced the perfectly weighted pass inside the last defenders to set up Rob Mason who took a touch before shooting past George Oake to restore St Neots’ lead. That put a different complexion on the contest as St Neots visibly grew in confidence to boss the remainder of the contest. The icing on the cake came two minutes from time with the home defence absent, as RidersetupBenHealforthethirdgoaltosealanimportantvictory.

StNeotsTown 0 NorthLeigh 1

St Neots produced one of their best home performances of the season against play-off chasingNorthLeighbutwerebeatenbyasinglegoal. Thevisitorsinthetopsixformuch of the season, strengthened their position moving up to fourth in the table with this victory. However, Manager Pete Gill, who had the luxury of naming an unchanged lineup after two consecutive away victories was pleased with his sides’ performance against a visiting side with the third highest tally of goals scored in the division. In the second half the Manager blooded teenage Cambridge United youngster Saleem Akambi who looked a promising addition to his squad. The side now has a weekend off before their rearrangedhometiewithAylesburyUnitedonTuesday15thMarch.

It was never going to be easy against their free scoring visitors, but St Neots coped well in the first half with both sides seeing too many off target finishes. The first two openingswenttothevisitorsinthefirstquarterofanhour,butJordanAlvessetupLuke Carnell only to see his volley balloon over the bar and Jordan Thomas then set up Ben Brown, but he too sent the ball high over the top. St Neots looked purposeful on the break and after 20 minutes the hard working Rob Mason saw his effort blocked by a defender after skipper Lee Watkins had played him clear. Roger James was then played clear of the defence by Aaron McCreadie, and he should have done better than volley tamely over the bar. On the half hour from a Charley Barker corner, Charlie Johnson rose above the visiting defence only to see his powerful header pass just the wrong side of the crossbar, and then as St Neots continued to press Rob Mason sent his narrowangledeffortontotheroofofthegoalnetting.Sixminutesbeforethebreakasearching Callum Anderson cross found Mason with his back to goal and as he turned, he could onlyshootwideofthefarpost.ThehalfendedwithRogerJamesseeinghispowerfulfree kickreboundfromthecrossbar,

the last

StNeotsTown 3 AylesburyUnited 2

St Neots twice came back from behind to earn a vital three points against a side below themintheleaguetable. Thevictorypropelledbackintothetophalfoftheleaguetable for the first time since early December to give them a total of 40 points enough now surely to ensure they place at Step Four next season. They did not make it easy for themselves, however, conceding two goals in the first half hour but they displayed great resilience to fight back against a resurgent opposing side looking for their first league victory since December 11th. Striker Neo Richard-Noel was injured in the previous match against North Leigh but with the rest of his squad to choose from Manager Pete Gillmadenofewerthatfiveteamchangeshandingtwoofhisplayerstheirdebut. Apart from the injured Richard Noel the other four players not included from the previous match, Charlie Johnson, Charley Barker, Ben Heal and Callum Anderson were all on the bench along with Kwai Marsh-Brown, with Filipe McConnell and Saleem Akanbi marking their debuts, and Miles Cowling, Perry White and Joe Rider returning to the side - the latter after missing the six previous matches through injury. The result gave St Neots only their second league ‘double’ of the season - the other being over basement team WantageTown.

The match got off to a disappointing start for the hosts when in their first attack Aylesbury took the lead as Sonny French fed the unmarked Jamie Rudd on the left flank and he advanced to beat Louis Chadwick with a well-placed shot. St Neots responded veryquicklyandfromtherestartaswiftattackingmovesawRobbieMasonsetupFelipe McConnell for the equaliser his first goal for the team on his debut. From a free kick Harvey Beckett headed powerfully over the bar from a McConnell cross and as St Neots began to gain in confidence Saleem Akanbi brought an excellent save from visiting keeper Archie Davis. However against the run of play on 29 minutes St Neots found themselves behind again when Jamie Rudd claimed his second goal of the match with a shotfromtheedgeofthearea. Five minutes later it could have been worse for St Neots when Tyrone Lewthwaite cleverly sidestepped his marker but to St Neots relief his shot flew wide, and the half ended with a booking for Mark Riddick as he upended Myles CowlingasStNeotsmountedabreakawayattack.

half time break allowed St

to

and

came out in a more positive frame of

For a quarter of an hour they monopolised possession but made little impression on a stubborn visiting defence, but Aylesbury were now definitely on the retreat.The important breakthrough came after 62 minutes when Mason won a corner and McConnell crossed to the far post where Harvey Beckett rose above the visiting defence to head the goal that levelled the scores. That seemed to boost the confidence of the home side and they created chances and nine minutes after their equaliser they scored what would prove to be the match winning goal. The lively Akanbi had seen an effortwellsavedbutthenheranattheretreatingdefencetoforcethevisitingkeeperto

for St Neots since 23rd October - ironically in the away match against Aylesbury. The

St

at the feet

Mason as he looked to be close to extending the home side’s

the home visiting keeper Davis also had to produce a brave

AFCDunstable1 StNeotsTown 1

St Neots blunted Dunstable’s play off hopes with a well-earned draw at Creasey Park. With three wins from their last four outings St Neots are now guaranteed Step Four status next season. Three draws and a defeat in their last four matches leaves Dunstable nervous about their play-off hopes with four teams now contesting the three remaining places and a tough run-in to negotiate. The match was contested under a cloudless sky, but it was spoiled by a nagging breeze that neither side could better nor use to their advantage. St Neots had the luxury of making five team changes in their starting line-up without affecting the rhythm or performance of their team and came back from behind to return home with their deserved point.With another goal in consecutivematchessincehisreturntothesideJoeRidertookhistallyfortheseasonto fourteen in just seventeen starts. Ben Heal, Callum Anderson. Charley Barker, Charlie Johnson, and Kwai Marsh-Brown all returned to the starting line-up as Manager Pete Gill shuffled his pack with three of the replaced players Wynford Marfo, Myles Cowling and Felipe McConnell on the bench alongside Marc Abbott and Gill himself as a replacement goalkeeper.

Neither side settled in the difficult conditions, and it was a quarter of an hour before therewasaseriouseffortongoal thisfromRobMasonbuthiseffortwaswellsavedby home keeper Jamie Head.The lively Kwai Marsh-Brown stole the ball from a dithering defender but saw his effort deflected for a corner but from a Brett Longden cross unmarked home striker Bernard Christie should have done better than strike the ball wideofgoal. Louis Chadwick saved well from Kieran Hamilton and making towards goal Charley Barker was upended, earning Newman Carney a yellow card. Then after 36 minutes a cross from the left struck a defender’s arm at close range and a harsh penalty was awarded, tucked away by Bernard Christie. St Neots protested but then responded positively as a Lee Watkins shot rebounded from a post for Joe Rider to claim the equalising goal five minutes before the break. A brave save by Chadwick at the feet of Christieensuredparityatthebreak.

StNeotsTown 6 ColneyHeath 1

St Neots recorded their second six goals match total of the season at the Premier Plus Stadium to crush struggling Colney Heath and avenge a single goal defeat in the sides’ first meeting earlier this season. Star of the day was striker Joe Rider who contributed four of St Neots goals, to claim his best senior haul since his youth team days four years ago, and but for a fine display in the visitors goal by Tiernan Parker his tally could have beenevenhigher. ItwasStNeotsfourthwinintheirlastsixmatches toolatetomount a play-off challenge but a solid bedrock on which to plan next season’s campaign. With Richard Beckett and Ben Heal side lined by injury and Kwai Marsh-Brown starting on the bench, Manager Pete Gill recalled Perry White, Felipe McConnell and Wynford Marfo to his sides’ starting line up.There was also news that Dequaine Wilson Braithwaite and NeoRichard Noelhadmovedon thelattertoneighboursStIves.

The match got off to a lively start in the Spring sunshine with St Neots taking the lead in their first attack after just three minutes. Skipper Lee Watkins progressed down the right flank rounding his marker to cross deep to the far post where Rob Mason claimed hissecondgoalofthecampaignwithaneatfinishfromatightangle. Thevisitorsreplied withacounter-attackafter16minutesthatendedwithHarryShepherdfiringwildlyover thebar. StNeotsincreasedtheiradvantagethreeminuteslaterwhenMasonunselfishly fed Joe Rider who stepped inside his marker to net with an angled shot.An injury to Wynford Marfo saw an early appearance for substitute Kwai Marsh-Brown and he immediately added some pace and imagination in midfield with skipper Lee Watkins movingbackintodefence. AsStNeotssettledtodominatetheattackingplay,oneofthe best first half moves saw Rider set up Mason whose instinctive volley beat the visiting keeper but was wide of the far post. The visitors were not going to be overrun and formerStNeotsplayerAaronHudsonrattledtheStNeotsfarpostwithawell-struckfree kick, but St Neots went on to create two further first half chances with visiting keeper TiernanParkermakingnotablesavestodenyRobMasonandFelipeMcConnell.

DidcotTown2 StNeotsTown 2

St Neots returned from Didcot with a deserved point but were disappointed to have conceded the equalising goal just three minutes from time. They had recovered well from giving away an early goal when they were harshly penalised by the award of the penalty against them after just seven minutes, but they showed a determined spirit to fight back to be on level terms at the break.Didcot had won 4-0 at the Premier Plus StadiuminthefirstmeetingofthetwosidesthisseasonlastDecemberbuthadrecorded only one league victory in their last twelve outings so were desperate for points to halt their slide down the table. A swirling wind made conditions difficult for both sides who nevertheless produced a competitive contest with neither deserving to lose. St Neots had to make a late team change when striker Rob Mason contracted COVID 24 hours before the trip, so Saleem Akanbi came in for only his second start in to lead the attack whilstKwaiMarshBrownwaspreferredtoFelipeMcConnellwhodroppedtothebench.

Saleem Akanbi had a close range shot blocked in the first attack of the match but after seven minutes Didcot attacked down the right and a cross from Connor Barratt struck the arm of Aaron Smith from very close range and the Referee pointed to the penalty spot. Barratt himself struck a low shot beneath the diving body of Louis Chadwick to give the home side the early lead. Kwai Marsh-Brown was pulled down on route to goal at the other end earning a free kick that came to nothing and then George Jeacock brought a fine save from Chadwick as the contest continued end-to-end.Akanbi then headed narrowly over the bar from a Smith cross and the sides continued to swap attacking moves with a defender from each side picking up a yellow card easing the pressureontherespectivedefences. Akanbi scythed his way through the home defence but shot wide and then a minute before the break a Marsh-Brown low shot was blocked byadefender,butJoeRiderpouncedtoslidetheballhometolevelthescores. Deep into added time home keeper Leigh Bedwell produced the save of the match to deny Charlie Johnson.

StNeotsTown 1 ThameUnited 0

St Neots extinguished Thame’s faint hopes of a play off spot with a narrow but efficient victory. It took their recent unbeaten run to five games and furthered their hopes of a tophalffinish. It was a hard-fought victory with the visiting side looking the stronger in the final ten minutes but thanks to an outstanding first half double save by Louis Chadwick St Neots prevailed to deservedly pick up all three points.After travelling to struggling Kidlington next Saturday they wind up their season with matches against the top two sides. Manager Pete Gill missed the match struck down with COVID but he oversaw the four team changes which saw the return to the starting line-up of Richard Beckett,RobMason,MylesCowlingandFelipeMcConnell. Asemi-fitJoeRiderwasonthe bench along with Perry White and Kwai Marsh Brown whilst Aaron Smith was unavailable. Thame were hoping to complete a league double having won the first meetingofthetwosidesthisseasonbytwogoalstonil.

The first half was a highly entertaining and competitive affair. The visitors began strongly with the unmarked Harry Mepham having an early chance, but his shot was deflected. Ryan Blake then outpaced his marker after ten minutes, but Louis Chadwick gotdownwelltosave. StNeotsthenproducedtheperfectresponsescoringintheirfirst real attack after eleven minutes. Charley Barker crossed from the left and Rob Mason collected the ball and produced a good low finish to beat visiting keeper Craig Hill. For a whileafterthegoalthehomesidedominatedasSaleemAkanbishotnarrowlywideafter clever play by Felipe McConnell, Charlie Johnson headed narrowly over the bar from a Barker corner, and Lee Watkins shot into the side netting from a narrow angle. Chadwick was then forced into an acrobatic double save from Lynton Goss as Thame struck back, and the contest continued end to end. The best move of the first half came after 27 minutes when McConnell produced a clever reverse pass to set up Akanbi, but his effort rebounded from the base of the far post to be scrambled clear. The visitors then had to make a first half change bringing on Harry Alexander when Jack Tutton was assistedoffwithahandinjury.

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Kidlington1 StNeotsTown 1 StNeotsneversettledtotheconditionsatKidlingtonyetperseveredwelltoreturnhome with a share of the points.Long grass on a bumpy pitch was never going to suit the St Neots style pf play but they seemed either unable or unwilling to adapt. The home side still trying hard to amass enough points to stay ahead of the relegation play-off, will be pleased with one point given that rivals Kempston lost, so now need just a single point from their two remaining matches to guarantee Step Four football next season. The Kidlington long ball tactics with two players up front and the remainder behind the ball when St Neots were in possession worked well for them and they had two good spells at the start of each half that St Neots had to play through.With Myles Cowling injured, St Neots rested Sal Akanbi on the substitutes bench bringing in Joe Rider and Kwai Marsh Browninanotherwiseunchangedline-up.

Kidlington began well and dominated the attacking play in the opening quarter of the match. They deservedly went ahead after twelve minutes when a cross from Connor Mattimore eluded the St Neots defence and Rhys Wells slotted past the visiting goalkeeper. St Neots first real attack came after seventeen minutes when home defenderLiamGilbertslicedacrossoverhisowncrossbarandfromtheresultantcorner, Joe Rider shot over the bar. Kwai Marsh-Brown was looking the most efficient attacker forthevisitingside,andhecutinfromtheleftpasttwoonlytoseehisshotdeflectedby a third defender. Louis Chadwick then saved well from an Ellis Hercules header from a corner and as Marsh Brown continued to tease the home defence he was upended by Daniel Stokoe, earning the home defender a yellow card. However coming up to the break St Neots were looking to be the better side and they were rewarded a minute into added time with a cleverly crafted goal.Callum Anderson intercepted a misplaced pass and found Rob Mason with his back to goal, but his perfectly weighted return set up Andersonforhisfirstgoaloftheseasonandtheequaliser.

StNeotsTown 1 BedfordTown 1

Recently crowned champions Bedford Town were pegged back by a determined St Neots Town, who really should have gone on to take all three points after the visitors lost a man to a straight red card twenty minutes from time. It was the fourth meeting of the twosidesthisseasonandafterthreedefeatsStNeotsweredeterminedtosettherecord straight in front of a shirt sleeved crowd of 605 – their best of the season. Bedford looked slick with some accurate long passing keeping St Neots on their toes, but the home sides probably created more clear chances and could easily have taken full points. The sending-off of Bedford’s Danny Setchell was the catalyst. St Neots had come back from a goal down and from the point of the dismissal they had several good chances to clinchtheresult.IttookStNeotspointstallyto50fortheseasonwiththeirrecentrunof just one defeat in their last ten matches equalling their best sequence at this level since their Championship season in 2011/12. Aaron Smith and Saleem Akanbi were reinstated inthesidewithalessthanfitJoeRiderandCallumAndersondroppingtothebench.

There was nothing ‘end of seasonish’ in the match.From the start both sides elected to play swift attacking football with St Neots just shading the opening phase.Apart from Danny Setchell sending a Bedford shot well off target, the better openings were being created by the home side. Sal Akanbi went clear only to see his shot blocked by a defender,andfromalengthyAaronSmiththrow,anoff-balanceRobMasonheadedover the bar. Louis Chadwick then made an instinctive close range save from Craig MackailSmith and a low Lee Watkins shot was deflected for a corner from, which Smith headed overthebar.

The non-stop entertainment continued with the impressive Glen McConnell setting up Watkins with a delightful flick but visiting keeper Alexander Street got down well to save. Thefinalthreeminutesofthehalfprovedsignificant. FirstBedfordedgedinfront as a floated free kick by Hugh Alban Jones saw Chadwick leave his line to attempt to collectbutDrewRichardsonroseinfrontofhimtoflicktheballoverhimfortheopener, and the half ended at the other end with a Kwai Marsh-Brown effort that hit the keeper todeflectforacorner.

Berkhamsted 0 StNeotsTown 1

St Neots finished off their league programme with a confident flourish as they beat runners-upBerkhamstedtoconfirmtheirfinishinthetophalfofthetable.Althoughthe winning l goal came late in the game it was thoroughly deserved as the visitors had almost totally dominated the last half hour of the proceedings. The home side now needed to regroup quickly in preparation for their home play-off match just 72 hours after this defeat. A shrewd move by Manager Pete Gill in the second half was the precursor to the victory as he sent on all three substitutes and reverted to an all-out attacking formation to stun the host side. It was a fitting end to the season that had seen St Neots lose just once in their final eleven matches their most consistent spell of results since their UCL championship season in the 2010/11 season. There were three team changes with Callum Anderson, Perry White, and Joe Rider replacing Harvey Beckett, Glen McConnell, and Saleem Akanbi, all of whom were on the bench and destinedtoplayasignificantpartinthevictory.

The home side began well with Lewis Toomey wriggling past the final defender in the firstminuteofthegame,buthisshotfromanarrowangleflewacrossthegoaltosafety. Louis Chadwick then got down bravely at the feet of Liam Brooks to smother his closerange effort and St Neots replied a minute later with a Joe Rider shot well saved by the home keeper. As the first half wore on play became very even with Ryan Kinnane heading wide when well placed at one end, and Joe Rider having a net bound shot deflected for a corner. St Neots took too long to organise a free kick allowing Lucas Kirkpatrick a free run at goal, but his wild finish failed to test Chadwick. The home side finished the first half well with James Verney robbing a hesitant Perry White but unable to find a finish, Verney then cut in from the left but saw his shot rebound from the outsideofapost,andChadwickkepthisgoalintactwithafinesavefromBrooks.

SOUTHERNLEAGUEDIVISIONONECENTRAL CONTINUED

match resumed after the break following a similar pattern with the home side creating the better openings. Chadwick saved well again at the feet of Verney whilst St Neots’ best effort came from a Charley Barker corner that resulted in an Aaron Smith effort being blocked on the line. The transformation came on the hour as St Neots bravely threw on all three permitted substitutes. With Sal Akanbi marauding up front alongside Rob Mason, the home side were pushed back on the defensive and from that point onwards, St Neots dominated. From a Glen McConnell free kick a Barker shot was saved at full stretch by home keeper Xavier Leon, and Lee Watkins was only just wide with a shot from distance. The best move of the match after 72 minutes saw Smith, McConnell and Akanbi all involved in a silky build up that split the home defence but endedwithaMasonheaderfromcloserangebeingwellsavedbyLeon. Masonwasthen brought down in the area, but play was waved on, but St Neots were now dictating play asRiderhadanothershotblockedafteragoodrunbyHarveyBeckett. Itwastherefore no surprise when four minutes from time a flighted Barker corner found Beckett at the far post, and he gleefully claimed his second goal in a St Neots shirt to earn all three points. A tenth placed finish in the league after their mid-season slump marked a