Pitching-In Northern Premier League Midland Division
St Neots Town 1 Bedworth United 0
St Neots Town recorded their first Boxing Day win since defeating Cambridge City back in 2022, beating bottom of the table Bedworth United by a single goal in front of a bumper crowd of 510 at the Premier Plus Stadium. The visitors arrived after having won four of their last six matches so their lowly position in the league standings shouldn’t be taken likely. Manager Cameron Mawer stuck with the same starting eleven that had secured a magnificent win at Belper Town in their previous outing and new signing Claudio Dias had to settle for a place on the bench and Stacey Freeman (Unavailable) and Michael Amaeshike Injured remained the only other notable absentees.
The game started at a frantic pace and the opening goal almost came inside the first two minutes when a long throw from Burgess was headed onto his own post by a visiting defender and cleared to safety. The visitors could themselves have taken the lead in the eleventh minute when Boothe forced Goff into a smart save, acrobatically tipping his header over the bar for a corner which, thankfully, came to nothing. In the thirty-fourth minutes, Reece Thorpe almost caught the visiting keeper out with a clever near post cross from the left and just as it appeared that the ball was going to sneak in, the keeper readjusted his feet and managed to divert the goal-bound effort around the post for a corner and then in the fifth minute of time added on (due to a lengthy stoppage for Sammy Willis to receive treatment after an aerial challenge) Neo Richard-Noel shot over the bar when well placed and that was the end of the first half’s action.
The second half began with no changes in personnel for either side and the next noteable chance was in the sixty-first minute when a tiring Neo Richard-Noel struck the cross bar but the Assistant Referee had his flag raised for offside. This was to be his last involvement of the game as substitute James Stainsby was introduced into the action in the sixty-fifth minute. The all important winning goal was to arrive after seventy-one minutes and it was a set piece executed perfectly. Lewis Burgess propelled one of his trademark long throws into the opposition penalty area and Harvey Henderson flicked the ball on for the in-rushing SAMMY WILLIS to power home an unstoppable header of his own to give his team a deserved lead, much to the delight of the home support.
In the seventy-sixth minute the visitors thought they had won themselves a penalty however the referee proceeded to show Barry a yellow card for assimilation much to the amusement of the home support in that corner of the ground. The lively Kieran Barnes was unlucky not to extend the lead nine minutes from time when a sweetly struck free kick from outside the the right hand corner of the penalty box forced Highland into an impressive save, diverting the ball from it’s trajectory into the top right hand corner and away for a corner and the Saints came even closer in the first minute of stoppage time when substitute MJ Muyembe somehow managed to escape his marker and got his shot away from a tight angle but it hit the foot of the post and was cleared to safety.
So, a hard fought, well deserved victory for the Saints. Maybe not one for the purists but sometimes results are more important than the performance itself on the day and it sets us up nicely for a trip to Wellingborough Town on New Years Day, kick off 3pm
Today’s Saints Supporters’ Man of the Match, in association with The Greystones Public House, Sawtry – Sammy Willis
St Neots Town: Goff, Agemoh-Davies, Burgess, Parker, Henderson, Bowen, Willis, Richard-Noel, Thorpe, Barnes, Williams
Subs: Stainsby (for Richard-Noel 65 mins), Muyembe (for Barnes 88 mins), Ankrah, Obeng, and Dias
Cards: None
Goals: Willis (71 mins)
Bedworth United: Highland, Anthony, Mooney, Parrott, Kelly, Blakely, Kohyrelon, Barry, Boothe, Monahan, NgBeken-Itota
Subs: Westwood (for Kohyrelon 71 mins), Gordon (For Boothe 83 mins), Sammons (for Ngbeken-Itota 8mins), Sayer
Cards: Barry (Y) 76 mins, Mooney (Y) 81 mins
Goals: None
Attendance: 510
Referee: Jorden Gibson