ST. IVES TOWN | EDWARDS BOXING CLEVER

Two goals and a couple of assists in Boxing Day romp

Jonny Edwards was certainly boxing clever with two goals and a couple of assists to help St. Ives Town romp to a 6-0 victory over Kettering Town in the Pitching In Southern League Premier Central on Boxing Day.

The emphatic win put an end to four straight defeats.

“To be honest, we could have won by an even bigger margin,” Edwards admitted to us. “There were a few occasions where we just lacked that extra bit of quality with the final pass or shot.

“The final result was a reflection of how well we performed, though. Everyone did their job and it was an enjoyable game to play in.”

Edwards has been in good form in front of goal during the first half of the season and he puts it down to mentality and belief.

“I go into every game believing that I will get a minimum of two chances and you have to be ready for them,” he said. “Having a good relationship with my team-mates is important; they understand me as a player, my strengths and weaknesses.

“The Gaffer is also first and foremost, before anything to do with football, a great guy. He has believed in me from day one and that has helped me to just focus on my own job and scoring goals.

“My pre-season preparation was far from ideal. I got injured and then just as I was coming back, I had to have my appendix taken out, so I ended up missing a big chunk of pre-season and the early season games, which wasn’t nice at all, particularly as the team started slowly with a lot of players ruled out through injury.

“It was frustrating watching on from the sidelines as the performance levels were good but we weren’t getting the points to match.

“Things have started to look better; we had a good run but then lost four in a row before Tuesday’s big win, which hopefully will kick-start us again.

“Our hopes and aims for the second half of the season are, I would guess, like my every other team in that we want to pick up as many points as we can and enjoy it along the way then see where it takes us.

“We have a good and talented group of players here and a good togetherness. We can achieve whatever want to if we truly believe and work hard to maintain high standards.

“I’ve been here for a few seasons now and out of all of the Step 3 Leagues, this is the hardest. Physically it is tough but you also have some teams that can mix that with the football side as well.

“You look at how well Tamworth have done at the higher level following promotion at the end of last season and there are a number of clubs in this League who could live comfortably at the level above.”

St. Ives start 2024 with an away trip to Stamford on New Year’s Day.

St Ives Town Web Site