RICKY’S SAINTS SHAKING IT UP WITH BIG GUNS
BOSS Ricky Marheineke hopes his St Ives Town starlets can keep shining under the spotlight created by turning over the league’s top three.
The Southern League Premier Central’s form side trounced thirdplaced Mickleover 5-0 on their own patch before seeing off second-placed Needham Market 3-2 on the last Saturday in January.
Then-leaders Redditch United were next on the hit list with Dan Barton and Jonny Edwards stunning the bulk of the 742-strong crowd in a 2-0 win at the Valley Stadium.
The run was ended by a 2-0 defeat at Bromsgrove Sporting last Saturday but it still marked quite a turnaround for Marheineke’s men, who previously registered just one win from 12 league games on October 21 – and that was against Nuneaton Borough whose subsequent resignation saw that wiped off.
A 3-2 win over Royston Town started a six-match winning run only for Ives to lose four on the bounce in December to remain in trouble at Christmas.
However, this latest hot streak has not only propelled them into mid-table, but also made plenty of outsiders take notice.
“We have always been capable of it,” Marheineke told The NLP. “Over the past 18 games that’s 12 wins and six defeats so we are confident we can beat anyone.
“Going into these three, we were confident we could cause upsets. There is pressure on the teams at the top to come out and try to beat us and when they do that, our strength is on the counter attack.
“It was a difficult start for us with injuries and players unavailable but we knew once we had them back fit – a lot were with us last season so we had already had that opportunity to work with them – that they knew how we wanted to play.
“We put ourselves under a bit of pressure and that can bring about fear, especially with such a young group. Trying to convince the players that it would change was the hardest thing but once we started to win, we have only looked forward since.
“Teams don’t want to play us. We are among the top scorers in the league so everyone knows we are a threat.
“What it does is make them worry about us a little bit more rather than us worrying about them, and I think that’s a good thing because we are young.
“Our players want to play, be on the front foot, be creative and attacking and commit men forward.
“Their willingness to run is exceptional and I don’t want to take that away from them.
“We just need to maintain that balance of playing the way we want to while making sure we are structured and not conceding as many goals as we did in the early part of the season.”
For some, it might be seen as a mixed blessing.
“One thing it does is bring attention to the players we have,” added Marheineke. “We recently lost one to the level above (Benji Mensah to St Albans City) and we have a very young group, seven lads under 21, so there is a lot of interest.
“Teams are watching us on a weekly basis. When we are putting on these performances, it is good exposure for the boys who want to progress and move up the ladder.”