Evo-Stik South Premier Leiston 0 St Ives Town 2 It was a frustrating afternoon at a windswept Victory Road as the Cambridgeshire side avenged the 2-0 defeat inflicted upon them by Leiston in October, writes John Campany.

The strong wind hampered the flow of the game but the Suffolk side had good spells and played some decent first half football, in part, but failed to create real chances against a resilient visiting side, defending against the elements in front of 216 spectators.

The match livened up in the second half and Leiston improved and Saints’ keeper Martin Conway was forced to make two excellent saves to maintain parity before some sloppy defending enabled the visitors to grab the points.

Although Leiston fought hard for an equaliser, the result was secured in the third minute of added time from the penalty spot, to the disappointment of home supporters, particularly after booking their place at Portman Road, following their midweek success in the Suffolk Premier Cup semi-final, against Ipswich Town’s U18s.

St. Ives went close when their best player Ben Seymour – Shove fired inches wide and Harry Knights superbly blocked an effort from Jake Newman.

At the other end, Seb Dunbar’s diagonal ball picked out Kyle Hammond who shot from a tight angle, but was blocked by keeper Martin Conway, to end a mainly disappointing opening half.

Leading scorer Matt Blake had a couple attempts comfortably dealt with by Conway as Stuart Boardley’s side looked to get ahead.

But it was Christy Finch who looked the most likely to unlock the visitors, and indeed he was thwarted by the impressive Conway, who saved two terrific strikes, in spectacular fashion.

However, it was ironic that moments later after a good sustained home spell they cheaply conceded the initiative on 64 minutes. It was against the run of play, the visitors broke down the right culminating with the ball being released into the box whereupon, following the ensuing scramble, the loose ball was fired home by Jake Newman.

Manager Boardley rang the changes, bringing on young starlets Josh Cheetham, Harrison Bacon and Matt Rutterford and there appeared renewed hope, but it was left to another youngster, Harry Knights, to make another timely block to deny Newman adding his second.

However the Saints wrapped up the points in added time when Seb Dunbar fouled Andrew Osei-Bonsu and captain Robert Parker made it two from the spot, enabling his side to leapfrog Leiston in the table.