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Hunter strikes again as Town complete double
Sleaford Town 2 St Ives 1 VISITING St Ives were nine points above Town and with two games in hand before Saturday's United Counties Premier Division encounter at Eslaforde Park.
But Sleaford had the confidence boost of knowing they had already beaten their opponents in the away fixture earlier in the season.
There was little to choose between the sides, as both created chances in the opening minutes.
St Ives came closest to an early goal, with the post denying them.
With the Martin Wormall and Miles Hunter partnership looking lively up front for Sleaford the home crowd were always hopeful of a break through.
The visitors' defence brought down Hunter in a dangerous position but Jamie McCormack's free kick was saved. Shortly after a good shot from Hunter was pushed for a corner and Tom Ward headed wide from a Gary Walters' free kick.
Town finally did find the back of the net, the ball running loose to McCormack who applied the finish to make it 1-0 after 20 minutes.
Sleaford only held onto the lead for five minutes, St Ives striking back with a deflected goal to level the scores.
A strong determined run by Hunter ended with the striker firing just wide of the post,
At the other end the St Ives front man left Tom Ward and Temi Ajimoko in his wake but also hit his shot wide of the mark.
It remained 1-1 going in at the break but it only took seven minutes after the re-start for Sleaford to regain the lead, with Wormall crossing for Hunter to head home.
St Ives responded well and put the Town defence under some pressure and both Tom Ward and Stewart Smith were called upon to make vital clearances.
Wormall showed some deft footwork, turning neatly to shoot the wrong side of the post.
An injury to Matt Hodgkin saw Matt Lunn come on, with McCormack moving to right back.
Sleaford could have extended their lead when Hunter found himself clear but, unusually for Town's prolific scorer, on this occasion he was unable to find his way past the keeper, who made the stop.
And late on in the game, a good move involving Wormall, McCormack and Paul Ward forced a good save from the St Ives' keeper as Sleaford held onto the one goal advantage to complete a notable double.
Town: Drury; Hodgkin, T Ward, Ajimoko, Smith; McCormack, P Ward, Bishop, Walters: Hunter, Wormall. Subs: Spence, Shaw, Scott, Lunn, Bolland
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Weather for Sleaford
Saturday 11 February 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: -4 C to -1 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 1 C to 4 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North west
