Albert Street was host to a hat-trick from striker Kobi Bivens, who led Irchester United to a 5-1 win over Huntingdon Town in Division One of the Spartans South Midlands League.
Despite what seemed to be an all-round positive performance from the Romans, coach Mitchell Tuzzeo reserved his excitement around his team’s performance: “I’m happy with the result but I don’t think we are that happy with the performance.
“I think we were a bit lacklustre first half, we didn’t cope well with their (Huntingdon’s) shape.
“Even though we were up at 4-1 at half-time, the lads got a bit of a ‘shoeing’ and then second half we were still very sluggish.
“We spoke about at half-time how to deal with their shape, we have come out and then they have changed their shape but the way we performed in the second half I don’t think was good enough.”
Despite scoring five on the night, the Romans evaded a fair few chances that should have seen the back of the net ripple.
Reflecting on his side’s inability to be clinical in front of goal completely, Tuzzeo said: “We are creating chance after chance, game after game.
“The problem would be if we are not creating chances, but we are creating plenty.
“We are not fussed by that and there will come a day where we score ten (goals).”
Man of the match Kobi Bivens impressed an Albert Street crowd and seemed to also satisfy his manager: “He showed out there he is pretty untouchable at this level. He is (however) not as available as we would like him to be as he has had two red cards already this season,” Tuzzeo said.
Irchester took virtually no time at all to get on the scoresheet, when Bevins opened his account in the fourth minute, finishing to the keeper’s left to place his side 1-0 up.
It only took two minutes for the home side’s lead to double after a rocket of a finish from captain Jake Newman, who blasted the ball into the root of the net from the edge of the box.
A crazy ten minutes saw a third go in for the Romans as Bivens got his brace with a sensational strike that almost mirrored his skipper’s goal, again rocking the roof of the net, leaving Olly Yau with no chance.
A quiet first 15 minutes for Daniel Willet was interrupted by a goal from Antonio Mendy, who took the ball around the keeper and cooly slotted home to bring the deficit down to two goals.
Huntingdon nearly copied Irchester’s two in two minutes when Kass Rajani looked odds on to score but instead blasted the ball clear of the crossbar to keep the visitors still two adrift of the home team.

After a bit of attacking ping pong, Irchester had the ball in the back of the net once again after a beautifully worked team goal. Lewis Fisher the beneficiary of a super set of passes that put him one-on-one with Yau, finishing calmly into the bottom right corner for a 4-1 lead going into the break.
Possession domination remained with Irchester in the second period, which forced Olly Yau into a series of sensational saves which prevented what looked like two certain goals.
It only took 10 minutes however for Yau’s goal to ripple once again when Bevins earnt his right to return home with the match ball after a cheeky chip over the goalkeeper to place Irchester into a 5-1 lead.
It seemed as if arrogance set in from there for the Romans who took on a bunch of ambitious attempts on goal with Bevins, Plummer and Whittaker all firing wide of the target.
Perhaps the biggest chance of the second half fell to Stedman Whittaker in the 89th as he failed to convert the ball into an empty net from two yards out.
Luckily for the winger, it had no negative impact on the final score, which ended 5-1 to the home side and sees Irchester top the South Midlands Spartans Division One table meanwhile, Huntingdon find themselves in 17th position just three points off the bottom spot.
The Romans are back in action Tuesday night away to Royston Town Reserves in the Division One Cup.
Co-manager Kallam Yearwood hopes the Romans can travel with a fully fit squad: “We just want to make sure we have as many players fit and available as possible.
“It’s a Tuesday game, people have work and other responsibilities, but we just need to make sure the boys are prepared, cool down after today’s game and make sure we are ready for it.”

Written by Ben Grundy