Saturday 25th February 2023
UNITED COUNTIES LEAGUE
THE SPORTS DEVELOPMENT K.O CUP QUARTER-FINAL
DEEPING RANGERS v COGENHOE UNITED
The Haydon Witham Stadium,
Towngate East,
Market Deeping,
Lincs.
PE6 8LQ
KO 3-pm
The Cooks make their first trip to Deeping for a few of seasons and it’s a big game for the lads in quarter-final of the league cup. We had been regular opponents in the Premier Division up until the north/south split saw us taken in opposite directions, but we have played out some cracking games between our two clubs in the past. Our last trip there saw Deeping take all three points thanks to a Luke Hunnings goal deep into stoppage time. Cameron Johnson’s 13th minute goal had been cancelled out by a cracker from Matthew Slinn on 27 and it looked like we were going to take a valuable point from the game right up until the death. The last time we travelled to the Lincolnshire town in the league cup came on 26th August 2017 and it was a much happier trip home afterwards that afternoon. A scrambled goal from Ashley Clamp gave us the lead on 4 minutes, then a Matty Long 25-yarder doubled our advantage on 25. The game, later to become known as Earring-Gate, took a twist between those two goals when Cooks skipper Ryan Dove was called over by the referee and told to go off and remove his new piercing. (He had passed the tunnel jewellery inspection a few minutes earlier) and we had to play with ten men as Ryan, his teammates, both physios and someone with a pair of plyers from the home all failed to remove the offending item and Tom Chapman was forced into an early change, then the bloody thing came straight out when Dovey had a shower. Back to the football and when Séan McBride headed home a Long cross on 58 minutes it was game over. Deeping rallied but Jake Cayton and Dan Stevenson were phenomenal at the back that day and although they did pull one back through Scott Coupland’s penalty eight minutes from time, the afternoon belonged to Cogenhoe.
This season Deeping currently sit in 12th spot in the Premier Division North with ten wins and ten defeats from their 24 league games played so far, but seven of those victories have come at the Haydon Witham Stadium and they will of course be looking to make home advantage count tomorrow. To reach this stage of the league KO cup, they have beaten Newark Town 10-9 on penalties after a 2-2 draw, edged our divisional rivals Coventry United out 3-2, then achieved the same scoreline against G.N.G Oadby Town, with all three ties being played at home. They are currently on a four game unbeaten run, the same as we are, with three wins and one draw and on Tuesday night they reached the final of the Linconshire F.A Senior Trophy with a 2-0 home success over Skegness Town with two goals late in the first half through Will Bird (41) and Matt Sparrow (45).
Scott Carlin has been forced into a number of changes to his squad for the game as Ash Bodycote (Rugby Town), Kyle Ansell (Wellingborough Town), Bruce Tsinosis (MK Irish) and Bailey Weatherly (Bugbrooke St Michaels) are all cup-tied, while Luca Purse starts his three match ban following his sending off last Saturday against Eynesbury Rovers. Into the squad come keeper Ben Heath, Jamie Snapes, Josh Adams, Harley Mallard and Callum Farmer.
UHLSPORT UNITED COUNTIES LEAGUE – RESERVE DIVISION
ROTHWELL CORINTHIANS RESERVES v COGENHOE UNITED RESERVES
Sargeants Lawn,
Desborough Rd,
Rothwell.
NN14 6JQ
KO 3pm
The Cooks Reserves travel to the north of the county tomorrow afternoon to face a Rothwell Corinthians side that sit one place below them in the table, but the gap is five points and we have played four games less than our hosts. Tuesday night’s 0-2 home reverse to Whitworth was the third successive game that Ian Adcock’s team have failed to score and we are now six without a win, although the last game but one did see us take a point from the trip to Raunds.
Corinthians have proved to be very inconsistent this season and although they have picked some good results along the way, they have also been hammered on a number of occasions. They lost 12-0 at Whitworth, 10-1 at home to Newport Pagnell, 9-0 away to Kempston and conceded 8 at home to both MK Irish and Harborough. The inconsistency is highlighted over their last two games as they went down 5-1 at MK Irish last weekend, just seven days after beating Raunds 5-0 at Sargeants Lawn with five second half goals. Aiden Ginns, Josef Ginns, Josh Lloyd, Jakub Toth and Preston Prins all finding the target.
The game at Compton Park early in the season saw the Cooks pick up their first points of the campaign with a convincing 5-1 victory. Aiden Ginns was on target for the visitors, but it was a mere consolation as Josh Jones helped himself to a second-half hat-trick after Glenn Cakebread and skipper Lee Felgate had netted before the break.
