Goals from Dylan Wilson and Stan Channell enough to give the Cooks the points at Lutterworth Town, but we do concede for the first time this season.
Tuesday 1st August 2023
UNITED COUNTIES LEAGUE – PREMIER DIVISION
LUTTERWORTH TOWN (0) 1 COGENHOE UNITED (1) 2
Swifts;
Adomako 54
Cooks;
Wilson 29
Channell 48
Att; tbc
The Cooks made the trip up the M1 hoping to build on Saturday’s opening day victory and they did just that with a 2-1 win at Lutterworth Town to make six points out of six. With Biff still on his holidays, Andy Batty once again took over in the hotseat and made a few changes for Saturday with Damian Osoimoejiokhian injured and Kieron Mobbs not available. So Green move to the left, Parkes played right-back, while the returning Wilson took over from Channell, Hall got the nod over Connor with Leon and Bell-Toxtle both being handed their first starts of the season. Josh Jones returned to the bench as he joined the squad for the first team this season.
Lutterworth started strongly and won a corner inside the first minute, while Bailey Weatherly was soon to win one down the other end, but neither of them overly troubled their opposing defences. The Cooks had the ball in the net early on, but an offside flag ruled this one out. Dylan Wilson had won a 50/50 challenge a few yards outside the penalty area and the ball deflected into the box where Jamie Hall used his strength well to steer the ball into the net, but he had been goalside of the defence when the ball broke. A bit of sloppy play in the middle of the park from the Cooks allowed the Swifts to quickly turn defence into attack as Hne Wilson lifted the ball over the top to put Benji Adomako clear and with Adam North off his line he tried to lob the ball home from a good 35-yards out, but his effort was quite a way off target in the end. Hall and Nathan Bell-Toxtle worked the right flank to good effect to win a free-kick that Cal Farmer delivered to the back post where Harley Mallard headed it back across and when the ball found its way to Weatherly on the edge of the box, the powerful Cooks man battled to work himself space for a shot which he fired just wide of the keeper’s left hand post.
A long throw from Weatherly was headed on by Bell-Toxtle, but the experienced Warren Butlin caught the ball cleanly, then Lewis Green had to do some strong defending to stop Jack Bonell getting a clear view of goal. After having to do plenty of defending, the Swifts were now having a good spell and a great turn and shot from 30-yards by Lee Tyers was just off target having taken a deflection on the way. Tom Marrs sent over the corner where Bonell’s header was taken cleanly by North. Marrs had a great chance to open the scoring when the ball fell at his feet in the centre, but his powerful shot was bravely blocked by Green in front of goal leading to the first of a run of corners for the home side, with the most dangerous one seeing centre-back Dylan Parish send a powerful header over the bar.
With the action having been down the clubhouse end for a few minutes, I guess you could say the opening goal was somewhat against the run of play as Dylan Wilson opened his account for the season in his third spell in a Cogenhoe shirt. The move started with a Farmer free-kick delivered to the far right of the Lutterworth penalty area and some great work by Weatherly saw him take on his man and hold off another before playing low ball across the box. Both Hall and Ben Dimond had shots blocked in the melee, but when it dropped to Wilson in the 6-yard box there was no doubting that it would now end up in the net. A Lutterworth player threw himself across to get his hand to the ball, but failed to stop its trajectory into the back of the net, but had he succeeded it would have been a penalty and a red card for the home side.
Within a minute of the opening goal, the Cooks should have had a penalty when Wilson got past his man just inside the box only to have his legs taken from under him by a late challenge, but referee Phoebe Horner waved away Cogenhoe’s appeals. Weatherly saw a cross caught by Butlin at the near post, then Farmer did well to block a Marrs effort struck from the edge of the box. Tyers met a ball on the volley just outside the box and it screamed a couple of yards over the top, while Wilson had a shot from just inside of the box on the left blocked after Hall had got up high to nod the ball on to him. A lovely turn and shot from Weatherly was blocked inside the box then the last move of the half saw Hall flick on a Weatherly throw, but the ball was just too far ahead of Wilson for him to get to.
The Cooks led into the break thanks to Wilson’s goal, but it had been a battle that had seen both teams have decent spells of attacking play.
Half-time; Swifts 0 Cooks 1
Batty was forced into a change at the break as the impressive Weatherly had failed to recover from an impact injury and Stan Channell took his place on the right. Channell had been the unfortunate one to be left out from Saturday’s win, but at least he had 45 minutes action to enjoy. He certainly made an impact on the game too as he doubled the Cooks lead within three minutes of the restart. In reality it was less than that as Green had been down for treatment before Alex Parkes picked Channell out unmarked on the edge of the 6-yard box with a pinpoint cross that he duly headed past Butlin for his second goal of the season.
They say 2-0 is a dangerous lead and it was soon reduced to a single goal again when Benji Adomako fired home on 54 minutes. There was a little concern for the Cooks in the way that the Swifts were able to work across from the left unchallenged, but there was no doubting the sweet finish by Adomako with his left foot from just inside the box that gave the unsighted North no chance of keeping it out. Bell-Toxtle went for goal from the edge of the box, but his effort was weak and straight at Butlin just before Farmer sent a diagonal free-kick from the halfway line across towards the back post where Mallard headed it goalward, but it was an easy take for Butlin. The Swifts made their first change on 66 minutes as Michal Budu replaced Bonell who had faded out of the game after a bright start up front, then two minutes later Josh Jones made his seasonal bow as he came on for Bell-Toxtle.
A nice move for the Cooks was started deep inside their own half as Parkes made a good challenge to win possession before playing the ball up to Channell who slipped it through to Wilson, but unfortunately the Cooks striker had strayed offside. Farmer played a good ball up to set Hall free on the left, but he opted to cut back inside, and the home defence were able to get back and block his shot. Wilson turned his man on the edge of the area before hitting a powerful shot that Butlin could only parry and before the home side had managed to fully clear the danger, Farmer went for goal with a decent effort from 25-yards out that flew a few inches over the top.
Hall made way for Jack Connor on 79 minutes and sixty seconds later the home side brought on the experienced Mark Warren in place of Marrs. Wilson found Channell with a good pass and he went past his man only to see his shot blocked just before the home side made their final change as Harvey Westwood took over from Tyers with 84 minutes played. Connor went for goal from wide on the right with a well-struck shot that flew wide of the near post to hit the pole holding up the net, while the final shot of the game came when Bradley Coleman met a corner on the volley beyond the far post and managed to not only clear the crossbar, but also the high netting that was put there to protect the house he managed to hit. Six minutes of stoppage time produced very little, although Wilson managed to pick up a silly yellow card after knocking the ball out of the Lutterworth player’s hands as he tried to take a throw-in.
With so many new faces in the squad, everyone had expected a slow start to the season as the team gelled, so back-to-back wins leaving us sitting in second place really is a fantastic position to be in these early stages. Today’s game was as far away from a classic as you get in all honesty, but its results that count and we took three points home from Dunley Way, which is never an easy task. It had been a fairly solid team performance from the Cooks without too many stand-outs, but my man-of-the-match today goes to Bailey Weatherly. I know some will find this controversial as he was forced off at the break, but he was so lively and caused the home defence multiple problems in the first 45 minutes.
Next up is a long trip to Hereford on Saturday afternoon as we play Westfields in the F.A Cup. On paper this is a tough draw for the boys but having won two on the spin and this being our hosts first competitive game of the season, there really is no reason why we shouldn’t be confident when we take the field at 3pm.
Swifts; 1. Warren Butlin 2. Bradley Coleman 3. James Sanderson 4. Dylan Parish 5. Brandon Williams 6. Lee Tyers (sub 15. Harvey Westwood 84) 7. Benji Adomako 8. Tom Marrs (sub 14. Mark Warren 80) 9. Jack Bonell (sub 12. Michael Budu 66) 10. Divine Okyere 11. Hne Wilson. Subs not used; 16. Kyran Taylor 17. Brian Ndlovu.
Cooks; 1. Adam North 2. Alex Parkes 3. Lewis Green 4. Dalton Leon 5. Ben Dimond 6. Harley Mallard © 7. Bailey Weatherly (sub 16. Stan Channell ht) 8. Callum Farmer 9. Jamie Hall (sub 12. Jack Connor 79) 10. Nathan Bell-Toxtle (sub 14. Josh Jones 68) 11. Dylan Wilson. Subs not used; 15. Charlie Pearson 17. Ollie Taylor.
Referee; Phoebe Horner
Assts; Paul Weston & James Anderson.
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