The Cooks started their hectic end to the season run-in by beating Desborough away and keeping their hopes of a top half finish.
Wednesday 19th April 2023
UHLSPORT UNITED COUNTIES LEAGUE – RESERVE DIVISION
DESBOROUGH TOWN RESERVES (0) 0 COGENHOE UNITED RESERVES (0) 1
Cooks;
Andrews 49
A month after the monsoon that abandoned the scheduled fixture, we returned to Desborough on a Wednesday night for the first game of five to be played in the next 10 days to finish our season!
Uphill and against the wind first half, it was always going to be about whether we could contain the consistently solid home side, who were spearheaded by their first team’s evergreen striker, Iain Blaikie.
That said, a deep free kick won by Keiron Mobbs in the 2nd minute was taken by Dan Webb, who found Luke Andrews unmarked in the 6-yard box, only for Andrews to side foot a volley into Corby!
The half was edged by the home side and two very good chances fell to the man they’d want them to in Blaikie, however, Ciaran Wells was up to the challenge and made a fine save with his right foot when a goal looked guaranteed and then again tipping over a curling chipped shot from the No. 9.
Hearts were in mouths midway through the half as one of the floodlights failed and the thought of another abandonment was on everyone’s minds, but there was enough light to see the half out and get the engineer in to sort it (not Manuel Pellegrini for those wondering)!
Webb broke down the right late on in the half and improvised wonderfully as he lifted the ball over the home GK from the tightest of angles, however, Desborough’s keeper was also on full alert as he managed to get fingertips to it to send the effort wide.
HT: Desborough Town Res 0-0 Cogenhoe United Res
It was a confident dressing room at the break, knowing the toughest half was complete, but staying grounded was key as the home side know their pitch too well to take things for granted.
It was the perfect start to the half as within 4 minutes the deadlock was broken – a long diagonal ball from Mirzan Noka on the left caught the home keeper in two minds, he eventually came out to meet it but only half cleared it and saw him stranded on the edge of his box, for the ball to fall kindly to Andrews who sweetly struck the ball home into an empty net (did I say sweetly? Apologies, it was one of the finest scuffs I’ve seen for many a year!). 1-0 Cooks.
The next 15 mins saw us dominate and it felt like the second goal was only a matter of time, however, we were fairly wasteful in the final third and it felt this could be costly whilst the score was only 1-0.
The next 20 mins was pretty much all Desborough, without creating anything clear cut. Blaikie and his moaning partner in crime were a handful all evening, but when it came to inside the box, we either defended extremely well or the aforementioned needed an education on the offside law, despite their abusive retorts at times!
The final 5 mins we came back into the game and controlled it professionally to see the game through and take away the well deserved 3 points.
FT: Desborough Town Res 0-1 Cogenhoe United Res
4 games in the final week ahead of us, it’s going to be tough on the legs but confidence and team spirit is high to push for that top half finish that was targeted in August.
Cooks; 1. Ciaran Wells 2. Dan Talbot 3. Tom Mitchell 4. Luke Andrews 5. James Hine 6. Sam Harris 9. Dan Webb 10. Keiron Mobbs 11. Sam Giddens 14. Mirzan Noka 20. Lee Felgate ©. Subs; 7. Aiden Rundell-Muller *(HT-11) 8. Mason McIlwraith *(HT-3) 15. Ian Adcock (not used).
(Mitchell returned for Mobbs on 65, Rundell-Muller returned for Webb 65)
Final run-in for the Cooks.
Sat 22nd April Wellingborough Town Reserves Away 3-pm
Tues 25th April BOURNE TOWN Reserves Home 7-45 pm
Thur 27th April Kempston Rovers Reserves Away 7-45 pm
Sat 29th April Godmanchester Rovers Reserves Away 2-pm
