Anderson came off the bench to take the tie to penalties, then Bodycote saved three out of the six Ar Tarn spot-kicks.
Tuesday 11th October 2022
NORTHANTS F.A HILLIER SENIOR CUP – QUARTER FINAL
COGENHOE UNITED (0) 1 DESBOROUGH TOWN (1) 1
Cogenhoe won 4-3 on penalties.
Cooks;
Anderson 86
Ar Tarn;
Nkrumah 77
Att; 38
For the second game running Scott Carlin had a number of players out, so it was a chance for some of the other members of the squad to shine. Ash Bodycote returned in goal though after being cup-tied on Saturday, with Konnor Dixon coming in for the working Will Bates, Josh Adams also returned to the starting line-up, Luke Andrews stepped back up from the reserves and Joe Morris was called up for the first time. Jim Le Mesurier’s side was skippered by former Cooks captain Adam Randall and included two other former players in Ashraf Masumbuko, who made his first start for Desborough, plus Dennis Nkrumah who was amongst their subs today. There was no place for Chief Boateng though.
Josh Adams, nursing a very sore but self-inflicted arm, drilled a great free-kick into the box from just inside the Desborough half that Purse got a glancing header to, with the ball flying inches over the top. Keeper Adam Honour came off his line very quickly to dive at the feet of Louie Barrett deep inside the box, then a good cross down the other end saw Alex Webb have a shot blocked. The Cooks were denied by a great one handed save by Honour when Luke McDonald hit a low drive that was heading for the bottom corner after some great work by Jessi Obeng to the right of box, then Obeng headed forward a McDonald corner, but Andrews’ back-header went to straight at the keeper, before Obeng picked up a rare booking after sliding in on a through ball and catching Honour after the keeper had beaten him to the ball. No real argument about this one even though Jessi had a made a genuine effort to play the ball, but a quick side-comment as Webb hadn’t even been spoken to seconds earlier after taking out Barrett by the corner flag.
Josh Jones worked his way into the box before finding Alex Parkes 8-yards out, but he hit his first time shot straight at Honour, then a nice move involving Obeng and Jones resulted in Adams winning a corner off Aiden Bradshaw. Barrett made a great run before cutting the ball back to Adams deep inside the box, but his first time shot was saved, then the keeper had to race outside his box to beat Jones to a through ball. Lamin Jammeh had a chance at the far post, but he was off balance when he shot and Bodycote got his body behind it, then the Cooks had to defend with some passion as they kept the ball out of their net following a corner. Barrett had been a couple of yards offside when he received the ball on the right wing, but as there was no flag he continued his run and sent over a cross that had to be headed behind by Randall. Adams delivery from the corner couldn’t have been much better, but nobody from either team managed to make contact with the ball and it continued its trajectory across the 6-yard box.
Adams got deep inside the box on the left and dinked over a cross that McDonald volleyed over, then down the car park end Luca Purse made a great challenge to rob Jammeh of the ball after the pacey striker looked to have broken through. Bodycote then did well to get a hand to the ball and divert it away from a couple of Desborough players after another dangerous corner. One of the visiting coaching staff was a little too vocal with his complaints about one of Stuart Lathan’s decisions, so the referee dug his yellow card out of his pocked for the second time in the game. We had a good old fashioned goal mouth scramble after Desborough’s Owen Montgomery played a dangerous low ball in from the right, but we somehow survived as we put our bodies on the line, with the best opportunity falling to Iain Blaikie, but his shot couldn’t penetrate the blue wall between him and the net.
A lively and entertaining first half with Adam Honour the busier of the two keepers, but Desborough had had also had their moments too.
Half-time; Cooks 0 Ar Tarn 0
The two Josh’s combined well down the left as Adams fed Jones, but great defending by Randall denied the latter a chance to cross, then Jones turned nicely in the box and fired in a low effort that took a deflection off a defender that took it just wide. The corner was cleared as far as Parkes some 25-yards out and he hit it sweetly on the volley, but it was blocked in the middle of the box. A very dangerous Bradshaw corner saw Bodycote do well to tip away for another flag-kick on the opposite side with this one resulting in Billy Tebbatt putting his volley wide. A great pass from Obeng put Barrett in the clear to the right of the box where he placed a low shot across Honour and just wide of the far post. It was a good effort, but a pull back on this occasion would have left Jones with a tap-in. A good move down the right ended when Barrett’s cross was cut-out by Blaikie and Adams’ corner saw Honour blocked in allowing Morris to shoot, but it hit a defender before being cleared.
The first change of the game came on 66 minutes when Nkrumah came on for Montgomery, then a few minutes later Pharrell Anderson replaced McDonald. Desborough pressed with a good cross from the left that Purse did well to head away from the far post, then an Ar Tarn free-kick played into the box saw Bodycote take the ball before feeling the full impact of Bradshaw whilst still in the air. Both players needed treatment following the collision and surprisingly it appeared that the Desborough player had come off worse.
On 77 minutes the deadlock was finally broken, but it was the visitors who made Cogenhoe pay for failing to take any of the first half chances. A simple pass through the middle by Webb put Nkrumah clear through and the former Cooks man was able to fire his shot beyond the reach of Bodycote to give his team the lead. Bradshaw was unable to continue after his earlier collision so exciting young prospect Luca Miller took his place for the final 12 minutes of the game. Blaikie put a 20-yard free-kick wide just before both sides made what would be their final changes of the game. Morris, who can be very pleased with his first-team debut, made way for Lewis Green and a minute later Josh Drain came on for former-Cook Masumbuko. Four minutes from time the Cooks finally hit the back of the net with super-sub Anderson the saviour. His blistering pace left Blaikie in his wake as he burst into the box with the ball at his feet before slotting it hard and low across the keeper and into the far corner. I must share a little sympathy for Desborough at this point as they would much rather have had the free-kick for one of the two fouls we had committed earlier in the move, but the referee twice gave them the advantage before they eventually lost the ball allowing us to break. I feel at the time that the ref was simply allowing the game to flow and of course he could not have known what was to follow. Desborough did have a chance to win the game late on, but Webb blazed over from a great position, then Bodycote swept well as Drain chased a long clearance, with the final chance of the game falling to Blaikie, but his first time effort was saved low by Bodycote.
And so to penalties. Cogenhoe went first with Purse tucking his away, but he was matched by Randall. Anderson’s was a beauty, but Bodycote made it advantage Cogenhoe when he saved Miller’s effort. Parkes put his wide and Webb levelled at 2-2 with two pens to go. Dixon saw his effort saved by Honour and when Tebbatt buried his effort the pendulum had swung in Desborough’s favour. Obeng had to score which he did, then Bodycote took it to sudden death when he stopped Blaikie’s spot-kick. Lewis Green’s penalty was unstoppable and Dashit had to score to keep his team alive, but once again Bodycote was the hero with his third save of the shoot-out and the Cooks go into the hat in the semi-finals.
A very entertaining game between two footballing sides and whilst we are delighted to progress, you have spare a thought for Desborough to go out in this way. One thing that was refreshing today was the fact that we had dropped the bickering with each other and concentrated on being as one team and this helped the flow of our performance. I did have concerns of this being another ‘Easington’ after we had failed to convert any chances in the first-half, but the boys dug in deep and even though Desborough took the lead, they showed a great spirit to snatch the late equaliser. It was another good all-round team performance with everyone playing their part, but even though he didn’t have much to do in the game itself, how can I not give the man-of-the-match to Ash Bodycote after saving three penalties.
We return to league action on Saturday with a home game against Lutterworth Town.
Cooks; 1. Ash Bodycote 2. Konnor Dixon 3. Josh Adams 4. Alex Parkes 5. Luca Purse 6. Joe Morris (sub. 12. Lewis Green 82) 7. Louie Barrett 8. Luke McDonald © (sub. 16. Pharrell Anderson 72) 9. Josh Jones 10. Luke Andrews 11. Jessi Obeng. Subs not used; 14. Kodi Briggs 15. Dylan Carlin 17. Regan Saunt.
Yellow card; Obeng (13) Foul.
Desborough Town; 1. Adam Honour 2. Aiden Bradshaw (sub. 15. Luca Miller 78) 3. Iain Blaikie 4. Billy Tebbatt 5. Adam Randall © 6. Jordan Fowler 7. Ashraf Masumbuko (sub. 14. Josh Drain 83) 8. Phil Dashit 9. Lamin Jammeh 10. Alex Webb 11. Owen Montgomery (sub. 12. Dennis Nkrumah 66). Sub not used; Thuso Nyoni.
Referee; Stuart Lathan
Assts; Ben Bright & Zach Cunningham
