Tuesday 26th October 2021
UHLSPORT UNITED COUNTIES LEAGUE-PREMIER DIVISION SOUTH
HARBOROUGH TOWN (0) 2 COGENHOE UNITED (1) 1
Bees; Ireland 60 Ansu 80
Cooks; Alexander 35
The Cooks nine match unbeaten run came to an end as former player Nat Ansu struck a late winner for the league leaders. The Cooks held the lead at the break after skipper Rico Alexander netted his third of the season soon after the half-hour mark. Archie Culley dinked a central free-kick into the box, Chief Boateng challenged for it in the centre and Alexander ran in behind to steer the ball past Elliott Taylor from inside the six-yard box. James Ireland drew the home side level with a lovely finish on the volley from the left corner of the box that curled beyond Craig Foxall and into the far top corner. The heartbreak goal came with ten minutes left when a good move down the left saw Ben Jackson (wearing no3 on the teamsheet and it was the no. 3 in the video, although according to full-time we was taken off at half-time) play the ball across and the ever-prolific Ansu nipped it to steer the ball past Foxall from the edge of the box.
The Cooks contingent at the game felt we were extremely unlucky not to get anything out of this game and it really showed how far we have come as a team following the 6-0 hammering they gave us at Compton Park less than two months ago.
Bees; Taylor, Walker, Jackson (Walsh), Malone, Williams ©, Cooper, Clifton, Henson (Agbenu), Ansu, Ireland, Hollis (Mooney). Subs not used; Fowler, Preston.
Cooks; Foxall, Cichosz, Adams, Mortimer, Riley, Alexander ©, Archer, Culley, Boateng (W. Russell), Wakley. Subs not used; Vaughan, Monteiro, Short.
Thursday 28th October 2021
NORTHANTS SENIOR YOUTH LEAGUE-SOUTH
IRCHESTER UNITED U18 (0) 0 COGENHOE UNITED U 18 (3) 4
Cooks;
Fletcher 2, 37
- Shaw 16
- Shaw 62
It was a good start for the Cooks as they returned to action at Alfred Street. Matt Fletcher opened the scoring after just two minutes and defender Archie Shaw added a second on 16. Fletcher, who hasn’t played too often for the U18s this season, but he was certainly enjoying this opportunity as he grabbed his second of the game on 37 minutes as the Cooks went into the break three goals to the good. Freddie Shaw added a fourth on the night for the Cooks after the break in a comfortable evening as we got back to winning ways and moved back up to fourth in the table.
Cooks;
1-Kyle Grimshaw
2-Archie Shaw
3-Caleb Jones
4-Aiden Hawes
5-Nat Allam
6-james McGrath
7-Luca Iaciofano
8-Manny Asante
9-Matt Fletcher
10-Ben Hassan-Hussein
11-Freddie Shaw ©
Subs;
12-Shad Reza (55-10)
14-Kieran Ashman (60-7)
15-Bradley Burbidge (50-5)
16-Elijah Noel (70-3)
17-Ollie Sljivic (70-8)
COMING-UP
Saturday 30th October 2021
UHLSPORT UNITED COUNTIES LEAGUE-PREMIER DIVISION SOUTH
COGENHOE UNITED v LUTTERWORTH TOWN
Compton Park,
Brafield Rd,
Cogenhoe.
NN7 1ND
KO 3-PM
Fourth placed Lutterworth Town come to Cogenhoe on Saturday looking to bounce back after being knocked out of the Vase last weekend and the midweek defeat to fellow challengers Hinckley Leicester Road. Saturday saw them lose 2-1 at Worcester City to end this year’s F.A competition interest, then on Tuesday they were beaten by two second half goals at Leicester Road as the team in second place in the table extended their incredible winning start to the season to thirteen games. HLR completed the double over the Swifts, having won 3-2 at Dunley Way four weeks previously, with Coventry Sphinx the only other team to have beaten them in the league so far. They have certainly hit the target at times this season with a 9-3 win over Chenecks their biggest win, but with a six and a couple fives also to their name they can bang them in on their day, although they have scored just once in their last three outings. Tendai Daire is certainly the one to watch with 21 goals in 17 games so far this season, whilst Marshal Keenan has bagged 14. They have some quality in their squad and the signing of Joel Carta really highlights their ambition too. Going back to Daire for a moment, he scored 102 goals in 84 games for the Swifts in their two seasons in UCL Division One before moving to Brackley Town where he wasn’t really given much of a chance before returning to Dunley Way.
The Cooks will be looking to bounce back after losing to leaders Harborough in midweek, but with nine games unbeaten before that game their confidence will still be high going in to this game. Since Darren Long and Steve Ganley have taken over in the dug-out, the Cooks have won seven, drawn one and only lost on Tuesday night, so this has all the makings of a very good game at Compton Park tomorrow. Hopefully they will have Dylan Wilson to call on again as the 12 goal man was unavailable in midweek and he has been on fire in front of goal recently.
Our two clubs have met once before at Compton Park and with the UCL deleting that unfinished season from their records I guess this will now be the first ever clash as far as they are concerned. For the record though the two teams served up a great afternoon of entertainment despite a gale force wind blowing from the car park towards the village (sounds familiar). The visitors won the toss and kicked with the wind behind them in the first half and took the lead after just 4 minutes. A Lee Tyers corner curled in on the wind and debutant keeper Dan Willets misjudged it completely leaving Justin Peace to touch the ball over the line from close range. It got worse for the keeper on 16 minutes when another in-swinging Tyers’ corner saw Willets get his hands to the ball and push it into his own goal with Peace desperately trying to get a touch without success this time. Nat Ansu pulled a goal back into the wind on 19 when he planted a volley high into the net from Will Bates’ cross to keep up his 100% strike rate since joining the Cooks. Another corner saw the Cooks undone again on 35 minutes as Tyers played it beyond the far post and Peace met it with a bullet header that gave the keeper no chance at all. Five minutes before the break the Cooks reduced the arrears again with another goal into the wind, this time Michael Cirelli the man on target with a good finish from the edge of the box after some great work by Ansu and Jordan Orosz.
The onus was on the Cooks after the break with the strong wind behind them. It took just four minutes to make it 3-3 when Jake Gillingwater finished well from inside the box after Jack Wisniewski had seen his shot blocked. Another major turning point came when Peace jumped into a challenge with his studs up when Orosz had already gone to ground and with the referee perfectly positioned to see the whole incident he showed the Swifts centre-back a straight red card. The game was just entering its 90th minute when Ansu picked up play outside the box on the left before stepping inside and hitting a superb curling effort beyond the dive of Warren Butlin and into the far top corner for the winning goal. 4-3 to Cogenhoe and perhaps some revenge for the 5-2 defeat the Swifts had inflicted on us earlier in the season. 14 goals in our only two previous matches so plenty to live up to tomorrow.
There is no game for the Reserves this week as its County Cup day and we were knocked out in the first round.
Quick update from myself. I may be able to cover tomorrow’s first team game, but have had a set back with my breathing this week so will decide on the day.
