Free-scoring Badgers power past the Cooks youngsters.
Thursday 16th September 2021
F.A YOUTH CUP-1ST QUALIFYING ROUND
COGENHOE UNITED U18 (0) 0 BUGBROOKE ST MICHAELS U18 (2) 4
Isaac 10
Panter 45+3 (pen)
King 75, 78
Att; 202
Cogenhoe started brightly and won a free-kick on the corner of the box that they couldn’t take advantage of, then Asante played a great ball through to Fletcher inside the box on the left, but Bugbrooke skipper Dimond did really well to get back to get a foot to the ball as the Cooks man shot to divert the ball wide. The Badgers broke quickly in the 10th minute and good movement saw Liam Isaac put through inside the box and he calmly slipped the ball past Hanley as the keeper came off his line, giving the visitors a lead to a large cheer from the superb support his team had brought with them tonight.
Hanley had to stretch and turn away a cross, whilst down the other end Badgers keeper Tom Ladyman slid out to take the ball after Asante had tried to play in Shaw inside the box. The first yellow card of the night went to Jones of Bugbrooke for a foul on Asante but May could only hit the wall with the ensuing free-kick. Hassan-Hussein was booked on 40 minutes for the Cooks and this time King went for goal with the free-kick and forced Hanley to dive to his right to push away his strike with both hands. Ladyman made a great punch under pressure from a deep Shaw free-kick but with three minutes of stoppage time already played the visitors doubled their lead. Former Cooks player Josh Whaler had took the ball to the byline inside the right of the box and Burbidge brought him down with referee Mario Stetakovic pointing to the spot. Panter took the penalty and struck it firmly past Hanley to double the visitors lead at the break.
Half-time; Cooks 0 Badgers 2
The Cooks were handed what could have been a lifeline just two minutes after the restart as everyone lined up on the edge of the box for a Bugbrooke free-kick. I have to say I didn’t see what happened myself but there was a little bit of a skirmish and the referee came over and showed Bugbrooke’s Olive a straight red card. (I was told later by one of the Bugbrooke contingent it was for a headbutt).
Bugbrooke had a big shout for a penalty when Panter was challenged inside the box but play was waved on, then Noel did well down the left before pulling it across to Asante, who in turn found Iaciofano on the edge of the box and he made space for a shot that Ladyman saved comfortably.
Darren Long made his first changes as Iaciofano and Sljivic were replaced by Reza and debutant Gee, whom he had recently signed from Whitworth with 52 minutes played. Reza was yellow-carded for a challenge on Webster on 55 that was a little high and before the free-kick was taken Bugbrooke took off their own man on a yellow in Jones, with Coulson coming on.
A good corner from Reza was headed wide by Allam then Shaw pulled the ball back to Asante on the edge of the box, but his shot was over the bar. A good cross from Coulson was well defended by the Cooks, then Noel played a good ball into the danger zone where Fletcher stepped over it for Shaw to run in behind, but the flag went up for offside. Burbidge was booked on 63 minutes for the Cooks and May hit the free-kick low, but Hanley got down to his left to hold on to the skidding ball just inside his post.
Noel made use of the space inside him to make progress before playing a lovely ball into the path of Gee’s run down the right and although his angled ball across the box looked dangerous, it was cut out by a defender before it could reach Fletcher in the centre. Panter struck the base of the post but it wouldn’t have counted anyway as the flag was up, then Allam played a ball over the Bugbrooke defence for Fletcher to pursue in the box, but he couldn’t reach it and the keeper watched it out for a goal-kick.
On 75 minutes any hopes of a Cogenhoe comeback finally faded out of sight as Bugbrooke made it 3-0. Some really good football in our half saw several players involved before a low pass across the box from the right found King unmarked and he had time to look up and fire into the top corner from close range. Gee was booked for a foul down our right and from the resulting free-kick King struck again with a powerful shot from close range that Hanley got a hand too, but couldn’t keep out.
McAuley came on up front as he replaced Hassan-Hussein for the last five minutes, but it would take a miracle now to get something out of this match. With the game into stoppage time the Badgers made their final change with Pert replacing two-goal hero King, then with just seconds remaining, Allam flew into a rash challenge on the half-way line in front of the visitor’s dug-out and once everything had calmed down he was shown the red card and Pert the yellow for his involvement in the aftermath.
Definitely not the finale that Darren Long would have wanted as he leaves the U18s to take over the first team reins, but this is an extremely good Bugbrooke team who score goals for fun and 4-0 is their smallest win of the season so far so hopefully the boys will keep their heads up high and move on to the league again next Thursday when we entertain Cranfield United. Well done to Bugbrooke and good luck in the next round against AFC Rushden & Diamonds as they continue to keep the flag flying for the South Division in the F.A Youth Cup. Also thank you to their big following tonight and hope you all enjoyed the game.
Cooks;
1 – Kai Hanley
2 – Ollie Sljivic
3 – Elijah Noel
4 – Nathaniel Allam ©
5 – Bradley Burbidge
6 – Josh Wootton
7 – Luca Iaciofano
8 – Ben Hassan-Hussein
9 – Matt Fletcher
10 – Manny Asante
11 – Freddie Shaw
Subs;
12 – Aiden Hawes
14 – Shad Reza *(52-7)
15 – Alfie Gee *(52-2)
16 – James McGrath
17 – Andis Vigants
18 – Charlie McAuley *(85-8)
19 – Caleb Jones
Red Card; Allam (90+3)
Yellow Cards; Burbidge, Wootton, Hassan-Hussein, Reza, Gee
Bugbrooke; 1. Tom Ladyman 2. Josh Whaler 3. Charlie Olive 4. Ben Dimond © 5. Ronnie Gibbon 6. Pearce Jones (sub 15. Mac Coulson 55) 7. Archie May 8. Jake Webster 9. Eddie Panter 10. Liam Isaac 11. Freddie King (sub 14. Corey Pert 90+1). Subs not used; 12. Archie Charles 13. James Ward 16. Braidon Roe 19. Alfie Doherty 20. Ion Borta
Red card; Olive (47)
Yellow card; Jones.
Referee; Mario Stetakovic
Assts; Ian Mitchell & James Campbell
