Saturday 30th March 2024
UNITED COUNTIES LEAGUE – PREMIER DIVISION SOUTH
EYNESBURY ROVERS v COGENHOE UNITED
Alfred Hall Memorial Ground,
Hall Rd,
Eynesbury,
St Neots.
PE19 2SF
KO 3-pm
The Cooks round off their March fixtures with a trip to relegation battlers Eynesbury Rovers with another tough game in store against a team fighting for their step-five survival. With the Cooks safely in mid-table, matches against teams like this are particularly difficult at this stage of the season, especially away from home as the recent draw at Leicester Nirvana and the defeat at Godmanchester have proved. Tomorrow’s trip will be even tougher for the Cooks given that they have a few players away for Easter which adds to the current injury list giving Scott Carlin a real headache to add to the fact that he will be watching from the stand following his ban for picking up three yellow cards this season. Far less than Andy Batty who also has a red to his name but isn’t banned! I sometimes think the F.A just make the rules up as they go along, but that is my opinion only as of course as the committee and management team have every faith in the governing body.
Rovers were beaten heavily at home by promotion chasing March Town in midweek, but last Saturday they came from behind to beat now bottom Desborough at the Alfred Hall Ground. Trailing at the break, former Cooks player Declan Rogers levelled things up four minutes after the restart and Billy Roberts popped up with a winner three minutes from time with what could prove to be one of the most important goals in their recent history. They also beat Leicester Nirvana at home a few matches ago as James Hall came off the bench to score the only goal of the game which means they are now two points clear of them and four ahead of Desborough, although Nirvana have played a game less, so Rovers desperately need to add to their points total to ensure their safety. The game at Cogenhoe was back in sunny August and the Cooks went two-up through Dylan Wilson after 18 minutes and Josh Jones on 32, but Dom Mason reduced the arrears in first half stoppage time, but that was all they managed as the Cooks took the points 2-1.
Our last trip to the Alfred Hall Memorial Ground ended even. Pharrell Anderson went down inside the box to win a penalty which he converted on 15 minutes, but Michael Baulk scored direct from a free-kick just after the half-hour mark and the game stayed 1-1 until the final whistle.
As I said at the start, Biff will be without a number of players for tomorrow’s game with Earl Atat, Ben Dimond and Bailey Weatherly all missing, so he has brought Alex Parkes, Takula Chijota and new signing Jack Kuspert into his sixteen-man squad. Jack is well known to Biff and Batts being part of the AFC Rushden & Diamonds U19 scholars and he has previously played against the Cooks at U18 level whilst at Corby Town and he featured in the first team for the Steelmen when he was just 16-years old.
Alex Parkes returns to the squad for the first time in a while, although he played a couple of games for Moulton on dual registration.
Jack Kuspert (left) pictured after making his Corby Town debut as a 16-year-old (Photo courtesy of Corby Town website).
