Histon 2 – Cogenhoe United 2Against odds the pitch passed a mid-morning inspection and the players had a good but wet surface, we had a four day rematch for the points today after Histon easily brushed us aside 3-0 at Compton Park on Tuesday evening after we finished the match with 10 men. It is far from ideal to face sides so soon.The Cooks made four changes to the starting line up with Alex Parkes and loaned Tommy Curry missing and top goal scorer Jessi Obeng and Harry Waple-Moor dropping to the bench resting knocks from the Tuesday night’s game. Lewis Green & Callum Farmer continued on the bench and we’re joined by the returning Kyle Ansell who had missed a couple of games welcoming a new baby into his family, congratulations to him. Pharrell Anderson and Louie Barrett started in the three man front line, Leon Dalton slotted into midfield and Luca Purse came in at right full back resulting in Bruce Tsinosis moving forward into midfield to complete the reshuffle.The introduction of the pace of Anderson & Barrett immediately caused the high line tall defensive line, on a number of occasions we threatened early in the game, so it was no surprise that on 14 minutes one such attack saw Pharrell Anderson hacked down twenty five yards out as he threatened to charge through the square back line, the first yellow card was issued. Ben Gough set the ball and thumped the free kick into the bottom corner to give The Cooks a deserved early lead.The fast attacking play continued to unsettle the highflying opponents and we doubled our lead on 21 minutes, Anderson was provider as he raced clear and hit a hard pass across the face of the goal with Louie Barrett gleefully chesting the ball into the open goal.Histon we’re struggling to get their attacking moves going with our defending being resolute, the long throw-ins added to the usual pressure of corner kicks and free kicks as the hosts looked to get back into the game. The Cooks continued to make life uncomfortable for Histon with the pace of our counter attacking play making for a difficult first half. But it was time for Ash Bodycote to protect our two goal advantage, from another long throw a brilliant double point blank save in a six yard melee kept the home side out. And even better a shot heading into the top left hand corner of the net was palmed away fora corner kick. The resulting corner was cleared as the half time whistle blew.HT Histon 0 Cogenhoe United 2The second half started with the expected forcing from the home side and Histon’s attacks started to build head of steam but central defenders Perry Ronayne and Ben Gough along with Luca Purse all having solid games, with Ash Bodycote continuing his excellent goalkeeping we kept our two goal lead intact, with our counter attacking pace continued to cause problems. As the pressure built our nemesis of causing our own problems of picking up a number of very silly free kicks and yellow cards started to make our task harder. Skipper Paddy Cichosz, Pharrell Anderson and Bailey Weatherly all putting themselves under pressure by picking up yellow cards.On 70 minutes there was a rather predictable twist with skipper Paddy Cichosz giving the referee James Cantwell little option but to show the second yellow card with an unnecessary piece of simulation, having seen an earlier card given for similar offence it was a risk too far to take! Within thirty seconds we were made to pay further as Histon took full advantage of our disarray.A frenetic last 20 minutes was now assured after we had been frustrating Histon up until that time. In the following minutes we changed the two forwards who were on the yellow cards with Harry Waple-Moors and Jessi Obeng introduced. Kyle Ansell then replaced Josh Adams in a move to add more physical presence to the back four.Histon continued to throw everything into our six yard box at every opportunity, it was the brilliance of Ash Bodycote that kept our lead with a number of point blank saves as well as some strong defending. The counter attacking threat didn’t disappear and some tough defending kept us at bay, one good opportunity as the skilful Jessi Obeng broke through the defence but as the goal opened up a pass to Louie Barrett saw his shot blocked and the chance we needed to settle the game disappeared.Once again the pressure told as Histon midfielder picked up a loose ball and fired home from a few yards in the second minute of added time, something that man of the match Ash Bodycote didn’t deserve, but in reality giving away a man advantage for 20+ minutes against a strong physical side was always going to be difficult.One final piece of action happened on the final whistle with an ugly scene when one of the coaching staff from Histon aggressively entered our technical area and had to be forcibly removed by the Histon manager, this went unpunished by the officials.In truth we could and should have exerted revenge on a top 5 side, but as good as our play is at times we really must find maturity to manage ourselves better and to keep out of trouble with match officials.The Cooks Team: 1 Ash Bodycote 2 Bruce Tsinosis 3 Josh Adams 4 Luca Purse 5 Perry Ronayne 6 Ben Gough 7 Louie Barrett 8 Patryk Cichosz 9 Pharrell Anderson 10 Bailey Weatherly 11 Leon Dalton 12 Lewis Green 14 Callum Farmer 15 Harry Waple-Moors 16 Jessi Obeng 20 Kyle AnsellReferee James Cantwell
BEN GOUGH opened the scoring with a well-struck free kick.
Louie Barrett made it three goals in three games with the second at Bridge Road.
