Saturday 4th November 2023
UNITED COUNTIES LEAGUE – PREMIER DIVISION SOUTH
COGENHOE UNITED v ST NEOTS TOWN
Compton Park,
Brafield Rd,
Cogenhoe.
NN7 1ND
KO 3-pm
The Cooks face a quick return game with St Neots Town on Saturday, just a matter of weeks after travelling to the Cambridgeshire town for a Tuesday night fixture that saw us lose 1-0 to an early goal from our old nemesis Jordan Brown. Even though St Neots were looking to go back to the top of the table that day, the match was a very tight affair with the home side only really testing our keeper once with the save he made from James Hatch that saw Brown nip in to tuck away the rebound on 7 minutes. The Cooks will have a different keeper tomorrow as Adam North has accepted Wellingborough Town’s offer and moved down the A45 to cover for Ash Bodycote who is spending the next few months travelling. Northy had made 21 appearances for us this season, adding to the 19 he made in a previous spell under Gary Petts on being released from the Cobblers and he kept five clean sheets during those forty games,
Coming into the squad for the game is John Meadows who has impressed against us in games for his previous club Long Buckby and is a highly rated young keeper and hopefully he will settle quickly into his new surroundings. Going the other way is centre-forward Jamie Hall who goes in the search of regular match action. Scott Carlin has also added Dennis Nkrumah to his squad with the attacking playing having featured in pre-season and has been training with us recently. This will be his second spell here having also featured during the Petts era, making a total of 18 appearances for the first team, scoring once.
Back to tomorrow’s game against St Neots and our visitors are currently sitting in fourth place and have lost their last two games, albeit one on penalties as they went out of the F.A Vase. Last weekend they travelled to fellow promotion chasers Racing Club Warwick and were narrowly beaten by two goals to one with Jordan Brown getting their goal. That followed on from a home Vase tie with Great Wakering Rovers which resulted in a 2-2 draw after ninety minutes, but the Essex boys progressed 4-2 on spot-kicks. James Hatch is top of the scoring charts for the Saints going into the game with 8 from 17, but Jordan Brown, who has so often been on the scoresheet against the Cooks for Eynesbury, is one behind with 7 from 10.
Tomorrow’s game may be subject to a morning pitch inspection. Mick Nash has marked the pitch out today and it is currently playable, but the forecast for heavy rain in the morning could prove too much on the already wet conditions just under the surface after the rain of yesterday.
