Saturday 29th January 2022
UHLSPORT UNITED COUNTIES LEAGUE-PREMIER DIVISION SOUTH
HINCKLEY LRFC v COGENHOE UNITED
Leicester Road Stadium,
Leicester Rd,
Hinckley
LE10 3DR
KO 3pm
Having lost their last two games, the Cooks face perhaps their toughest test so far as they travel to leaders Hinckley LRFC who remain unbeaten, having dropped just one point so far this season. It will be my first trip to the Leicester Road Stadium for quite a few years, but I made quite a lot of visits to watch Hinckley United when they played their midweek home games on a Monday night before the club sadly disbanded. The ‘new’ club were moved across from the Midlands League after gaining promotion from step-six last season and have made an incredible start to life in the UCL. They currently sit nine points clear at the top, although second place Harborough do have two games in hand and are constantly keeping the pressure on the leaders. Their record of played 23, won 22, drawn 1 and still undefeated is one of the best in the country, but they were pushed all the way by an Oadby side who have been struggling of late on Tuesday night, before a late goal from Jarred Acton gave them a 2-1 win after trailing at the break. Mussa Bham had given the Poachers the lead during the first half, but Dom Brennan had levelled just before the hour and as mentioned earlier, Acton stepped up with the winner four minutes from time.
The game at Cogenhoe came very early in the season and the visitors won it 1-0 thanks to a 66th minute goal from leading scorer Matt Langham as Leicester Road took the points from a very tight game. Langham has 31 goals to his name in all competitions, a very impressive tally and just three less than the whole of the Cogenhoe squad have managed in the Premier Division South.
The Cooks started the year on a real high with a home win over Newport Pagnell, but since then a disappointing loss at Potton was followed up by a 1-0 home reverse against high-flying Rugby Town last weekend. Form hasn’t been great for us over the last couple of months if truth be told, but we have tended to play better against the better clubs in the league so maybe we could become only the second team to take points off our hosts. Only time will tell I guess.
UHLSPORT UNITED COUNTIES LEAGUE-RESERVE DIVISION
BOURNE TOWN Reserves v COGENHOE UNITED Reserves
JJ Mac Stadium,
Abbey Lawn,
Abbey Rd,
Bourne,
Lincs.
PE10 9EN
KO 3pm
Gary and Damian head to the Lincolnshire town of Bourne hoping for a quick response to last Saturday’s heavy defeat at Newport Pagnell. Our hosts are one place below us in the table but will be looking to close the three point gap, whilst The Wakes also have three games in hand on us. They also let in five last weekend, scoring once in reply on the trip to Kempston Rovers and they haven’t won in five games after collecting just two points from a possible fifteen. They started off really badly this season, conceding nineteen in their first two games, but a steady improvement marked by a decent spell has seen them pull away from the bottom. I guess their best and worse results have come against high-flying Harborough as they beat them 3-1 at Abbey Lawn, but were later hammered 10-1 in the return fixture.
