FINBARR’S SEASON REVIEW OF THE VETS TEAM

Cogenhoe United Veterans season review by Finbarr Carroll

It is fair to say that Cogenhoe walked the MKVL division 3 table and won it at a canter. A bit of criticism has been received by the team from certain quarters lately because of how good the team were and that they were in the wrong division and should up been in a division up the league, that is all now said in hindsight as nobody knew how the team was going to play when the team was formed last year, in fact you could say that after the team drew with North Star 2-2 in the first game then only just beating the same side 2-1 in a cup game the following Sunday, that going in division 3 was the correct decision. It was only in the third game that everyone started to get a better idea of things after Cogenhoe beat Clean Slate 6-1, Clean Slate did finish bottom of the table with Cogenhoe also winning in their back yard 5-1 in March. There were only 2 teams that scored against the Cooks in both league games with Clean Slate being one of them an Wingrave being the other team, in fact between Clean Slate and Wingrave, they scored nearly half the goals conceded by Cogenhoe in the league, getting 6 between them out of 13.

Considering the team did not have a regular goalkeeper for most of the season, they did really well defensively to get 9 clean sheets in the league. Up the other end of the pitch, 102 goals were scored by the lads with 50 in home games and 52 scored away. The goal difference between Cogenhoe and Bicester who finished 2nd in the table was 35, the closest goal difference was from AFC Sherington with 26 who finished 3rd and were always nearly showing in first place in the table with Cogenhoe being behind on games played after good performances in two cup competitions and cup matches taking precedence over league matches, so the Cooks always had games in hand.

Cogenhoe did score 5 goals or more in 9 games. The averages for the season in games played was goals scored; 6.375 per game and goals conceded; 0.8125.

In cup competitions the Cooks got as far as the quarter-final of the MKVL cup losing at home to ON’s 0-2 and losing by the same result to Mereway Sapphires in the NFA Veterans cup semi-final.

Manager/player Sam Duggan was restricted week upon week with the players in the squad to choose from with players either unavailable or injured, but still he was able to put out a side on Sundays, unlike a lot of teams in the league with opponents pulling out of matches giving Cogenhoe 6 ‘walkovers’ in the season, that equates to 18 points gained, but no goals scored, so to get 102 goals in the remaining fixtures was no mean feat.  Out of the 6 walkovers, 2 of them involved Northampton Sovereigns, so we never played them twice!

Unlike some clubs that only write about the good times, a bit of honesty here, the smooth is okay, but you have to take the rough when it comes along. The one league defeat in the league all season, denying the lads the tag of Invincibles, was in the second to last game of the season away at Leighton Lions, on a pitch that absolutely suited them and bought the Cooks down a lot of levels, with grass that didn’t look like it had been cut since the start of the season and a pitch more suitable for anything under 11 year old’s, with the 18 yard box lines practically marrying up to the touchlines, Cogenhoe had one of those days where they were not going to score if the game had been played until midnight, they bombarded the Leighton goal but between saves from the keeper, the ball being cleared off the line on numerous occasions, the ball hitting the bar and both post’s, it wasn’t to be, so it was 3 points dropped, as it had been decided to play the game as a double-header, it meant that 6 points had fallen by the wayside. The Cooks ended the season getting 62 points from 24 games.

Season awards.

Top goal scorer with 44 goals, Stephen Carroll

Player’s player of the season, Ricky Smith.

Manager’s player of the season, Gary Duggan.

Supporters’ player of the season, Stephen Carroll.

Stats below.