Saturday 10th February 2023
UHLSPORT UNITED COUNTIES LEAGUE – PREMIER DIVISION SOUTH
COGENHOE UNITED v MARCH TOWN UNITED
Compton Park,
Brafield Rd,
Cogenhoe.
NN7 1ND
KO 3-pm
Scott Carlin’s team will have to put the celebrations of beating Kettering Town and thoughts of the up-coming cup final behind them as they get back to ‘the day job’ on Saturday afternoon. March Town United are the visitors, the team that beat us in our last away game, so a little bit revenge is up for grabs as well as the three points we need as we look to continue our recent good form and pull ourselves away from the bottom end of the table.
The Hares are in their first season in the UCL having being shifted sideways by the F.A in the summer and currently occupy seventh place, but recent form has be somewhat patchy and they have lost three of the four games they have played since that 1-0 win at Robingoodfellows Lane a few weeks back. Vitor Vaz scored the only goal of the game in midway through the second half, but the Cooks had the chances to have got something from that game and were disappointed to return home with nothing to show for their efforts. On Tuesday night they travelled to Eynesbury, another side in need of points at the wrong end of the table, but despite Craig Gillies twice giving them the lead, they were beaten 4-2. Gillies and Sam Green were both sent off that night, their second double red card game recently as they had two sent-off in the 1-3 home reverse to Bugbrooke. Completing the trio of defeats mentioned above, they also went down 3-1 at Godmanchester while the only win came at home to Easington with the 3-1 scoreline going in their favour this time. Their away form isn’t too bad in the league, boasting four wins and three defeats on their travels and they were the early leaders after winning their first four games in the UCL, but they have slipped away from the promotion places now and have struggled for consistency in recent times.
The Cooks are on a real high and will be heading into this game full of confidence after some excellent performances since our defeat in the Cambridgeshire town. The 1-1 draw at Godmanchester could easily have been an away win, we then outplayed runaway leaders Rugby despite the 1-2 loss and the good form finally came to fruition as we stuffed Coventry United 4-1 here last Saturday. These displays, as well as holding Kettering to a goalless draw and the 4-1 penalty shoot-out success that followed, have really underlined just how far we have come in recent weeks.
NORTHANTS F.A LES UNDERWOOD JUNIOR CUP – QUARTER FINAL
KETTERING NOMADS v COGENHOE UNITED
Isham Cricket Club,
Orlingbury Lane,
Isham.
NN14 1HW
KO 2pm.
Ian Adcock’s team will be looking to continue their NFA Cup run as they head to Kettering Nomads on Saturday afternoon with a place in the semi-finals of the Junior Cup at stake and with the first team already having sealed a place in the final, let’s hope that this will be the boost the reserves team need to get them through this very tricky tie.
Nomads, who are managed by former Cooks player and assistant manager Joe Rich, alongside Tom Judge, currently lie in second spot in the Northants Combination Premier Division, four points behind leaders Blisworth, but with one game in hand. They have bags of experience in the team with plenty of players who have played in the UCL Premier Division and Division One and their joint leading scorers are Jack Wisniewski and Jake Bettles, who have both represented the Cooks in recent years, the latter in friendlies only. They both have eleven goals to their name so far. The Nomads are in good form in front of goal having scored four goals in each of their last three games with Wizniewski bagging a brace in the 4-1 home win over Corby Pegasus last weekend and they reached this round with a fantastic 4-3 win at home to SSML side O.N Chenecks. They had trailed 3-1 with eleven minutes to go in that game but fought back to win 4-3 with a last minute winner. To draw another parallel, we beat Spratton 2-1 away in an earlier round of this competition, a team that Nomads had thrashed 8-0 in the league, so we will be the underdogs going into this game and we are the last surviving reserve team in the competition.
The full draw is; (Step level in brackets)
Kettering Nomads (7) v Cogenhoe United Res
Blisworth (7) v Woodford United (7)
Moulton (6) v Rushden & Higham United (6)
Irchester United (7) v Earls Barton (7)
