Corinthians fight back to take the three points at Compton Park.
Tuesday 16th November 2021
UHLSPORT UNITED COUNTIES LEAGUE-RESERVE DIVISION
COGENHOE UNITED Reserves (2) 2 ROTHWELL CORINTHIANS Reserves (1) 3
Cooks;
Monteiro 9
Short 11
Corinthians;
Allen 22, 46, 55
Att; 30
Darren Long joined Gary Fletcher in the dug-out this evening as he gave a run out to Dan Mortimer, Ivandro Monteiro and Chief Boateng from the first team squad, whilst youth team keeper Kyle Grimshaw and centre-back James McGrath made their senior debuts. Corinthians included a few first team players as is usually the way for Tuesday night games with the most notable being leading scorer Zac Allen.
Rothwell had the first shot on target of the game when Dane Lingley forced a save out of Grimshaw, then an Aaron Lingley looping cross was allowed to bounce inside the box but the young keeper managed to claw it away from his goal. Zac Allen slipped the ball through for Dan Barker inside the box, but Grimley got to it first, although the Rothwell player’s momentum as he slid in saw him crash into the keeper. Thankfully Grimshaw was OK though and we carried on.
We had been in the Rothwell half without really threatening but then we hit them with two goals in three minutes with the first one being a particularly spectacular effort. A Mortimer ball into the box was met by a defender, but Monteiro picked up play a few yards inside the Rothwell half and he took it forward before firing a 30-yard effort that flew a couple of feet off the ground all the way past the keeper and inside his right-hand post. That was on 9 minutes and then a great move saw a quality ball from Boateng out to Will Russell on the left and he took it on before drilling a low ball across the box and Ben Short got there before the defender to steer the ball home from the edge of the 6-yard box. 2-0 after 11 minutes which almost became three shortly afterwards. Ben Mason got goalside of his man as he got onto Monteiro’s throughball and he placed his shot to the left of out-coming keeper Martin Thorpe, but the ball was agonisingly inches to the wrong side of the post.
Rothwell saw a couple of chances fail to trouble Grimshaw, then Allen broke into the box but his shot was straight at the keeper. Boateng made a good run down the right flank and pulled the ball back to the edge of the box, but it was an awkward height as it reached Short and although he hooked it goalwards on the volley, it looped up into the air and Thorpe caught it above the head of Mason on the edge of the 6-yard box.
Rothwell pulled one back on 22 minutes when Barker’s cross from the right was met by a deft header from Allen at the near post as he steered it past the keeper. Grimshaw was forced into action again as he saved a decent Barker free-kick, then Russell played a good cross in from the left that Short tried to meet with a diving header. I’m not sure whether he got to it or it was the defender, but it went wide and despite protestations from the Cooks player, Phoebe Horner awarded a goal-kick. Jonty Busch hit a powerful shot from inside the box but again Grimshaw was there to save his defence with a very good save.
There had been a few ‘meaty’ and sometimes late challenges that had gone unpunished, so when the yellow card came out of the pocket it was for kicking the ball away with Monteiro the recipient on 37 minutes. Mason was felled on the left touch-line and Short sent over the free-kick to find Mason rising unchallenged in the centre but unfortunately he couldn’t keep his header on target, whilst the last chance of the first half came down the other end, but Dan White’s free-kick from just outside the box went well over the top and we took a slender 2-1 lead into the break.
We really needed to see out the first few minutes of the second-half to get a grip back on this game, but Rothwell took just over 60 seconds to draw themselves level. A pass from Cameron Hale played Allen into the box and he placed a low shot across Grimshaw and just inside the far post with a very good finish. Ollie Sljivic lifted the ball into the box from around half-way and Mason got above his man to win the header, but he was on the edge of the box and his effort didn’t trouble Thorpe as it went wide. The visitors put their noses in front on 55 minutes as they completed their comeback and it was Allen completing his hat-trick with an explosive finish inside the box. A free-kick had been played in from just inside our half and it seemed to catch us out. Allen came from nowhere to pick up possession and he turned inside before bringing it back onto his right foot and smashed the ball high into the net.
A good run by Busch saw him find Allen and he forced a good save with a powerful strike. Allen was cautioned for a foul three minutes before the hour which was rather harsh as he went of a loose ball inside the box. Mortimer played a nice ball that picked out Boateng’s run, but it just got away from him and Thorpe claimed it safely. Isaac Appiah replaced Leon Jones on the hour as we made our first change, then Boateng dinked a ball up to Short inside the box on the left, but he was crowded out by three black shirts.
The Cooks gave all their subs a run out with Nat Allam replacing the injured James McGrath, then Kelvin Gyamfi, Isaac Appiah and Michael Mensah all followed as Mason, Mortimer and Sljivic made way. We made one or two mistakes at that back that Rothwell didn’t punish, whilst they created a few half-chances, but a majority of the attacking play came from the visitors as the minutes ticked past. Monteiro got his head to a corner but not the direction he needed to test the keeper. Appiah held the ball up nicely to give Boateng a sight of goal from a few yards outside the box, but his low shot was too close to Thorpe and with the game now deep into stoppage time Russell picked up a yellow card and ten seconds later he was sent to the sin-bin for his comments. Ten men for the final two minutes of added time didn’t have any effect on the game though as Rothwell happily took the points and moved above the Cooks in the table.
Not a classic and certainly not the result Cogenhoe wanted, but the visitors were worthy winners on the day and had it not been for Kyle Grimshaw in goal it could have been far worse in truth. I was impressed by Ben Short tonight and he appears to have a lot to offer and we looked good at times, but as is often the case with Reserve teams, we lacked the fluidity you get from playing regularly together and this would be the first time this eleven has played together as a unit.
Please note the U18s game against Bedford Town this Thursday was now been switched to Compton Park with a 7-45 pm kick-off. We will now travel to the New Eyrie on the date originally scheduled as a home game in a few weeks time.
Cooks; 1. Kyle Grimshaw 2. Ollie Sljivic (sub Michael Mensah 85) 3. Dan Mortimer (sub 14. Matt Fletcher 79) 4. Ivandro Monteiro 5. James McGrath (sub 17. Nat Allam 68) 6. Jake Walpole © 7. Chief Boateng 8. Leon Jones (sub 16. Isaac Appiah 60) 9. Ben Mason (sub 15. Kelvin Gyamfi 79) 10. Ben Short 11. Will Russell.
Yellow cards; Monteiro (37) kba. Russell (90+4) Foul.
Sin-bin; Russell (90+4)
Rothwell; 1. Martin Thorpe 2. Aaron Lingley 3. Jonty Busch 4. Dylan Muir 5. James Reed 6. Tom McLaren 7. Daniel White 8. Cameron Hale 14. Daniel Barker 10. Zac Allen 11. Dane Lingley. Subs all used; 12. Ewan Peden 9. Owen Wells 15. Ben Eldridge 16. Chris Yerolemou.
Yellow card; Allen (57)
Referee; Phoebe Horner.
Tuesday 16th November 2021
