Six out of six for Daz and Steve as Wilson, Culley and Wakley all hit the target.
Tuesday 12th October 2021
UHLSPORT UNITED COUNTIES LEAGUE-PREMIER DIVISION SOUTH
COGENHOE UNITED (1) 3 EYNESBURY ROVERS (0) 1
Cooks;
Wilson 29
Culley 64
Wakley 90+3
Rovers;
Brown 69
Att; 48
Darren Long was forced into a couple of changes as we looked to extend our superb winning streak as Rico Alexander is in Cyprus and Josh Adams was the on the wrong end of a pallet incident at work which hopefully will only have ruled him out for tonight. Paddy Cichosz came in at the back and Alex Vaughan was handed his first start for the club, whilst Craig Foxall was given the captain’s armband. Ben Short, Nathan Jones and Ben Mason were the three subs tonight. Rovers are managed by former Cook Steve Khune who is assisted by another in Lee Bearman, with Kye Andrews representing them on the park, but there was no former Cobblers player Leon Lobjoit in their side tonight.
Rovers were quick to get going in a high-tempo start from the visitors who forced two saves out of Foxall in the opening three minutes, with the second being a thunderous strike from the right corner of the box from James Hatch that the Cooks’ keeper held on to well. Foxall parried another powerful strike before and had to use his height to turn away a couple of dangerous crosses as they piled more pressure onto us in the opening few minutes that Bugbrooke had managed all game on Saturday.
Archie Culley almost played in Vaughan as the wing-back made a run into the box, but the defender did well to cut it out, then Chief Boateng did really well to get by his man and lay the ball across towards the waiting Tom Wakley, but it was cut out by Tom Guiney at the vital moment. Cichosz had out first shot on target with an ambitious effort from fully 35-yards that didn’t cause any unnecessary worries for Josh Mollison, then Wakley found Dylan Wilson’s run on the left and he outpaced his man, but his shot from the angle of the box went wide of the near post with Mollison having it safely covered.
Great battling and strength from Boateng saw him hold off a couple of challenges before finding Wilson inside the box with the striker unselfishly teeing up Vaughan to his left and he forced a good save out of the keeper at the near post. Culley sent over the corner, a defender got there first, but it fell to Wilson in the centre of the box and he fired a low shot that Mollison got a touch too, but couldn’t keep out. 1-0 to the Cooks with 29 minutes played. Having survived the early onslaught from Eynesbury, Cogenhoe were now looking the better of the two going forward and we had that vital first goal of the game too.
Hatch headed wide from a deep corner, then Jordan Brown beat his man to cut inside the box and pull the ball across. It didn’t find a teammate in the area, but it came out to Rob Duckett who let fly from 20-yards, but his effort didn’t have the accuracy to match the power and we survived intact. Great pace from Sam Olawale saw him break into the box from the right, but Foxall quickly narrowed his angle and he smashed his shot the wrong side of the near post. A strong run from Wilson ended when he was brought down just outside the box. Will Bates took the free-kick and his effort deflected off the last man in the wall and looped wide for a corner. Culley was on duty on the right as well tonight in Adams’ absence and his out-swinger was met by a strong header from Jack Riley, but unfortunately it was straight at Mollison.
A very entertaining first half with both sides trying to get forward with chances created at both ends, but it was the Cooks who held the initiative at the break thanks to Wilson’s goal just before the half-hour mark.
Half-time; Cooks 1 Rovers 0
Wilson did well down the left as he kept the ball in and played it back for Ryan Archer on the edge of the box, but the ball was whipped off his toes as he shaped to shoot and then Hatch had a chance down the other end but failed to test the keeper as it flew wide. Culley found Wilson a few yards outside the box and he side-stepped his marker to make space for a shot, but his effort was too close to the keeper. A deep free-kick left Rob Duckett with a free-header beyond the far post but he couldn’t beat Foxall, then Boateng tried his luck from outside the box with his shot hitting a defender and looping into the box. Wakley managed to get his head to the ball, but he only skimmed it and Mollison was able to collect.
A Culley free-kick from wide right was caught comfortably at the near post by the keeper, but he was picking the ball out of his net on 64 minutes as the Cooks got that vital second goal of the night. A great run by Vaughan saw him get into the box on the left and after beating his man he sent the ball across the 6-yard box. Wilson got to the ball first but his shot hit the underside of the bar and as it dropped Culley was there to put the ball into the net from close range with 64 minutes played.
A very good punch by Foxall cleared a dangerous Jordan Brown cross from the right with Boateng picking up the pieces before sending Wilson into the box on the right-hand side. He had the option of Wakley just inside him, but he opted to try and catch the keeper out at the near post, but Mollison wasn’t fooled and saved his shot at the expense of a corner. With 69 minutes on the clock the game was opened up once more as Eynesbury pulled one back through a nice finish from Josh Brown. He had found a yard of space just inside the box and place a low shot past Foxall and just inside the keeper’s left hand post.
Rovers made the game’s first change just after their goal with Cade Abbey-Stephens making way for Levi Squillance at right back in what appeared to be a straight swap. Foxall stood up big and saved a decent effort from Olawale, then Vaughan made a good run out of defence, but his ball through for Wilson was too well hit and ran through to Mollison. Ash Fuller came on for Jordan Brown with 78 minutes played as the visitors pushed hard for an equaliser, only to find the Cooks in defiant mood. Boateng was back battling on the edge of his own area to win the ball back, then Dan Mortimer cleared his lines with a good diving header inside the box. Kelvin Osei-Addo replaced Olawale with four minutes left then a great run by Wilson came to nothing as the pass to him was delayed and he was caught offside. Boateng came off with 92 minutes already on the clock. Although it would only be a cameo, it was still great to see Ben Mason back in the first team after missing the best part of two years through injury. It was now 90+3 when we won a throw near the corner flag on the right. It came off a defenders head first and fell to Wakley just beyond the corner of the 6-yard box. He controlled nicely before turning his man and placing a low shot across the keeper and inside the far post. Very well taken goal from the in-form forward player who has now scored in his last five games.
An excellent performance from the Cooks despite missing a couple of key players tonight. Paddy and Alex came in and filled their boots really well which shows that we are developing some depth to our squad now. Chief had his best game for us so far and covered a lot of ground as he battled for the cause and deserves a mention. My man of the match though goes to Tom Wakley who battled hard, passed the ball well and took his goal superbly at a crucial time.
Cooks; 1. Craig Foxall 2. Will Bates 3. Alex Vaughan 4. Dan Mortimer 5. Jack Riley 6. Paddy Cichosz 7. Ryan Archer 8. Archie Culley 9. Dylan Wilson 10. Chief Boateng (sub 15. Ben Mason 90+3) 11. Tom Wakley. Subs not used; 12. Ben Short 14. Nathan Jones.
Eynesbury: 1. Josh Mollison 2. Cade Abbey-Stephens (sub 14. Levi Squillance 71) 3. Cam Hyde 4. Josh Brown 5. Tom Guiney 6. James Duckett © 7. Jordan Brown (sub 16. Ash Fuller 78) 8. Kye Andrews 9. James hatch 10. Rob Duckett 11. Sam Olawale (sub 15. Kelvin Osei-Addo 84). Subs not used; 12. Jack Uttridge 17. Tom Spark.
Referee; James Wetherall
Assts; Simon Cheney & Clinton Ormshaw.
Next up for the Cooks is a trip to Long Buckby on Saturday afternoon.
