Saturday 14th January 2023
UHLSPORT UNITED COUNTIES LEAGUE – PREMIER DIVISION SOUTH
COGENHOE UNITED v EASINGTON SPORTS
Compton Park,
Brafield Rd,
Cogenhoe.
NN7 1ND
KO 3pm
The Cooks will hopefully return to action tomorrow as the weather improves with Easington Sports making the trip up from Banbury to play us. It has been a frustrating time for both teams with Cooks only game since December 3rd being the Boxing Day draw with Wellingborough Town, whilst our opponents haven’t played at all since early December. Leam Howard’s equaliser earned them a 1-1 draw at home to March that day and they currently sit in tenth spot, six places above the Cooks. Form has been poor for both sides with The Clan now five games without a win in the league, although in the middle of the run they did beat Cropredy 4-0 in the Oxon Senior Cup with Howards, Ollie Rose, Luke Swann and Dan Watkins all on target. The Clan have only won once away from home in the league so far and that was on the opening day of the season in Godmanchester, whilst the Cooks have only won once at home in the league, ironically against the same opponents back in November. The trip to Addison Road was the perfect example of the old cliché ‘a game of two halves’. We totally dominated the first half but failed to hit the back of the net, then Sports came out all guns firing for the second half and spent a majority of the play on the attack, with the major difference being they took two of the chances they created. George Coombes and Jack Fountain the men who gave debutant keeper Ash Bodycote little chance to keep their efforts out of his net.
Sports were moved to the UCL last season after several years in the Hellenic League and their first and so far only trip to our village ended in defeat for them in a tight game as Cogenhoe completed the double. A late Dylan Wilson header earned the Cooks a 1-0 victory at Addison Road in Darren Long’s first game in charge of the first team, then the return fixture just before Christmas saw the Cooks take the points 2-1. Archie Culley opened the scoring with a cracker from 25-yards out that dipped over the keeper and crashed in off the underside of the bar after 12 minutes, but three minutes later it was level again thanks to a very well-hit free-kick by Alex Stott. Archie Elmore proved to be the match winner late on when he received the ball in the middle of the box from Ryan Archer and lifted his shot over White’s head and into the net on 75 minutes.
UHLSPORT UNITED COUNTIES LEAGUE – RESERVE DIVISION
WELLINGBOROUGH TOWN RESERVES v COGENHOE UNITED RESERVES
Dog & Duck Ground,
London Rd,
Wellingborough.
NN8 2DP
KO 2-pm.
The Reserves have also gone over a month without a game after the late postponement at Daventry Town last Saturday as a monsoon passed over the county at about 1pm. It has been doubly frustrating for Ian Adcock’s team as they hammered high-flying Kempston Rovers 6-1 in their last game and must have been itching to get back on the park to build on that momentum. The Doughboys have managed to get on the pitch once this year, although they may have wished they hadn’t last Saturday as they travelled home from Milton Keynes having been stuffed 7-1 by the Irish second string. Former Cooks player Ben Mason scored the sole consolation for the visitors. The Doughboys currently occupy 10th spot, one place above the Cooks, but crucially we have played four games less than our hosts.
