Cogenhoe’s youngsters cruise past Whitworth Red at Compton Park.
Tuesday 15th March 2022
NORTHANTS SENIOR YOUTH LEAGUE-SOUTH
COGENHOE UNITED U18 (1) 6 WELLINGBOROUGH WHITWORTH RED (0) 0
Cooks;
Iaciofano 10, 51
Fletcher 48
Asante 58
Redding 70
Hawes 84
Att; 35
The Cooks had previously been beaten twice by Whitworth in league and cup this season, but recent events have left the visitors looking very different as the hungry Cooks looked to continue their winning run at a chilly Compton Park. On the front foot from the first whistle, Shad Reza had already caused problems down the right before he found Nzube Nwosu inside the box and his superb turn left his marker wondering where he had gone, before playing a great low ball across the 6 yard box where Matt Fletcher just got to the ball ahead of his marker, but he couldn’t keep the ball under bar height. Dominating the early play, the Cooks finally took the lead on 10 minutes. Nwosu had been caught inside the box and although referee Harry Price waved away the penalty appeals, Luca Iaciofano pounced to side-step his man in the middle before firing the ball high into the net from around 7-yards out.
Iaciofano twisted and turned on the edge of the box to make space for a low strike that took a deflection and go wide of the far post and Reza’s corner picked out James McGrath just beyond the far post, but he couldn’t keep his header on target. Nwosu fired wide from outside the box, then another excellent Reza corner was met by the head of Iaciofano. The ball hit the underside of the bar and Iaciofano steered the ball over the line trying to use his shoulder, but he was adjudged to have used his arm instead so not only was the goal chalked off, he also picked up a yellow card for his sins.
Nwosu had the ball in the net again minutes later, but again it didn’t count. Not certain about this one as the keeper had lost the ball on the deck as he and a defender went for it with Nzube on hand to poke it home, but it remained 1-0 to the Cooks. Reza delivered a free-kick into the box after he had been fouled just outside the box on the right, with Iaciofano heading just over, whilst down the other end Sava Trkulta was played clear through just to the left of centre, but Kyle Grimshaw came off his line to narrow the angle and saved his shot with his legs. Reza fired a free-kick too close to Adam Gregory in the Whitworth goal, before Ollie Sljivic became the second player to be shown the yellow card after bundling over his man. A very dominant first forty-five minutes from the Cooks with the only downside being the fact we were only one goal ahead at the break.
A nice interchange between Caleb Jones and Fletcher saw the later get deep inside the box on the left before delivering a dangerous low cross that Iaciofano was just beaten to inside the 6-yard box, but three minutes into the second-half the Cooks finally got that seemingly elusive second goal. A perfectly weighted through ball from Nwuso picked out Matty Fletcher’s run and he steered the ball wide of the keeper from the left corner of the box with the ball rolling just inside the far post. Three minutes later it became 3-0 as Reza played in a great cross from the right and Iaciofano steered his header past the keeper as it bounced up, finding the far corner for the leading scorer’s second goal of the evenng. Reza saw a shot deflect wide of the target, then the Cooks were denied what appeared to be a stonewall penalty after Fletcher had got to a through ball to get a touch in front of Gregory, but the keeper flattened the Cooks man with his impetus.
The Cooks didn’t have to wait long for their next goal though as Nwosu released Fletcher on the left and he found Manny Asante in the centre with the midfielder showing a great striker’s instict as he made space with his first touch before firing home with his second. 58 minutes played and surely an unassailable four goal lead for Coegnhoe. All five subs were given a run out for the Cooks over a twelve minute period as the average age of the team on the field dropped.
A lovely ball across the box from Kieran Ashman picked out fellow sub Isaac Redding and kept up his amazing scoring record as he fired home his fifth goal in what is only his third appearance in a Cogenhoe United shirt with 70 minutes gone. Rob Jankowski forced a save from the edge of the box, then Redding cut in from the right before doing a step over and firing in a low shot that Gregory got down to his left to save. A great ball from Ashman picked out Jankowski’s run into the box, but he put his shot wide, then Nwosu just couldn’t get the ball under control as it bounced in the centre and although he eventually found McGrath on the edge of the box, the centre-backs first time shot didn’t trouble the scorers. Cogenhoe rounded the evening off in the 84th minute and it was another superbly worked and taken goal. Josh Wootton split the defence with a superb ball into the run of Aiden Hawes and the sub took his chance with aplomb as he swept it first time past Gregory and into the back of the net.
A superb performance from the Cooks which lifts them up into second place and finishing there is now in their own hands as we head in to the run-in. Some of the football we played today was a joy to watch and even with the five changes in the second-half, we never lost our momentum at all which is great sign of what is to come. The team continues to score goals for fun with our last three games yielding a five and two sixes, but we need to keep our feet on the ground and be fully prepared for the visit of Kempston Rovers next Thursday, a team who beat us 3-2 at their place earlier in the season. Well played to Whitworth who kept going the full 90 minutes and playing their part in an entertaining game.
Cooks; 1. Kyle Grimshaw 2. Ollie Sljivic 3. Caleb Jones 4. Manny Asante 5. Nat Allam © 6. James McGrath 7. Luca Iaciofano 8. Josh Wootton 9. Shad Reza 10. Nzube Nwosu 11. Matt Fletcher. Subs all used; 12. Rob Jankowski 14. Kieran Ashman 15. Kacper Sosinski 16. Aiden Hawes 17. Isaac Redding.
Flourmen; 1. Adam Gregory 2. Amir Khan 3. Harvey Munden 4. Klei Demaj 5. Harvey Moden-Warner 6. Ross McNaught 7. Ibrahim Jobe 8. Joshua Tuzzeo 9. Sava Trkulta 10. Cohen Curtis © 11. Noah Thompson. Subs both used; 14. Tom Pellant 15. Taijuan Grace.
Referee; Harry Price.
Assts; Daniel Prior & Nicholas Marriott
The Reserves scheduled game at Irchester tonight (Wednesday) has been postponed due to a waterlogged pitch at Alfred Street.
