The Vets team returned to action with another comfortable win this morning.
Milton Keynes Veterans League
Division 3
12th Feb 2023
Cogenhoe United FC 4 Brooklands & Broughton FC 0
On a still morning with not even a breeze at Compton Park, Cogenhoe kicked off this league encounter versus Brooklands catching me totally unawares as I was waiting for the referee to call the captains up to the centre spot for the toss when, seemingly he had done it earlier when I was watching the players warm up for the game. I was busy at the start having been given James Lister’s mobile phone (he was on call) and Lewis Hill’s wedding ring at the kick-off!
The Cooks were again missing goalkeeper Stuart Scofield as his son was in Leicester hospital, our best wishes go to Stuart’s son and hoping he makes a full recovery soon.
After losing six nil at home a few weeks ago to Cogenhoe, Brooklands were out for revenge in this game and were not going to just roll over and it was them that had the first chance of the game with forward ‘Luke’ (apologies for the lack of a surname, but Luke was all I was provided with) shooting from distance missing the outside of the upright by inches. This was a bit of a wake-up call to the Cooks who had started playing like they hadn’t been together since November.
It wasn’t long before the Cooks got into their stride with a chance falling to Donnie Reed who saw his long-range shot go wide.
The deadlock was broken in the 10th minute a neat pass from Cooks Paul Carroll to his brother Steve saw Steve Carroll glide pass one defender then fire the ball across the Brooklands keeper at his near post unable to stop the ball going into the far corner of the net. 1-0
in the 23rd Minute it was the turn of Stephen Carroll to turn provider for his brother Paul with a great pass, Paul Carroll then had a shot from 30 yards which ended up going over the bar.
The last effort of the first half came from Brooklands with number 14 ‘Luke’ having a shot from 40 yards that was superbly tipped over the bar by stand-in Cooks keeper Craig Smith. Half-time 1-0.
The second half started off a bit scrappy. The first real chance of the half fell to Stephen Carroll who saw a decent shot defended by the number 9 of Brooklands who headed clear for a corner-kick to the Cooks. We then saw a free-kick awarded to the Cooks just outside the Brooklands penalty area with the referee measuring out 10 yards (or 9.15 metres) for the Brooklands wall to stand with Stephen Carroll disputing the distance the wall was away from him and after getting the ref to take his steps again, was proved right and the Brooklands wall was made to move another one and a half yards. The free-kick came to nothing in the end.
In the 72nd minute, Brooklands were awarded a hotly disputed penalty from a foul by Cogenhoe player Mark Dent who had committed a foul from outside the area, but the referee (and anyone who knows me over the years will know that I have never been anything but fair in my reporting but in this instance I have to say that the ref got it wrong in this instance especially when you consider that he was on the halfway line when the foul was committed, it reminded me of all those years ago when Ron Atkinson said “I never say anything about referees and I’m not going to break the habit of a lifetime for that prat!”) carried on pointing to the spot. After everything calmed down, Brooklands number 15 took the penalty kick that went that far over the bar it landed on the junior pitch behind the goal 40 yards away.
With the thought in their heads that they could only have got a point from this game had the penalty kick been put away, Cogenhoe stepped up a gear and it wasn’t too long before they scored a second with Ollie Reynolds having been bundled over in the Brooklands penalty area, somehow managed to cling onto the ball and with defender’s legs kicking out at him trying to get the ball, he somehow managed to pull himself to his feet the rifle the ball into the net. 2-0
Having only just been introduced into the game minutes before, Cooks forward Lewis Hill was awarded a penalty-kick when he was hauled down in the area. Sam Duggan stepped up to put the penalty away to double his goals for the season to 2. 3-0.
With time running out, a cross from the Cooks right wing saw a cross into the danger area turned into the net by a Brooklands defender for an own goal. 4-0.
A decent result for the Cooks in the end, pushing their goal difference in the league table up to plus 57 and another clean sheet to boot. Everyone played their part in this game.
Next up for Cogenhoe, Open University next Sunday.
Report & photos supplied by Finbarr Carroll.
