Back to back wins for u18s as Biggleswade Town are hit for 8.
Thursday 30th September 2021
NORTHANTS SENIOR YOUTH LEAGUE-SOUTH
COGENHOE UNITED U18 (3) 8 BIGGLESWADE TOWN U18 (0) 0
Cooks;
Masih (OG) 9
Reza 13
Asante 33
Iaciofano 56, 58, 70
McAuley 67 (pen)
Wootton 83
Att; 40
Gary Fletcher took sole charge of the U18s for the first time and got off to an absolute flyer as the lads ran out big winners over a third placed Biggleswade Town.
A nice move saw the Cooks have the first shot on target in the second minute as Shad Reza played the ball wide Luca Iaciofano and he played it low into the centre where Charlie McAuley touched it to Freddie Shaw, but his shot from 8-yards out was straight at the keeper. The Waders were kicking towards the village with a fairly strong wind at their backs and Senando Miles tried to use this to his advantage with a shot from well outside the area, but it flew over the top in an end-to-end start to the game. A dangerous cross from the right by Ollie Sljivic bounced off centre-back Ramzan Hussein’s knee just in front of McAuley, then Manny Asante did well in the centre to win the ball back, Sljivic played it in to Iaciofano and he got the better of his man just inside the box and forced Ben Aylott to make a good save with McAuley sliding in on the rebound, but his angle was tight and the ball hit the side netting.
The Cooks took the lead on 9 minutes when Iaciofano sent in a cross from the right that bounced up and caught Akshay Masih out and the unfortunate defender stretched to get his head to the ball, only to send it looping over his keeper and into the net for an own goal as Shaw put him under pressure. The lead was doubled 4 minutes later as a lovely ball out to Shaw inside the box on the right saw him beat his man and pull it back across to Shad Reza and he placed a powerful effort past the keeper and into the back of the net.
Aylott did well to catch a swirling cross from Sljivic, then Reza dinked the ball up for Shaw in the box on the left and he found McAuley inside, but the striker’s shot took a deflection and went narrowly wide of the keeper’s right-hand post. Good play from the visitors saw Connor Sharp get through the centre and he took the ball past Will Sapwell, but great covering by skipper Bradley Burbidge saw him block his path and win the ball back before he could put in in the net. The Waders briefly believed they had pulled one back with a great volley from Miles, but the flag had gone up for offside when the free-kick had been played in from the right so it didn’t count.
Just to rub it in the Cooks scored again in the 33rd minute with a beauty from Manny Asante. Reza started things off with a ball into the box that wouldn’t fall right for McAuley, but Iaciofano picked up play and beat Masih to cut in from the left and play it across to McAuley who’s first time shot was blocked by the keeper. The ball rebounded out and Asante just outside the box and he hit a sweetly struck first-time shot that flew past the dive of Aylott and into the keeper’s left hand corner. Biggleswade were looking dangerous when they got forward and a dangerous free-kick from Tom Garrett earned them a corner from which Hussein just failed to get a connection to in front of Sapwell. The last few minutes with the wind for the Waders saw them have a good spell, but we defended resolutely and kept the clean-sheet into the break.
Half-time; Cooks 3 Waders 0
The first chance of the second half fell to Biggleswade, but Miles just failed to get his head to a deep cross at the far post, although Cogenhoe were soon back on top and extended their lead on 56 minutes. Iaciofano took a corner from the left and with Gary Fletcher saying ‘I bet he goes for goal’, he did indeed do just that with his in-swinging corner evading everyone and curling inside the far post. Iaciofano then made it two goals in three minutes as Shaw whipped in a great ball from the right and as it bounced up the Cooks number seven headed it past Aylott and into the back of the net.
Iaciofano was on fire at this point and he was just beaten to the ball by Aylott as he chased it into the box, but the loose ball fell to Shaw 20 yards out and he threaded a shot through the defenders, but it curled just the wrong side of the post. The Cooks continued to dominate and Shaw had a shot blocked just before Sljivic fired wide from a free-kick on the right. Fletcher’s first change saw Elijah Noel given a rest and Caleb Jones take his place in a straight swap on the left.
Asante played the ball through to Reza who took it past Aylott with the keeper grabbing his leg to bring him down for a penalty. I was expecting Reza to take it himself as he has the job for the reserves, but this task belongs to McAuley and he calmly slotted it low to the keeper’ right to bring up the half-dozen on 67 minutes.
Ben Hassan-Hussein replaced Reza on 69 minutes and sixty seconds later the Cooks made it seven. Bit lucky this one as a back-pass put a lot of pressure onto keeper Aylott and he prodded the ball away only to find Iaciofano who stabbed the ball home for his hat-trick from close range. Aiden Hawes came on for Asante before the re-start and the last two subs followed shortly afterwards as Archie Shaw and Kieran Ashman replaced three-goal hero Iaciofano and Sljivic for the final 16 minutes. Darius Fletcher fired in a low shot from inside the box on the right and the ball went just wide after a deflection, whilst down the other end Wootton had a shot from the edge of the box blocked.
A corner by Jones on the left was played into the near post to try and pick out Wootton’s run, but the defender matched him and played the ball off the Cooks player for a goal-kick. An 83rd minute corner was cleared to just outside the box and Wootton controlled it before hitting it on the volley with the ball flying high into the net for the goal of the game. Reza returned for the hard-working McAuley for the last six minutes as both sides saw things out with little else worthy of a mention.
Great 8-0 win for the Cooks against the team who had occupied 3rd place before kick-off and a very good performance all round for 90 minutes as we made it two on the spin in the league.
Cooks;
1 = Will Sapwell
2 = Ollie Sljivic
3 = Elijah Noel
4 = Bradley Burbidge ©
5 = James McGrath
6 = Josh Wootton
7 = Luca Iaciofano
8 = Manny Asante
9 = Charlie McAuley
10 = Shad Reza
11 = Freddie Shaw
Subs;
12 = Caleb Jones *(62-3)
14 = Aiden Hawes *(70-8)
15 = Kieran Ashman *(74-2)
16 = Ben Hassan-Hussein *(69-10)
17 = Archie Shaw *(74-7)
Biggleswade Town; 1. Ben Aylott 2. Alkshay Masih 3. Joe Defries 4. Hayden Baker © 5. Ramzan Hussein 6. Tom Garrett 7. Connor Sharp 8. Harry Fuller 9. Senando Miles 10. Matthew Thomas 11. Jack Weaver. Subs 12. Jonathan Olaniyan * 14. Darius Fletcher * 15. Joe Moore*
Referee; Jamie Stevenson
Assts; Ryan Eldred & Jack Walton.
