Tuesday 20th December 2016
CHROMASPORT & TROPHIES UNITED COUNTIES LEAGUE-PREMIER DIVISION
DESBOROUGH TOWN (4) 5 v. COGENHOE UNITED (1) 2
Desborough; Turner 2 Arnold 19, 21 Styles 25 White 50
Cogenhoe; Dove 3 Muzvimbiri 89

The Cooks travelled to high-flying Desborough Town’s bitterly cold Waterworks Field for the last floodlit game of the year without leading scorer Matt Long, whose place up front was taken by new signing Will Muzvimbiri, with the other changes to the starting line-up being Munya Matiyenga and Jacob Gartland’s recalls, meaning Josh Melling and Joe Shanley dropping to the bench. The other subs being Rhys Taylor, who is on the way back from injury and keeper Stuart Lutter.
When you are away to one the teams in the top four, the last thing you want to do is concede an early goal, but that is just what they did last night as Ar Tarn grabbed a second minute lead with their first attack. Ollie Jones picked out right-back Aiden Bradshaw’s run with a lovely pass and he played a low ball into the box for leading scorer Jason Turner to steer the ball past Carl Knox from close range. Cogenhoe needed to recover quickly and they did just that with an equaliser within sixty seconds of going behind. Great turn of pace and vision from Muzvimbiri saw the striker not only close down keeper Chris Jones, but nip the ball off his feet. He turned the ball back into the box and although Ryan Dove had defenders all around him, he managed to shield the ball superbly just inside the box before turning and firing a low shot into the far corner. The keeper managed to get an outstretched hand to the ball, but not enough to keep it out. 1-1 with just three minutes played! Luke Stone delivered a good free-kick from wide on the right and Alex Lowery got up well to head goalwards, but although a defender put it out for a corner, the linesman had noticed a Cooks player in an offside position from the header. The home side almost regained the lead from a free-kick of their own played in by Will Arnold, but after the ball had been headed down into the box. Centre-back Leo Adams couldn’t keep his powerfully struck, close range first time shot from going just over the bar. A great tackle from Séan McBride sent Ryan Ansell flying down the left wing, but his cross was headed by a defender and eventually cleared from the danger area. A dangerous cross from Turner was cleared by Jacob Gartland’s head, while another good cross from Louis Martin saw Cogenhoe happy to concede a corner. More injury woes followed for the unfortunate Gartland whose season has been ruined so far this season. He went into a full bloodied challenge with Dan White and was left on the deck holding his knee meaning an early change with Josh Melling replacing him with just sixteen minutes played. Three minutes later Desborough were back in front. It has to be said the Cogenhoe should have cleared their lines, but instead Will Arnold was left with space in the box to fire past Carl Knox with a low drive. Two minutes later and we had gifted them another. McBride made a great tackle as Desborough attacked down the Cooks left, but he tried to play it across his own box and Arnold cut it out with his chest before dispatching a volley past Knox and into the roof of the net. Things got even worse for Cogenhoe on 25 mins as Desborough won a free-kick twenty-five yards out just to the right on the box. Merson Styles drilled it in low and it went through a bunch of players just in front of Knox and it squirmed past the keeper for another soft goal to concede. 4-1 down with just over a quarter of the game gone and this was looking like we might be on the end of a real thrashing. A Jake Cayton throw wasn’t cleared and Dove tried one of his overhead kicks, but he couldn’t get this one on target before Styles went into the book for a foul on Matiyenga.Dove tried his luck with the free-kick but it was a couple of feet wide with the keeper having it well covered. Arnold played Ollie Jones through on the right and he sent over a good cross that Lowery defending well at the near post. Turner held the ball up really well before laying it off to White in the box, but he couldn’t get past Stevenson who eventually won the ball and cleared his lines. A bitterly disappointing first half for Cogenhoe with some poor defending costing us dear and as they went into half-time it was a mammoth task to get anything out of this game.
Half-time; Desborough Town 4 Cogenhoe United 1.
The start to the second half didn’t bring any Christmas cheer for the Cooks with Ryan Ansell going down just two minutes in and having to be replaced. Joe Shanley came on in a straight swap and then we gifted them a fifth goal on fifty minutes. Will Arnold’s free-kick was going wide but Knox tried to keep it in with his foot, but Dan White had closed him down and was left to toe poke the ball over the line. This pretty much summed up Cogenhoe’s evening so far to be totally honest. Ollie Jones made a probing run at the Cooks defence and fired in a shot that was blocked before hitting the follow up wide of the far post. A decent cross from Cayton was well taken by Chris Jones at his near post but he game went through a really scrappy period with the points all but home and dry for Ar Tarn. Séan McBride went into the book for one foul too many as he challenged White just inside the Desborough half and Ryan Neville followed him into the book for a foul on McBride. Desborough took off Ollie Jones to give Alex Jane a run for the last seventeen minutes, while McBride must have feared a second yellow after bringing down Turner on the edge of the box. Desborough brought on Chris O’Hare for Martin and skipper Aaron Davies went into the book for a foul as we entered the last ten minutes. Stone played a free-kick into the box from the left touchline and although Dove battled really hard to get in a shot, the ball just wouldn’t fall right for him. Knox came out of his box to clear as Jason Turner sprung the offside, but neither side had really threatened their opponents goal for some time. Desborough Town swapped the yellow carded for Davies for Alan Palmer for the last few minutes before the last real action of the game saw Cogenhoe pull one back with a debut goal from Will Muzvimbiri. McBride slipped the ball through to the pacey striker and he left his man for dead before lifting his shot over Chris Jones and into the roof of the net.
So after two good performances in the last two outings, it was a disastrous first half that gifted Desborough the three points. Don’t get me wrong, Ar Tarn are a very good side this season and losing to them isn’t the bad thing, it was the way we defended during that mad ten minutes midway through the first half. Too many players had off days and at times in the first half we were bickering and looked like we’d only met just before the game, but to give them credit they did get their act together as the game progressed or we could have been looking at an even more embarrassing defeat. Jake Cayton gets my man-of-the-match tonight while Séan McBride had a real mixed game. Some great tackles and passes, but gave one away and could have found himself sent off for the sheer number of fouls he committed. Anyway it’s a few days off now before we face Wellingborough Town at home on Boxing Day morning and the perfect chance to put things right in front of the Compton Park faithful.
Desborough Town; 1. Chris Jones 2. Aiden Bradshaw 3. Merson Styles 4. Ryan Neville 5. Leo Adams 6. Aaron Davies © (sub 14, Alan Palmer 84) 7. Louis Martin (sub 12. Chris O’Hare 79) 8. Dan White 9. Jason Turner 10. Will Arnold 11. Ollie Jones (sub 15. Alex Jane 71).
Cogenhoe Utd; 1. Carl Knox 2. Jake Cayton 3. Jacob Gartland (sub 15. Josh Melling 16) 4. Alex Lowery 5. Dan Stevenson 6. Séan McBride 7. Munya Matiyenga 8. Luke Stone © 9. Will Muzvimbiri 10. Ryan Dove 11. Ryan Ansell (sub 12. Joe Shanley 57). Subs not used; 14. Rhys Taylor 16. Stuart Lutter.
Referee; Josh Crofts (St Neots).

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