Tuesday 15th November 2016
CHROMASPORT & TROPHIES UNITED COUNTIES LEAGUE KO CUP-THIRD ROUND
COGENHOE UNITED (3) v YAXLEY (2) 5
Cooks; Ansell 14 Stevenson 20 Crawley 39
Yaxley; Cotton 8, 47 Sparrow 14 Watson 57 Morris 61

Cooks made just one change to their starting line-up while Yaxley made two from the game between the sides three days earlier. Matt Long will be side-lined for a few weeks after taking a heavy knock on the ankle that has troubled him all season, but Josh Crawley was fit enough to take over up front. Lewis Galpin, Liam Tuck, Josh Melling and Munya Matiyenga returned to the bench to join the only constant in Rhys Taylor. The Cuckoos were forced to bring the experienced Shaun Allen in for the injured Aaron Butcher between the sticks, while their only other change was Matt Sparrow for Joe Butterworth wide right.
Both sides showed their attacking intent right from the off, but it was Yaxley who drew first blood after seven minutes. Referee Wyndham Trusler awarded them a very controversial free kick just outside the box after it appeared that it was a visiting player who had handled the ball, but all the history books will tell us is that Dan Cotton struck a low free kick around the wall and inside Ant O’Connor’s right hand post. There was no sign of Cogenhoe licking their wounds and they were soon up the right end of the field looking to get back into it straight away, although Dan Stevenson had to thank his central-defensive partner for saving him after being robbed by Cotton inside his own box. On 14 minutes the tie was level again as Ryan Ansell cut inside and placed a superb low strike into the far corner for a very well taken goal. The parity lasted a little over a minute though as Matt Sparrow found space inside the right of Cogenhoe’s penalty area and smashed an unstoppable drive across O’Connor and into the far corner. Again Cogenhoe pressed and again they levelled things up fairly quickly. Harmon’s corner was headed by Lowery, Ansell dinked it back in and Dan Stevenson got up well to send a header beyond Allen and it was 2-2 after just twenty minutes. Sparrow sent a low ball into the box that Luke Stone sliced towards his own goal, but thankfully O’Connor was able to take it comfortably. Harmon picked out Ansell on the right with a good ball and he whipped over a cross, but it was too high for Ryan Dove to get his head too before Yaxley saw shots from JP Duncliffe and Sparrow both blocked in the same move. Yaxley’s Kyle Nolan became the first player to be booked for a foul but he was soon joined by teammate Rob Hughes, who was cautioned for dissent, not for the first time in his career! Jake Cayton had a pop from twenty-five yards that wasn’t too far over the top and Stone found Ansell on the left, but this time his cross took a deflection that took it just over Dove at the far post, then Stone went for goal himself with a volley from distance, but it was well over the bar. A great interception by Stuart Wall denied Crawley getting clear from Stone’s pass, then Sparrow struck a shot well, but a heavy deflection took the pace off it and it ended up safely in O’Connor’s arms. A couple of good bits of play worth a mentioned followed at opposites end with Harmon doing well to win a corner off Ross Watson, then Lowery making a great tackle to stop Stebbing on the right wing. On 39 mins, Cogenhoe took the lead for the first time with a great move that totally opened up the visiting defence. Danny Harmon split the defence as he picked out Ansell’s run to perfection. The Cooks man could easily have gone for goal himself, but instead he drew the keeper out and slipped it across for Josh Crawley to steer the ball into an empty net for his first senior goal for The Cooks. Harmon blotted his copybook slightly just before the break when he disputed a decision too much and became the first home player to go into the book, but it was Cogenhoe who went into the interval ahead after scoring three times in a game for the first time since pre-season.
Half-time; Cogenhoe United 3 Yaxley 2.
Sadly the joy only lasted a couple of minutes into the second half as the scoring continued with Yaxley levelling things up once more. Duncliffe delivered a low ball in from the right and it found its way to the feet of leading scorer Dan Cotton at the far post and he turned the ball in from close range for his 26th goal of the season. Stevenson Made a great interception by stretching out one of the long legs to bring down an awkward through ball then O’Connor had to come out of his area to sweep up as Stebbing ran onto a Sparrow pass. Watson became the third Yaxley player to be shown the yellow card for a foul near the halfway line and McBride followed him moments later in a similar position on the park. Crawley broke clear inside the right channel and perhaps shot too early as Allen came out to the edge of his box and the keeper was able to save with his feet. Lovely control at the far post by Stebbing had the Cooks defence in trouble and they were perhaps a tad lucky that the ball ended up with O’Connor after pinging around the box as they struggled to clear. Yaxley made the night’s first change with Lewis Stone replacing Scott Bogusz at left back and within a minute the visitor’s had the lead for a third time. I think it was Stebbing who played a low ball across the box that left Ross Watson with the simplest of tasks to steer the ball over the line from point blank range when totally unmarked three minutes before the hour. It was a well worked goal, but very disappointing from a defensive point of view. It could so easily have been 4-4 moments later as Séan McBride picked out Crawley with a great ball and the striker took the ball around Allen at pace and tried to steer the ball into the net from just beyond the far post, but only found the side-netting. The truth is he had time to turn as nobody had tracked him, but he didn’t receive one call to tell him he had time to do so. Cogenhoe were made to pay for this almost straight away as Lewis Stone unleashed a thunderbolt from fully thirty yards that was heading goalwards when it struck skipper Wayne Morris and screamed past the flailing arm of O’Connor and into the roof of the centre of the net for Yaxley’s fifth. It may have been a deliberate touch from Morris, I’m sure he will tell you it was, but only he will ever know. 3-5 after 61 minutes and now very much Yaxley’s game. The game went very flat now with most of the excitement behind us. Cooks used all three subs with Rhys Taylor replacing Lowery on 65, Liam Tuck making a welcome return to action from injury for Dan Smith three minutes later and Lewis Galpin getting the last ten minutes for Crawley. Yaxley made one more change as Liam Hook came on for Sparrow. The visitor’s had a couple of long range efforts that failed to find the target then Cotton broke through and fired his shot wide as he went for his hattrick when he should have gone square to one of the two orange shirts free in the middle. Dove got his head to a late Harmon corner but couldn’t get the power needed to beat Allen, then Harmon, Taylor, Stone, Tuck with a cross that Stone flicked on with his head saw a neat Cogenhoe move that came to nothing inside the box as Morris cleared with Dove closing in.
So the final cup run of the season comes to an end in an interesting encounter, but a limp second half made for a disappointing result in the end. Man-of-the-match goes to Ryan Ansell once more although even he drifted out of the game after the break tonight.
Cogenhoe; 1 Ant O’Connor 2. Jake Cayton 3. Dan Smith (sub 15. Liam Tuck 65) 4. Alex Lowery (sub 14. Rhys Taylor 65) 5. Dan Stevenson 6. Séan McBride 7. Danny Harmon 8. Luke Stone © 9. Josh Crawley (sub 12. Lewis Galpin 80) 10. Ryan Dove 11. Ryan Ansell. Subs not used; 16. Josh Melling 17. Munya Matiyenga.
Yaxley; 1. Shaun Allen 2. John Paul Dunclife 3. Scot Bogusz (sub 12. Lewis Stone 56) 4. Ross Watson 5. Stuart Wall 6. Wayne Morris © 7. Kyle Nolan 8. Rob Hughes 9. Phil Stebbing 10. Dan Cotton 11. Matt Sparrow (sub 14. Liam Hook 76). Sub not used Elio Salerno.

Referee; Wyndham Trusler.

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