Saturday 5th August 2017
EMIRATES F.A CUP-EXTRA PRELIMINARY ROUND
COGENHOE UNITED (2) 3 v GODMANCHESTER ROVERS (0) 0
Vieira 44 secs,
Dove 11
Long 90

Tom Chapman gave two new signings their debuts, albeit second time around for Jamie Gould who was given a central midfield role beside Séan McBride, while Luis Vieira partnered new skipper Ryan Dove up front. Stuart Lutter was unsurprisingly between the sticks and went with Jacob Gartland at right back, Dan Smith on the left, with Jake Cayton and Josh Melling continuing the central defensive partnership that worked so well in pre-season. Ryan Ansell and Liam Tuck played down the flanks to complete the starting eleven. The five that had to settle for the bench today were defenders Dan Stevenson and Dominic Okanu along with the attacking options offered by Matt Long, Ryan Cooke and Ashley Clamp.
It’s always important to get the season off to a good start and that’s exactly what Cogenhoe did today. It took just 44 seconds for Luis Vieira to find the net on his debut, much to the delight of the home fans. Jamie Gould launched a long throw into the box, Vieira, despite the height advantage, got his head to it under pressure from two defenders. Tuck touched it back to the new striker and he steered the ball home from close range. A long throw down the other end from Chris Hyem was headed on twice by red shirts before Ben Yeomans steered a header goalwards, but Lutter took it well. Vieira’s pace took him past his man out wide and he was sent sprawling by an at best mistimed challenge, but no booking for the defender. Tuck swung the free-kick into the box and keeper Phil Peachey got up above Cayton to punch clear. Lutter launched an attack after dribbling the ball out of his area. Dove got up well to head on and Vieira gave chase, but Peachey came out quickly to dive on the ball first. On eleven minutes, a great move saw the home side double their lead. Superb play from Vieira just outside the box saw him beat his man and slip through a excellent ball to pick out McBride’s perfectly timed run. The midfield man took the ball around the keeper but went a bit wide. He composed himself quickly and delivered the ball along the line to the far post, where Ryan Dove was arriving to pounce from a foot out and double the lead.
An Ansell corner was nodded down by Dove, but it just wouldn’t fall for Vieira to get in a shot from the edge of the six-yard box. A ball over the top sent Yeomans running wide down the right, but Lutter had read the situation well and came out to tackle the striker. A brave Melling header cleared a dangerous Knight-Percival cross, then Cayton swept up well after Hodgson had got past Smith. Lutter got his fingertips to a cross at his near post and after a bit of a scramble the ball fell to Yeomans at the far stickt, but Lutter did really well to get across and save bravely at point blank range from his shot. Smith made a good tackle to stop Knight-Percival getting into the Cooks half and soon after a decent free-kick from distance from Hodgson was taken comfortably by Lutter. Gould delivered a dangerous free-kick from halfway, but it went straight through to the keeper despite Cayton’s efforts to get a touch. The half ended with Lutter reacting well to get down and dive on a loose ball in the box and Cogenhoe took their two-goal lead into the interval.
Half-time; Cogenhoe United 2 Godmanchester Rovers 0.
The visitors started on the front foot as they tried to get back into the game. A cross from the left caught the wind and deceived all except Jack Chandler at the far post, but he could only steer the ball into the side netting from a tight angle. Sibanda broke well down the left and Gould did well to intercept his low ball into the box. Sibanda tried his luck with a twenty-five-yard free-kick, but it was a couple of yards over the top. Dove, who had been warned for stopping Rovers from taking a quick free-kick in the first half, did exactly the same thing again and this time the referee brandished the yellow card to the skipper. Lutter took a Hodgson cross at his near post as the visitor’s dominated possession, but rarely actually threatened. Dove then fouled Sibanda and received his final written warning with the Godmanchester players calling for him to be first in the showers.
As the ominous black cloud that had been looming beyond the stand for most of the afternoon finally started to rain over Compton Park, Vieira held the ball up nicely and Ansell nipped in to take over and ran at pace into the visitor’s box. He knocked it a little further than intended but recovered well with a tenacious challenge that won a corner, but left Rovers centre-back Joe Furness in need of treatment and subsequently replaced by Charlie Dolden. Ansell took the corner himself, Dove got up well and headed the ball on towards the far post and Vieira hooked it past the keeper, but unfortunately he didn’t get the connection he was looking for and it lacked the power to get past the defender positioned on the line and Rovers were able to scramble the ball away this time. Godmanchester managed a shot on target after a clever dinked free-kick into the box found Ross Munro, but his volley was straight at Lutter. Thankfully we had just caught the end of the shower and as the warm summer sunshine returned, Jack Chandler found himself in too much space down the Cogenhoe left and as Lutter came out to narrow the angle, he fired his shot wide of the keeper. Thankfully it clipped the far post and went to safety across the far side of the pitch and beyond Yeomans who had been looking for the rebound. Ansell played in a very good free-kick, but it fell kindly for the defence before Cogenhoe made their first change of the afternoon. Jamie Gould the man to give way, with last season’s leading scorer Matt Long replacing him. Long went out wide on the left and Tuck tucked inside to fill the gap vacated by the player-coach. Ansell became the second player to be shown the yellow card on 68 minutes for a late challenge on Sibanda as the left back made a strong run into the Cook’s half. Long was looking sharp out the right and he played a lovely ball over the defence for Vieira, but the striker had strayed offside.
Munro tried a shot from distance with some real power behind it that Lutter got his body behind, but couldn’t hold. As the ball ran free, the keeper recovered superbly to dive on the ball as Hodgson appeared favourite to get to it first. The Rovers player followed through on the keeper with a very late challenge and after a little bit of pushing and jostling in the box, the referee showed the visiting player the yellow card. Vieira, who to be fair hadn’t had the best service this afternoon, was given a break with thirteen minutes remaining, with Ryan Cooke coming on to make his Cooks debut on the left of midfield, giving Long the chance to move up front. An excellent run from Gartland saw him skin the right back before pulling the ball back from the line and Ansell met it with a first time shot that deflected wide for a corner. Ansell delivered another great corner that Dove headed down, but neither Long or Cooke could turn it home through the crowded six-yard box and after a scramble, the ball was finally hacked away.
Cogenhoe were now getting on top after Godmanchester had enjoyed a lion’s share of the possession without really creating too much against the resilient Cooks midfield and defence. Long couldn’t keep a shot down from the edge of the box and Dove saw an effort blocked, while down the other end, Lutter was at full stretch to get his hand to a Sibanda corner. Knight-Percival won a corner following a good run at the defence with play levelling out once more. Still holding firm with those two early goals, Chapman opted to bolster the defence for a last-ditch barrage from Godmanchester, bringing on Dan Stevenson as an extra defender, with Ansell the man making way. The action was straight back up the other end though as Cogenhoe finished the game strongly. A lovely ball from McBride released Long on the left of the box. His dangerous low ball just evaded Dove in the middle, but Cooke returned it to the far post and Matt Long netted from close range. As we had now moved into stoppage time, the third goal was the final nail in the coffin for Godmanchester’s F.A Cup dream for another year. The one blot on the afternoon followed moments later when skipper Ryan Dove made an unnecessary challenge on Hyem inside the Godamnchester half, catching the right-back on the ankle. To be fair the ref had very little choice but to show him his second yellow card after a number of warnings and Cogenhoe were down to ten men for the remainder of the game, albeit just a matter of minutes. Rovers brought on Jamie Short for the last couple of minutes of added time as he replaced Munro, but it was all academic now as referee Naji Naji from Leicester called time on the afternoon and Cogenhoe United have a trip to Soham Town Rangers to look forward to in a fortnight.
A great opening day for Tom Chapman and Cogenhoe United. Games against Eastern Counties League sides are often difficult and although the 3-0 scoreline wasn’t perhaps as convincing as it sounds, it was a solid performance and one to take into Tuesday’s opening league encounter here against Eynesbury Rovers. All three strikers got that important first goal of the season which boosts their confidence, while equally importantly, the clean sheet does the same for Stuart Lutter and the back four. Ryan Dove’s dismissal was the only blot on the afternoon and the one match man for two bookings will assumedly keep him out of the Oadby game a week today. Stuart Lutter saved us at important times today, notably with two brave saves, while the back four all put in solid performances in front of him. The protection also came from the midfield with battling performances denying the visitor’s too many options that their possession would have created on another day. The front two worked extremely hard, even though the service wasn’t at its best today and both deserved their goal, as did Matt Long for his second half appearance from the bench. Ryan Cooke also showed the Cogenhoe faithful that he is going to be pushing for a start, although not on the pitch for too long. Man-of-the-match today isn’t an easy one with the team all doing their jobs well, but I’m giving the nod to Jacob Gartland, who had found himself up against the pace of both Chandler and Knight-Percival, but had stopped both from creating any real chances from their runs down the left. To be honest I had expected Dominic Okanu to have started at right-back, but Jacob repaid Tom Chapman’s faith in him today and proved the gaffer right.
Cogenhoe United; 1. Stuart Lutter 2. Jacob Gartland 3. Dan Smith 4. Josh Melling 5. Jake Cayton 6. Séan McBride 7. Ryan Ansell (sub 12. Dan Stevenson 88) 8. Jamie Gould (sub 16. Matt Long 66) 9. Luis Vieira (sub 15. Ryan Cooke 77) 10. Ryan Dove © (Sent-Off 90) 11. Liam Tuck. Subs not used; 14. Dominic Okanu 17. Ashley Clamp.
Godmanchester Rovers; 1. Phil Peachey 2. Chris Hyem 3. Elkanah Sibanda 4. Simon Unwin 5. Joe Furness (sub 15. Charlie Dolden 60) 6. Ardan Mackay 17. Zac Knight-Percival 8. Glenn Hodgson 9. Ben Yeomans © 10. Ross Munro 11. Jack Chandler. Subs not used; 12. Sam Coe.
Referee; Naji Naji (Leicester)

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