Tuesday 14th November 2017
CHROMASPORT & TROPHIES UNITED COUNTIES LEAGUE-PREMIER DIVISION
DAVENTRY TOWN (1) 1 v COGENHOE UNITED (0) 1
Daventry; Mousi 43
Cooks; Long 69
Att; 55

With Stuart Lutter unavailable, Jake Stone moved into the transfer market and brought in a keeper even taller than our regular custodian in the shape of Irchester United’s Tomasz Sawicki, with the new man making his debut as we travelled to high-flying Daventry Town. He also opted rest Matt Long and go with Montel Dore as Ryan Dove’s strike partner today, while Jacob Gartland moved to right back with Munya Matiyenga joining Long on the bench. With Michael Parkes and Liam Tuck joined in the treatment room by Josh Melling, Stone was at least able to welcome back injured pair Séan McBride and Ryan Ansell to the midfield where they were joined by Harry Chipchase, with George Barnell replacing Melling at centre-back. Daventry’s former Cogenhoe contingent isn’t as big as last season, but they did have Ant O’Connor, skipper Ross Harris and Tom McGowan in their starting eleven and Phil Cassidy on the bench.
Cogenhoe started brightly with Luis Vieira heavily involved down the left and after he had been fouled, Ansell delivered a free-kick that Dove headed back, but Dore had drifted offside. O’Conner got away with kicking his clearance straight against Dore on the edge of his box, but fortunately for the keeper the ball bounced wide of his goal. We gave away possession on the half-way line and this allowed Adam Confue to try and play Jake Bettles through, but he put slightly too much weight on his pass and it went through to Sawicki.
Adam Creaney fizzed a high ball across the box, while down the other end O’Connor gathered an awkward dropping ball with Dore putting him under pressure. Ansell won a corner which he took himself, driving it in from the right and Dove tried to steer his header towards the far corner, but he couldn’t keep it on target. Rico Alexander got above Dan Stevenson to head away an Ansell free-kick, but the Cooks centre-back was the one who stopped Daventry’s breakaway with a well-timed tackle back in his own half. Stevenson was again in the thick of it as he cut out Ben Browne’s dangerous low cross inside his own box.
A great cross from Bettles was met by a downward header from Confue close in, but Sawicki made a great save and shortly afterwards McGowan won a brave header just outside the area allowing Bettles to send a volley goalwards, but Sewicki dived to his right to push the ball away.
Gartland went on the overlap and played in a low ball, but it went just behind Dore’s run. Dore’s pace saw him get clear of his marker and he touched the ball wide of the out-coming keeper, but it went wide enough to allow Daventry to get players in the box and although his cross was headed by Dove, the ball was just behind the striker and he couldn’t get it on target.
Another good Browne run saw the right-back pick out Confue in the box, but his header was too close to Sewicki and the keeper blocked it with his legs before gathering the ball safely. Barnell defended well inside the box and from the resultant corner, Adam Mousi headed over. Barnell was back in action as he took the ball off Jordan Orosz in the box as the Daventry striker tried to make room for a shot.
Gartland used his long throw to find Dove in the box, but his header went straight to the keeper. Creaney drilled the ball into the box and it rebounded to Mousi on the edge and although he met it sweetly, it flew a couple of feet over the bar. Dove held the ball up well on the edge of the box and laid it back to Vieira to hit first time from twenty-yards, but his low shot was just the wrong side of the post.
With just two minutes left until the break, it was the home side who broke the deadlock with a superb finish from Adam Mousi. The Daventry man had been given too much time on the right side of the Cogenhoe box though and he was able to balance himself before picking out the far top corner.

Half-time; Daventry Town 1 Cogenhoe United 0.

Vieira and Dore combined on the left to win an early corner that Ansell played in low. Dove tried to hook the ball on but it bounced wide of the near post. Another Ansell corner shortly afterwards saw Dove get his head to, but he was under pressure and ball drop wide of the goal. A great knock down the line from Creaney saw Orosz break, but his cross was over everybody’s heads, while another high cross from the other side was taken well by Sawicki. Mousi tried his luck from outside the box, but he got under it and scooped it well over the top. Confue turned and forced a low save out of Sawicki, who also recovered to take the ensuing cross comfortably.
Gartland whipped a ball into the box that Dove held up nicely before touching it to McBride, but O’Connor reacted well to dive at his feet as he tried to shoot. Dore then got clear on the right, but again O’Connor was off his line quickly was able to get his body behind the shot to block.
George Barnell went into the book on the hour, not sure what this was for but may well have been something he said. On the whole we had defended really well as a team today, but we did give the ball away in a dangerous position and allowed Orosz room to shoot, but Sawicki saved his effort and Daventry could only find the side-netting from the rebound.
Dore found Vieira who cut inside his man and tried a low shot from the edge of the box, but his effort was easily blocked before Cogenhoe made what was to be the only change of the night. Matt Long replaced Ansell on 69 minutes, with Dore moving wide right and the sub going up front. Now whether this was an inspired substitution or Daventry not reacting to the change, but Long equalised within ten seconds of coming on with his first touch of the game. A ball played up from the back caught the defence napping and Long ran clear. O’Connor came out to the edge of his area, but Long was determined to get there first and he stabbed the ball past the keeper from just outside the box and Cogenhoe had a deserved equaliser. This was Long’s 10th goal of the season, which when you consider his long injury lay off, is a great achievement for the striker.
McGowan fired over from distance before Dove went into the book for a foul on Confue on the half-way line. These two are quite similar players and give 100% for their teams and had been battling all night and it was more a fact of the combination of fouls and ticking-offs, rather than this individual event that saw Abdul Kadir reach for his yellow card.
Long held the ball up nicely on the left before checking back and whipping in a great cross, but it was just ahead of Dove and went through to O’Connor. Cogenhoe came within a whisker of taking the lead as Vieira worked inside and hit a cracking low shot that beat O’Connor but smacked against the inside of the post and went back into play across the six-yard box. A turn and shot from Mousi saw the ball fly wide before Daventry picked up a couple of quick bookings. McGowan was first up for a foul, then Confue followed for the same on Dove, perhaps inevitable after the Cooks skipper’s yellow a few minutes earlier.
Long and O’Connor went in for a full-bloodied challenge on the right side of the box, but the ball fell kindly for Daventry, while down the other end Stevenson made a great challenge with McGowan leaving his foot in and catching the centre-back late. Having been booked eleven minutes earlier, the former Cooks midfielder was shown his second yellow card and headed back to the dressing rooms, leaving his mates to battle on with ten men for the final four minutes of normal time.
Barnell made a good challenge to stop Orosz in his tracks and as we went into stoppage time Harris met a corner well with his head, but Cogenhoe were able to head the ball away. Long was fouled right on the edge of the box as he broke through in what could have been deemed a last man situation. Dove beat the wall with his effort, but O’Connor got his body behind it and pushed it away to safety.
So that was that and both sides have to settle for a point. This was a very good performance from Cogenhoe and they definitely deserved a point at least from the game against difficult opponents. We can look back at moments like Vieira’s shot that hit the inside of the post and feel we might have won this, but Tomasz Sewicki made some vital saves to so a draw is perhaps the fairest all-round on the night. A great team performance from the boys in orange with everybody playing well, but my man-of-the-match tonight goes to George Barnell. Called into the starting line-up to replace the inform but injured Josh Melling, he never once looked out of place, made some great tackles and will have made himself very much a part of Jake’s squad, even though the youngster will almost certainly have to be patient with some quality defenders at the club. A settled back four is vital to any successful team and we do seem to struggle with injuries a lot which makes this difficult.
Onwards and upwards for Cogenhoe with so many positives tonight and we will be targeting another three points on Saturday when we entertain Peterborough Northern Star.

Daventry Town; 1. Ant O’Connor 2. Ben Browne 3. Dan Childs 4. Ross Harris © 5. Rico Alexander 6. Adam Confue 7. Adam Mousi 8. Tom McGowan (Sent-off 86) 9. Jake Bettles 10. Jordan Orosz 11. Adam Creaney. Subs not used; 12. Phil Cassidy 14. Jack Beeney 15. Ollie Esuruoso.

Cogenhoe United; 1. Tomasz Sawicki 2. Jacob Gartland 3. Dan Smith 4. Séan McBride 5. George Barnell 6. Dan Stevenson 7. Ryan Ansell (sub 16. Matt Long 69) 8. Harry Chipchase 9. Montel Dore 10. Ryan Dove © 11. Luis Vieira. Subs not used; 12. Munya Matiyenga 14. Jacob Cox 15. Joe Shanley.

Referee; Abdul Kadir.

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