Tuesday 17th January 2018
CHROMASPORT & TROPHIES UNITED COUNTIES LEAGUE-PREMIER DIVISION
EYNESBURY ROVERS (1) 4 v COGENHOE UNITED (0) 2
Rovers; Lawless 37, 56, 83
Cooks; Dove 72 Vieira 89

Jake Stone named an unchanged starting eleven from the side that was heading for victory at Holbeach on Saturday with just one change on the bench, Liam Stone coming in for Charlie Hynam.
Stuart Lutter took an early Eynesbury corner comfortably while Dan Smith and Luis Vieira were looking lively down the left flank, but were finding Matt Miles difficult to get past in the right-back berth. Harry Chipchase swept the ball wide to Vieira who won a corner off Miles. Vieira took it quickly and Matt Long laid it back towards the edge of the box where Séan McBride tried a first time shot, but the defender did enough to make sure he didn’t get a clean hit and it went wide.
Hayden Bream tried a shot from the left side of the box, but McBride blocked it and the ball looped away behind the goal and the corner was too deep for anybody to get close to. Both sides were putting some good passing moves together but they were generally breaking down before they got into the danger areas. Dan Draper tripped Vieira on the half-way line and Bream overdid his protests and became the first player to go into the book with 21 minutes on the clock.
George Barnell had looked composed in dealing with a majority of the Rovers balls forward into the Cooks half and he was across quickly to slide in and take the ball off Jordan Brown as the wide player broke down the right at pace. Ryan Dove steered the ball wide for Ansell to have his first real run of the game, but excellent defensive work from Draper saw the ball go out for a goal-kick. The first shot on target came from Dom Lawless who made himself a yard to the left of the box, but his low effort was easily dealt with by Lutter. Rob Ducket then caused some problems with his strength in a similar position, but his cross was cut-out, then Brown whipped in a cross-shot that fizzed over the bar with Lutter having it covered.
A combination of Cogenhoe giving the ball away and a defender slipping gave Draper room to run through the centre and play it through to Lawless, but the prolific marksman had drifted into an offside position. Vieira and Dove combined to find Ansell running down the right, but his low cross was well cut out by an Eynesbury defender. Chipchase had a couple of nibbles at Brown who got up and shoved hm. The referee opted to leave his cards in his pocket, but Cogenhoe where made to pay as the free-kick caught them napping at the back as it was played short to Brown. He held off his man and played a great ball into Dom Lawless who hit an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net at the near post. From a Cooks point of view it was a disappointing goal to concede, but I have to say it was very well made and executed by Eynesbury. 1-0 after 37 minutes.
Ansell registered our first shot on target shortly after the goal, but he didn’t get the power or accuracy he had hoped for and Liam Gooch got his body behind it comfortably. Eynesbury put pressure on the Cooks from a corner and Lutter could only push it upwards before palming it out to the edge of the area, but he recovered well and saved Jack Uttridge’s shot. The ball bounced out of the area where Matt Clifford tried a thirty-five yarder, but it curled the wrong side of the far post.
Battling from Brown saw him get the better of his man to cut inside the box, but the ball rolled away from him at the vital moment. Ansell cut in from the by-line to deliver a low cross that was cut out at the near post and when Ansell played in the corner towards the edge of the box, Josh Melling met it with his head, but he couldn’t keep it below bar height. That proved to be the last action of the half and Eynesbury had a slim advantage in a tight first forty-five minutes.

Halt-time; Eynesbury Rovers 1 Cogenhoe United 0.

Dove played the ball out wide to Vieira who checked back and laid it back to his skipper thirty yards from goal, but his ensuing effort was well over the top. Eynesbury made an early sub with Nathan Westley replacing Rob Ducket on 48 minutes with the new man looking very lively from the onset.
Lutter sent a big clearance down the middle and the keeper came racing out of his area, but he didn’t manage to clear the ball as Matt Long gave chase. Long managed to turn the ball back towards Dove, but with the keeper still trying to get back, Dove poked his shot from the edge of area wide of the target. Great chance for Cogenhoe at an important time.
A good cross from Ansell arrived with Long at an awkward height and he couldn’t steer the ball on target, but on 56 minutes we were hit with a second for Eynesbury and indeed Lawless. The Rovers number ten got the better of the defender and played it right to Brown who returned the ball into Lawless who turned and fired another powerful strike past Lutter.
Barnell was the saviour with a very timely tackle on Draper as he bore down on goal and Jack Warwick headed over from the resulting corner. Viera played a ball inside to Long who fed it to Dove and he played in Ansell on the right. He fired in a low cross-shot that deflected off a defender and over the bar, then Ansell put over a cross that Long got his head to at a stretch, but he couldn’t get any power on it.
On 65 minutes the game took another turning point as Eynesbury went three-up when Curtis Hartley headed home a corner at the far post. Nothing controversial about the goal itself, but the question was about the awarding of a corner by referee Christian Leonte. Dan Stevenson was between the ball and it certainly appeared from where I stood that Lawless simply charged into the back of him, but no free-kick was given and the rest is history.
A good run from Ansell saw him thread the ball through to Long who duly fired the ball home from close range, but the striker had ran offside. Long was fouled on the left side of the box earning the Cooks a free-kick in a dangerous place. Ansell’s delivery was good and that man Ryan Dove rode to head home from eight yards out, although the keeper did get a hand to it, he could only push it into the inside of his net. Before play restarted, Hartley became the second player to be cautioned after continuing his complaints about the giving of the free-kick. Cogenhoe made their first swap as Joe Shanley replaced Matt Long and went wide left with Vieira going up front to partner Dove.
Dove held up play well and turned to get in a cross, but it bounced up on Vieira and he controlled it with his hand. Two more subs followed with Liam Stone coming on for Chipchase and Owen Dunnett replacing Bream for Rovers.
Melling delivered a deep cross that Gooch came for and missed, but Dove couldn’t punish him this time, but back down the other end and Eynesbury added a fourth goal and it was that man Lawless again with the finish, although his strike from the edge of the area did take a heavy deflection off a Cooks player to wrong foot Lutter. Another hat-trick for for the much-travelled Dom Lawless, taking his goal tally to 36 for the season.
Ansell fired a free-kick towards the far post and Dove got his head on it, but Gooch dived to his right to get a hand to it and push it around the post. Shanley pulled the ball back to fellow sub Stone just outside the box and his first-time shot wasn’t too far over. Great work on the right from Dove saw him get the ball into the middle, but Vieira couldn’t get enough behind his attempted hook shot and the ball bounced away.
As we approached the final whistle, Ansell made a run down the left and delivered another good ball into the box and this time Vieira got in front of the keeper to turn the ball home from inside the six-yard box and reduce the deficit to two goals. It was too late for the Cooks though as the referee called time on a cold, windy night in St Neots.
Dove’s miss and the unpunished foul on Stevenson for Eynesbury’s third goal may well be talking points, but in truth we weren’t at our best tonight and Eynesbury deserved their win on the day. Having said that, we didn’t play badly and there was plenty of effort from the lads, so we just need to move on and concentrate on getting a result at in form Yaxley on Saturday. Man-of-the-match today goes to Ryan Ansell who created both the goals and put a shift in down the right side.

Eynesbury Rovers; 1. Liam Gooch 2. Matt Miles 3. Matt Clifford 4. Jack Warwick 5. Curtis Hartley 6. Jack Uttridge 7. Jordan Brown 8. Dan Draper 9. Hayden Bream (sub 16. Owen Dunnett 79) 10. Dom Lawless 11. Rob Duckett (sub 15. Nathan Westley 48). Subs not used; 12. Craig Smith 14. James Ducket.

Cogenhoe United; 1. Stuart Lutter 2. Josh Melling 3. Dan Smith 4. Séan McBride 5. George Barnell 6. Dan Stevenson 7. Ryan Ansell 8. Harry Chipchase (sub 14. Liam Stone 78) 9. Matt Long (sub 15. Joe Shanley 73) 10. Ryan Dove © 11. Ryan Ansell. Subs not used; 12. Jacob Gartland 16. Luke Stone.

Referee; Christian Leonte.

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