Saturday 6th October 2018

FUTURE LIONS UNITED COUNTIES LEAGUE-PREMIER DIVISION
LEICESTER NIRVANA (1) 2 v COGENHOE UNITED (0) 1
Nirvana; Smith 29 (pen) Burton 54
Cooks; Dove 61

Montel Dore returned to the starting line-up in place of the ill Alex Lowery, meaning Liam Tuck moved inside but everything else remained the same in the starting eleven as last Saturday, while Tom Iaciofano, Luke Stone and Curtis Avery came in on the bench.

Today had a wintry feel about it, but at least the heavy rain of the morning had subsided by the time the game got underway just after 3pm. Nirvana were quickest out of the blocks with an early corner and a decent cross coming to nothing, then Ryan Calver sent a fierce drive from a few yards outside the box a yard over the top. Ryan Ansell sent a nice ball down the right flank for Matt Long who tried to get into the box but Joel Wolfe managed to get his foot in at the expense of a corner. Tuck played it short and got the ball back from Melling before dinking in a cross that Stevenson headed on to find Dore in a great position on the centre of the box, but he couldn’t steer his shot wide of Davis Glover in the Nirvana goal. Séan McBride tried his luck from just outside the box but it was off target while we had a chance down the other end when Sam Burton’s cross was heading for Jordan Smith, but his teammate Chris Anastasi jumped in front of him and got his header all wrong.
Patryk Cichosz won the ball and Dore touched it inside before running onto Ansell’s lovely ball down the left before crossing towards Ryan Dove, but Alvin Jarvis just got there first to concede another corner. Dove sprayed a great ball wide to Dore who cut inside two defenders and curled the ball in towards the far post from the corner of the box and it was only just ahead of Ansell’s run. Good defending from Josh Melling held up Burton’s pacey run and Callum Patching was quick off his line to dive at his feet and claim the ball, then Patching was first to the ball as Anastasi tried to find Burton in the box.
Dove held up play the way he does so well and turned it wide for Ansell to play it across to McBride just outside the box and he tried to curl one in towards the far post, but his shot was a foot the wrong side of the post. Calver played a great forty-yard Crossfield ball to pick out Burton and he brought it down well before whipping in a low cross that Melling did well to cut out. The corner was cleared as far as Will Gonga twenty-five yards out, but his volley flew well wide of the target.
The Cooks were undone by a slick ball that split us open though the middle of the box and left Burton through. Patching had to come off his line and he slid out on the wet surface and caught the Nirvana man as he tried to go past him and brought him down. No arguments about the penalty and no blame on the young keeper either after being left totally exposed. Jordan Smith struck his penalty really well and although Patching went the right way, he couldn’t reach the ball and Nirvana had the lead after 29 minutes.
Cogenhoe reaction to going behind was a positive one and Dore got by his man to get to the by-line and send over a dangerous cross towards Dove at the far post, but the keeper stretched out his arm to just get his fingertips to the ball and divert it away from the Cooks skipper in the six-yard box.
Nirvana won a free-kick just outside the box on the right and it looked the perfect opportunity for a left footer, but Anastasi went to the outside of the wall with his right and was very unlucky to see his effort hit the face of the bar. Burton got the better of Stevenson and fired the ball across the face of the goal, then Calver won the ball to give Shaquille Master the chance to find Burton inside the box on the left and fired in a powerful shot that forced Patching to dive to his right to make a fine save.
Back down the other end and Ansell sent over a corner that squirmed through the keeper’s gloves and McBride pounced to head for goal, but the keeper taking the pace off the ball the midfielder couldn’t get enough power behind it to beat the defender on the line. Nirvana got the ball out of the box but Tuck drilled it back on target with Glover getting his body behind his low effort and holding firm this time. Barnell played a free-kick up into the Nirvana box with Dove running on to try and get his head on it as the ball came in. Glover came the other way to punch clear and the two of them collided with a thump leaving the Nirvana keeper on the deck. A few of the home defenders surrounded the ref, but in truth it was two players intent on winning the ball in the air and nothing else and thankfully after a spot of treatment the keeper showed no effects of running into powerful Cooks skipper. Cogenhoe had a big penalty shout as Long was certainly caught by the defender as he stretched to get to bouncing ball in the box, but nothing doing from either official. Probably a bit of frustration from Long as he caught Wolfe after the defender had cleared the ball seconds later and he became the first player to be shown the yellow card as we reached 45 minutes, but there was still time for Yaegan Gore to join him for a foul on Cichosz before the half-time whistle blew.

Half-time; Leicester Nirvana 2 Cogenhoe United 1.

McBride intercepted a loose pass and played it wide for Ansell who sent over a cross that Glover claimed, them Melling won a fifty-fifty on the half-way line to find Long on the right and he got past his man to send over a cross that bounced awkwardly and Dove couldn’t get the vital touch on the edge of the six-yard box. Ansell played it back into the box from the opposite side, but again we couldn’t take advantage and Nirvana got the ball away with their goal unscathed once more.
A good interchange from Nirvana saw Smith play a low ball into the box but Patching read it well and came off his line to dive on it, but on 54 minutes the home side doubled the lead. A simple ball from the centre to the left side of our box saw Sam Burton in acres of space with and he crashed an unstoppable shot past Patching and into the back of the net to double the home sides lead. Burton was certainly deserving of his goal for a superb display this afternoon, but Melling was in no-mans land when he should have been covering the Nirvana man’s run.
Cogenhoe so nearly pulled one straight back when Dove got in a powerful header from a superb Tuck corner, but the ball hit the keeper and somehow it went over the bar, then Ansell’s corner from the other side saw Dove win the header again, but this time it went just over without any help. The first changes followed with Luke Stone making a very welcome return from injury and our most promising youngster Tom Iaciofano coming on in place of Ryan Ansell and Liam Tuck, both of whom are not 100% themselves after injuries.
A wild swing from Anastasi saw him put the ball beyond the car park from the edge of the box and then it was down the bottom end where Cogenhoe pulled one back on 61 minutes. Cichosz played in a deep free-kick that for some reason Jarvis headed back across his own goal and Ryan Dove, despite being under pressure eight yards-out, somehow made the time and space to get the ball down and fire a powerful shot that went through the keeper’s legs and into the net. Not the cleanest goal he will score, but great striker’s play yet again from the skipper who can’t stop scoring.
Game on again now, but it was Nirvana who had the next shot at goal, but Gonga was well off target with his effort from outside the box after more good work from the impressive Burton. Anastasi made way for one-time Cobblers player Ryan Amoo before the play restarted.
A deep Cichosz free-kick seemed to be heading out for a goal-kick, but Melling did really well to get there and head it back towards the near post where the slippery ball got away from Glover’s grasp, but the young keeper recovered well to gather it before Long could pounce. Long was tripped just
outside the right angle of the box and Jarvis went into the book. Stone played the free-kick to just beyond the far post where Melling met it well with his head, but the ball smacked against the bar. The ball was played back in by Stone and this time Melling headed back across the box, but Jarvis got above Long to head the ball away this time.
Jake Stone made his final change with Dore coming off to be replaced by Ben Drinkwater with just over fifteen minutes remaining with the sub going central alongside Dove and Long moving to his right. Iaciofano tried to pick out Stone’s run into the box, but it was just too strong and ran through for Glover, before Nirvana brought on Suleiman Nassor in place of Master for the final ten minutes. The ball broke for Dove on the edge of the box, but unusually he seemed to hesitate and this allowed Gore to get a touch and take it away from the prolific scorer at the vital time, then a rare shot from Barnell, a good thirty-yards from goal, went a few yards wide.
Long won a corner off Gore that he took himself, but Drinkwater lifted his first time shot well over the bar from eight yards out with what turned out to be our last chance of the game while down the other end Patching dealt coolly with a Barnell back-pass despite Burton racing after it, then the young keeper had to save a fierce strike from Amoo hit from the right angle of the box.

This was a definitely a game where Cogenhoe should have been earmarking the three points against a team with just one league win all season so far, but again we just came up short. Credit to Nirvana for their win and Sam Burton and Ryan Calver put in displays as good as any I have seen this season, but we really shouldn’t be conceding goals as we did today. Both of them were one simple pass that split us open inside our own box, the first for the penalty straight through the centre and the second we left their most dangerous player completly unmarked inside the right of our box. These are basic defensive flaws that we know we can cut out of our game if we concentrate and they were soft goals to concede. We still had enough chances to win this game though and as long as you are creating them they will come. Montel Dore would usually have put his early chance away and Séan McBride will have been disappointed not to have buried his header from inside the six-yard box. Ryan Dove was extremely unlucky with a header that that hit a Nirvana player and went over, then he almost scored with another header seconds later. On another day these might all have gone in and we would be celebrating a big away win, but the reality is we are feeling the effects of our second successive defeat tonight.
Man-of-the-match today isn’t an obvious one to call. Callum Patching did well again and is growing in confidence as he proves to be a very good shot-stopper, George Barnell made some good interceptions and continues to work as hard as anyone and Patryk Cichosz certainly doesn’t look out of place and is another very confident young lad. The award today though goes to Ryan Dove who might actually have been celebrating a hat-trick today with a bit more luck and his hold up play and effort don’t go unnoticed from the side-lines.
It’s a week off again now before we face Desborough Town at home next Saturday.

Leicester Nirvana; 1.Davis Glover 2. Yaegan Gore 3. Mandeep Bains 4. Ryan Calver 5. Alvin Jarvis © 6. Joel Wolfe 7. Shaquille Master (sub 15. Suleiman Nassor 80) 8. Will Gonga 9. Jordan Smith 10. Chris Anastasi (sub 17. Ryan Amoo 69) 11. Sam Burton. Subs not used; 12. Conor Wingfield-Brown 14. Abu Cisse 16.Nyle Patel.

Cogenhoe United; 1. Callum Patching 2. Josh Melling 3. Patryk Cichosz 4. Séan McBride 5. George Barnell 6. Dan Stevenson 7. Ryan Ansell (sub. 15. Tom Iaciofano 58) 8. Liam Tuck (sub 14. Luke Stone 58) 9. Matt Long 10. Ryan Dove © 11. Montel Dore (sub 16. Ben Drinkwater 74). Subs not used; 12. Munya Matiyenga 17. Curtis Avery.

Referee; Shaun Gregory. (Not sure I have seen him before, but I would like to say I thought he was very good).

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