De ja vu as Bees win 3-1.

A number of positives but it's four defeats in a row for Cogenhoe.

Saturday 7th October 2017
CHROMASPORT & TROPHIES UNITED COUNTIES LEAGUE-PREMIER DIVISION
COGENHOE UNITED (1) 1 v HARBOROUGH TOWN (2) 3
Cooks; Dore 4
Bees; Preston 1 Usher 42 Bartlett 66

Tom Chapman’s selection headache continues with so many players out seriously limiting his options. Matt Long, Liam Tuck, Luis Vieira, Chris Wreh, Rhys Taylor, Jacob Gartland, Kiel Mullen, Ali Duncan and Ashley Clamp amongst those names unavailable to him, while Ryan Dove and Jake Cayton were on the bench today, neither of them are fit enough to start yet.
He went with Nathan Burrows up front on his own with a five-man midfield. Skipper Séan McBride, Michael Parkes and Jacob Cox in the central area, with Ryan Ansell left and Montel Dore getting his first start on the right. Stuart Lutter remained between the sticks with Munya Matiyenga, Dan Smith, Josh Melling and Dan Stevenson in front of the man in pink.
When you are on a losing streak, the last thing you want to do is concede an early goal, but that is exactly what Cogenhoe did today. There were only a few seconds gone past the minute mark when The Bees snatched the lead with what has to go down as a very sloppy goal to concede. It was a good break down our left though, with Tony Bartlett playing the ball up to Barnes Gladman in space. He slipped the ball into the feet of Aaron Preston on the edge of the six-yard box and he back-heeled it with Stevenson tight on him, with the ball somehow creeping inside Lutter’s near post.
The reaction was good from the Cooks though and they were back level after just four minutes, again though the goal being a rather soft one. Ansell played in a good free-kick that Stevenson got up to head back into the centre. The ball should really have been the Ben Dearsley’s, but the keeper wasn’t positive enough and Montel Dore jumped in front of him to head the ball home and get a smack round the head from the keeper in the process. Brave header and great determination from the Cooks player all the same.
Time for both sides to catch their breath with scores level again and Lutter got up above Claudio Aca to take a high free-kick delivered into the box by Bartlett, while at the other end Ansell played in a good free-kick that Melling almost got his head too, but Callum Milne touched out for a corner. The end-to-end theme continued as Aca saw his shot blocked and Gladman pull the rebound wide from the edge of the box. Gladman then found himself in a good shooting position in the box, but his left-foot effort was weaker than he’d hoped and Lutter saved easily. Harborough had a good spell and Ansell and Smith had to combine to stop a Gladman run on the right, then Stevenson did well to stop Greg Usher as he got into the box.
Parkes got up well to win a header in the centre of the park and Dore nodded it on for Burrows to run on to, but Ryan Watkin did enough to hold him off and allow Dearsley to come out and dive on the ball. Matiyenga got himself caught in possession just inside his own half and Preston slipped a great ball through for Gladman to get into the box, but his shot was thankfully a couple of feet over Lutter’s crossbar. Parkes picked out Dore on the right with a great ball, but his cross into the box wasn’t attacked by a blue shirt, then Ansell and McBride combined well giving Cox the chance to play in Burrows, but he didn’t have the pace to make it count and the keeper came out to collect.
Dore almost found Ansell with a decent cross, Burrows retrieved the ball and played it back in but it was too close to the keeper. Dearsley was in action again moments later as he palmed out a high ball over McBride’s head as we approached the last few minutes of the half.
If Harborough’s first goal was soft, then the second matched it three minutes before the break. Milne’s free-kick twenty-five yards out was badly struck, but Usher deflected it into the far corner with Lutter wrong-footed. It appeared at the time that Cogenhoe’s luck was changing though as the assistant referee held his flag aloft for off-side, but after a lengthy discussion referee Oliver Gravestock over-ruled him and awarded the goal. Impossible to see from where I was, but assumedly it was decided that it wasn’t the scorer in an offside position and the offender wasn’t deemed to be interfering with play. These things do tend to have a habit of going against you when the chips are down I’m afraid. The last action of the half saw Usher do well to hook an awkward ball across the box, but Lutter took it well and The Bees had the advantage as we went into the break.

Half-time; Cogenhoe Utd 1 Harborough Tn 2.

It usually rains when I’m at Compton Park these days and today it didn’t disappoint as we got the second half underway. Dore made a positive run to get past Milne and whip a cross in towards the far post, but Barlett did well to get his head to it ahead of Melling. Milne dinked a cross into the box that Lutter took well before Chapman rang his first changes on 52 minutes
Ryan Dove and Jake Cayton came on as direct replacements for Burrows and Cox and we immediately saw a positive reaction from the team. The renewed urgency saw Matiyenga, Cayton, Ansell and Dove all involved around the Harborough box as the visitors were forced onto the back foot. Dore and Steer went into a full-bloodied challenge in the centre that saw the ball fly high in the air and towards the Harborough goal. It really should have been tidied up by the keeper and his centre-back, but they hesitated and Ryan Dove almost got in through pure determination.
Gladman made way for Harborough with Alexis Alcindor replacing him up front a minute past the hour. We remember the sub striker for his cracking second goal here in the league cup a couple of weeks back. Cogenhoe were now looking the better side and were well on top for the first time in the game. A great free-kick from Melling was headed wide by Dove, but he had pushed his marker anyway.
Harborough hadn’t really threatened since we made our double substitution, but that all changed on 66 minutes with a classic counter-attack. Dan Smith gave away possession just inside the Harborough half and Preston sent Alcindor clear on the right. He checked back and played it inside to Tony Bartlett who hit an unstoppable first time shot into the far corner. The goal came from a mistake, but a great move and finish all the same and one that Bartlett will have enjoyed after his comical own goal here in the cup.
Mark Baker came on for Peter Taylor for the visitors but Cogenhoe continued to press. Williams fouled Dove a few yards outside the box on the right corner, but the same man headed out Ansell’s free-kick. Ansell’s ensuing corner was then taken really well by Dearsley despite pressure from Dove. Cogenhoe made their last change with Ryan Cooke replacing the hard-working Michael Parkes for the last twenty-minutes.
Dove won the ball just inside the Harborough half and Cayton switched play left to Montel Dore. He laid it outside to Smith who dinked it into the box for Dove who made space and fired in a low shot that Dearsley blocked with his body. Melling headed over an Ansell free-kick, then Cooke saw his volley blocked for a corner. Ansell swung it in and Stevenson got his header on target, but Dearsley made the save again.
Dove won the ball and found Matiyenga coming forward on the right and he found Ansell up ahead, but his low cross was cut out. Ansell did well to get a cross in under pressure and Cayton managed to get in a shot, but it was blocked before it could trouble the keeper. A rare shot for the visitors saw Milne try his luck from twenty-five yards, but Lutter got down well to save comfortably.
Ansell squeezed the ball into the box for Cayton, but Dearsley dived on the ball before the Cooks man could get to it. A Cooke throw-in was headed on by Dove, only for Preston to just beat Melling and head away, then Ansell did well to get the ball back and find Melling in the box, but the centre-half had strayed offside.
Harborough made their last change with six minutes left as Harry May replaced Usher as Cogenhoe continued to push on. Ansell put a free-kick over the bar from a central position, while Milne became the only player to be booked for a foul. Ansell again played the free-kick into the box but it was half-cleared. Cooke hooked it back into the danger zone and Cayton tried to turn it in but could only steer it wide of the far post. Cogenhoe had a great chance to reduce the arrears after Melling flicked on an Ansell cross. The ball went beyond Aca and Smith latched on to it beyond the far post, but he put his shot over the top.
Melling went even closer deep into injury time when he arrived at the far post to head the ball downwards and it squirmed through the keeper’s legs, but he recovered to grab the ball before it could trickle over the line. Ryan Ansell had the last effort of the game with a low drive that would have gone inside the near post had Dearsley not got down to make yet another save.
Another defeat for Cogenhoe, four on the spin in all competitions. It started with a 3-1 home defeat to Harborough, so let’s hope it ends with one as well.

It was a curate’s egg performance from Cogenhoe and we had the luck of a team that are finding the going tough at the moment. The first two Harborough goals will have been very disappointing for Stuart Lutter to concede. The first half had been pretty even and the disputed goal just before half-time was a real game changer, but the early subs turned Cogenhoe into a totally different team. Both Ryan Dove and Jake Cayton have been sorely missed and just their presence on the field instilled confidence of the lads around them. On another day we might have come back and won this game with the performance in the second half. Josh Melling doesn’t get many goals but he was very unlucky not to have got his name on the scoresheet today and his determination was superb during the latter stages. Ryan Cooke looked energetic and caused problems for the visitors after coming on late in the game, but my two going for man of the match today put maximum effort in for ninety-minutes. Montel Dore deserved his goal, created chances and was up and down the pitch all day, but he is just beaten to today’s accolade by Ryan Ansell. The wide-man worked his socks off today, won the ball back many times, got balls into the box and worked back to support the defence when we lost the ball.
Over the whole game we probably deserved better today. We were punished for mistakes and didn’t get the run of the ball at the business end of the pitch. Matt Long would have loved the possession we had in the second half and would surely have got his name on the scoresheet today with so many balls going into the visitor’s box, so with him and several others to return to the squad, the future isn’t as bleak as it may feel when you look at the league table.
Well done to Harborough Town, plenty of support off the pitch and dug in deep to secure their win, with their third goal being one of the best I’ve seen this season.

Cogenhoe United; 1. Stuart Lutter 2. Munya Matiyenga 3. Dan Smith 4. Josh Melling 5. Dan Stevenson 6. Séan McBride © 7. Jacob Cox (sub 12. Jake Cayton 52) 8. Michael Parkes (sub 14. Ryan Cooke 70) 9. Nathan Burrows (sub 15. Ryan Dove 52) 10. Ryan Ansell 11. Montel Dore. Subs not used; 16. Matt Long 17. Neil Champelovier.

Harborough Town; 1. Ben Dearsley 2. Tony Bartlett 3. Callum Milne 4. Callum Steer 5. Ben Williams © 6. Ryan Watkin 7. Greg Usher (sub 16. Harry May 84) 8. Peter Taylor (sub 14. Mark Baker 66) 9. Barnes Gladman (sub 12. Alexis Alcindor 61) 10. Aaron Preston 11. Claudio Aca. Subs not used; 15. Harry Henbury 17. James Mee.

Referee; Oliver Gravestock.