Deeping fight back to win seven goal thriller.

Cooks lose two goal lead in an entertaining match at Compton Park.

Saturday 29th October 2018

FUTURE LIONS UNITED COUNTIES LEAGUE-PREMIER DIVISION
COGENHOE UNITED (3) 3 v DEEPING RANGERS (1) 4
Cooks; Long 21 Lowery 26 Dove 45 (pen)
Rangers; Andersen 37 Mooney 71, 90 Schiavi 88

Att; 59

A few enforced changes for Jake Stone for the visit of Deeping Rangers today with Stuart Lutter on holiday, Montel Dore working and Jamie Inwood injured. Callum Patching had recovered from his injury so was able to take over in goal, Patryk Cichosz was handed a first team debut at left back and Ryan Ansell had recovered enough from his knee injury to return in wide midfield. Just three subs today with Liam Stone and Munya Matiyenga joining Ben Drinkwater in the dug-out. An absolutely gorgeous sunny late September afternoon and a perfect playing surface welcomed us to Compton Park and with Deeping bringing a fair few supporters with them, this was all set for a great afternoon’s entertainment.
Cogenhoe’s recent form has got the lads bubbling again and they were soon on the front foot as they attacked the village end with the breeze at their backs. A slick move that involved several players down the left saw Cichosz lay the ball across the box where a defender got a foot to it but only found Ryan Dove just outside the box. The skipper hit a rasping shot that keeper Sam Vince pushed up into the air and he was relieved to see the ball and on top of the net behind him. Ansell’s dangerous corner was pushed away by Vince and Dove headed it back but the keeper had balanced himself well and jumped to catch the ball just around bar height in his six-yard box. Another Ansell corner saw some great hands from Vince as Cogenhoe piled the pressure on.
Deeping’s first effort came from Michael Simpson whose well-struck shot was blocked by George Barnell and as Schiavi looked to pounce as the ball broke, Liam Tuck brought him down on the edge of the box in a central position. Schiavi went for goal with the free-kick and struck it well with the ball moving in the air, but Patching watched it well and held on to it safely. A Scott Mooney first touch was excellent and allowed him to turn and shoot inside the box, but he toe-ended his effort and it bobbled through to Patching. Another turn and shot from Mooney, this time on the edge of the area, saw him connect well but it took a heavy deflection that took it wide of the post A snap-shot from Cameron Johnson saw the ball fly high and wide from the left angle of the box as Deeping enjoyed a good spell.
More skill from Mooney saw him bring down an awkward ball before turning to shoot although Tuck got across to block, but the Cooks were to have a good spell now. Dove got up well to flick the ball on and Matt Long nipped in behind him and execute a perfect lob over the keeper from the right side of the box and it dropped into the far corner of the Deeping net to open the scoring with 21 minutes played. Deeping tried to respond straight away and Séan McBride had to make a great challenge just inside his own box as the visitors threatened. Schiavi’s corner picked out David Burton-Jones beyond the far post and he headed across the box where Simpson drilled in a shot that Patching saved well for another corner. It was a similar move to the last and it nearly worked again, this time Simpson’s effort being blocked on the goal-line.
On 26 minutes though it was 2-0 from a corner down the other end. Ansell’s corner was touched away from goal by somebody in the crowded area and the ball fell to Alex Lowery a few yards inside the box and he struck an exquisite volley that flew past Vince and into the far corner. Two great finishes and two-nil to the Cooks. A great run from Long down the right saw him tripped from behind by Luke Andersen for a bit of a silly booking just before the half-hour mark. Tuck drilled the free-kick in, but his intended target Dove was off balance from a nudge and couldn’t jump at the far post.
Johnson set up Schiavi for a shot on the edge of the box and it was screaming just under the bar when Patching got his fingers to it to turn it over the top with another great save, then Lowery brought down Johnson on the edge of the box, but this time Schiavi’s free-kick was straight at the wall. A free-kick did earn Deeping a goal back on 37 minutes though, this time out on the left. Schiavi swung it into the box and Luke Andersen just got in front of Dove and his glancing header gave Patching no chance as it found the far corner.
Danny Durkin tried a shot on the turn, but a heavy deflection took the pace off it and Patching gathered easily. With 45 minutes already on the watch, Lowery slipped a great ball through for Tuck to get into the box. With the Cooks man off-balance, all Burton-Jones had to do really was stand-up, but instead he went to ground himself and caught Tuck and referee Oliver Potter blew immediately for a penalty. The Deeping skipper went into the book which may have been for the foul or the torrent off abuse that followed. He continued it after the card had been shown with a few more swear words that could easily have led to a second yellow, but fortunately for him the referee decided to allow him to get away with it. I sympathise with the Deeping man to a certain extent as it was a soft penalty, but why did he jump in? Ryan Dove ignored all the hurly-burly and placed the ball on the spot before calmly sending the keeper the wrong way to extend the Cooks lead. There was still time afterwards for Lowery to pick up a booking for a foul on the half-way line, but that was it in an entertaining half of football.

Half-time; Cogenhoe United 3 Deeping Rangers 1.

Ansell sent over a cross that saw Dove get above Andersen, but his header drifted beyond the far post, while down the other end Patching got down to take a low shot at his near post. Josh Melling robbed Johnson as he tried to get into the box from a good Schiavi pass, then Stevenson started a move by winning the ball from Mooney and McBride, Ansell and Long combined to send Dove down the right, but his cross was too far ahead of Long for him to get onto in the box. Battling from Tuck, Cichosz and Dove gave Long the chance to get the ball into the box for Dove, but they had to settle for a corner. Ansell swung it into the six-yard box where Vince looked to have an easy catch above Long, but the ball squired out of his hands and went over the line as he came down and bumped in the Cooks player. No foul there in reality, but the referee gave the keeper a get out of jail card and awarded him a free-kick. Surely 4-1 would have been a bridge too far for the visitors, but these decisions usually go the way of the keeper these days.
A corner down the other end saw an unusually poor delivery from Schiavi, but Burton-Jones still managed to duck down and get his head to it with the ball going across the goal and out on the far side. A poor touch from Lowery was seized upon by Simpson who fed Johnson to his left where he fired in a powerful shot that Patching touched over for yet another very good save. Schiavi picked out Simpson in space from the ensuing corner, but his header was poor and went well wide. This was Simpson’s last action of the game as he was substituted off for Charlie Coulson, although I doubt his header was the reason for the swap. Another Schiavi corner, this time into the six-yard box, saw Patching get up strong to punch away with several Claret shirts around him. Dan Flack then made way for Henry Dunn as Deeping looked for the change that would swing the game back towards them.
Another twist on 69 minutes as Josh Melling bundled over Johnson in the box and received the yellow card. Mooney stepped up and fired his penalty low to Patching’s right, but the young keeper was at full-stretch to make a fantastic one-handed save and this really was looking like Cogenhoe’s day. Two minutes later though and it started to look different. Poor defending saw Schiavi steer the ball down to an unmarked Mooney deep inside the box and he directed the ball first time into the far corner to reduce the cushion to just one goal.
Stone made a couple of quick changes with Ansell coming off for Drinkwater and then Cichosz making way for Matiyenga. Munya went into right midfield, Tuck to left-back and Long switching to the right as Drinkwater joined Dove up front.
A lovely dinked ball from Matiyenga saw Drinkwater outmuscle his man and play it inside to Dove on the edge of the box, but this time he couldn’t hold the ball up and Deeping broke. The visitors were getting plenty of balls into the Cogenhoe box and at times it was backs to the wall defending as they clung on to their lead and just couldn’t keep possession when they had it. Patching rose to tip away another dangerous cross. Schiavi made a good run, but Matiyenga and then Stevenson slowed him up with Johnson taking over but his attempted shot flew wide of the far post by some way.
There were just two minutes left when Schiavi was given too much space twenty-five yards out on the right side and he let fly with an absolute bullet. Tuck dived to try and block but unfortunately the touch from his head diverted the ball enough to mean it beat the unlucky Patching and flew like an Exocet inside the near post.
If that wasn’t bad enough, the visitors then grabbed what proved to be the winning goal on 90 minutes in very unusual fashion. Patching got up well to turn the ball away over Mooney’s head, Johnson completely miscued an attempted shot and Mooney, still lying on his front, lifted his head up to direct the ball goalwards and it found the corner of the net. What an amazing finish to the afternoon’s entertainment and fair play to Mooney who will almost certainly never score another goal like that in his life!

Cogenhoe will be gutted to have lost to two goals in the last couple of minutes, especially after having a three-one lead at the break, but I have to say a massive well-done to Deeping on their comeback today. I believe this was Dan Schiavi’s last game for Deeping before he emigrates to the United States and I have to say, as a Cooks fan, why couldn’t he have gone last week! He was absolutely superb today and he will be sorely missed in our league, so I wish him all the very best in his new adventure.
For the Cooks we started so well and we really have to learn to put games to bed when we get in front. Looking after the ball is essential, but we just didn’t do that at all in the last half-hour. There were plusses again and young Callum Patching in goal was superb and blameless for any of the goals in my view. His penalty save and several others were superb and he fully deserves my man-of-the-match award today and I feel he has a big future in the game. Defensively we weren’t too bad for most of the game, but the midfield did allow them to get through us too much. Deeping have some extremely good players and we got into a winning position against them so we can still hold our heads up high and concentrate on getting it right next week as we travel to an inconsistent Leicester Nirvana.

Cogenhoe United; 1. Callum Patching 2. Josh Melling 3. Patryk Cichosz (sub 12. Munya Matiyenga 75) 4. Alex Lowery 5. George Barnell 6. Dan Stevenson 7. Ryan Ansell (sub 15. Ben Drinkwater 72) 8. Séan McBride 9. Matt Long 10. Ryan Dove © 11. Liam Tuck. Sub not used; 14. Liam Stone.

Deeping Rangers; 1. Sam Vince 2. Dan Flack (sub 12. Henry Dunn 68) 3. Jack Fryett 4. David Burton-Jones © 5. Luke Hunnings 6. Luke Andersen 7. Cameron Johnson 8. Michael Simpson (sub 14. Henry Dunn 64) 9. Scott Mooney 10. Dan Schiavi 11. Danny Durkin. Subs not used; 15. Matt Carter 16. Harry Alcock 17. Dan Bircham (GK).

Referee; Oliver Potter.