1st Team
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Sat 18 Feb 2023  ·  Premier Division
Risborough Rangers
0
1
Cockfosters Football Club
1st Team
A Single Goal Good Enough As Fosters Double up Over Risborough...

A Single Goal Good Enough As Fosters Double up Over Risborough...

Colin Bell21 Feb 2023 - 14:57
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An Ethan Rookard goal Secures the points in Risborough win....

Match Report – Saturday 18th February 2023 - Courtesy of Mark Bridges

Spartan South Midlands League – Premier Division Fixture.

Risborough Rangers (0) 0, Cockfosters (0) 1 – Ethan Rookard 75 mins.

A solitary Ethan Rookard goal in the 75th minute clinched the win and an excellent league “double” over Risborough Rangers.

Despite the narrow scoreline, this was a game where Cockfosters fully deserved their three points, to go alongside the maximum points gained when they emerged 3-1 winners back in October.

In fact, Cockfosters should have been out of sight by the time Rookard shot home from close range.

One can also look at the contrasting afternoons of the two Read’s – Joel Read for Risborough Rangers and Aiden Read for Cockfosters - who wore the number five shirts for their respective sides.

Aiden Read had a fine game alongside Jay Lovell, in a very well organised back four, whereas the giant Joel Read was to have a torrid afternoon, firstly up against the awkward physical presence of Harrison Rookard and then latterly against the pace of the terrier-like George Sippetts.

The Cockfosters back four, in which Kenny Nobrega and Prince Madu also had fine games, limited Risborough to just one effort on target – a weak header from a corner that Charlie Mann comfortably caught after 85 minutes.

Joel Read was at the centre of the one controversial moment of a pretty non-eventful first half when he appeared to manhandle Harrison Rookard to the ground whilst the latter challenged for the ball in the home side’s penalty area. However, the referee decided that no misdemeanour was committed.

Risborough had the first chance of the second half when Ricky Miller managed to spin himself clear of his marker only to shoot wildly over in the 47th minute. Five minutes later, Kieron Schmidt tried his luck from distance – but his shot also headed for the nearby railway bridge.

Cockfosters then took the game by the scruff of the neck and had the chances to break the deadlock.

The linesman’s flag interrupted a good move down the right flank where Antonio Michael and Kenny Nobrega combined well to present a good chance for Ethan Rookard in the 54th minute and just two minutes later Ethan Rookard’s header missed the target from close range, with the goal at his mercy, following a hooked ball across the box from brother Harrison.

The Rookard’s combined again five minutes later but Ethan shot just over this time.

The introduction of George Sippetts in the 64th minute, for Harrison Rookard, meant no let up for Joel Read and his back four.

Almost immediately, a through ball released Cory Ugbomah just inside the Risborough half, and created a “three-on-one” situation – with Sippetts and Ethan Rookard following up.

Unfortunately, just like earlier in the season at Hoddesdon Town, Ugbomah was again caught in two minds and he neither shot nor squared for his fellow forwards and the ball flew past the outstretched boots of his team-mates for a goal-kick.

With the home defence vulnerable to any form of pace, and with Sippetts snapping around at every opportunity, a goal finally arrived with fifteen minutes to go.

Sippetts pace got him into a position to compete for a ball that was not his to win and, having won it, managed to get to the by-line and force a second mistake from the back-four which allowed the young striker to feed the ball back into the path of Ethan Rookard, who wasn’t going to miss this time.

Risborough tried to battle back but the Cockfosters midfield, with Chris Griffin and Joe Entwistle again putting in tireless shifts, and rear-guard coped comfortably with anything that the home side tried to create.

With the home side pushing forward, Sippetts should have put the game beyond doubt. With another home attack breaking down, Sippetts was released, then simply skipped past last defender Joel Read’s lunge and headed unopposed towards goal.

As he tried to round Connor Hunt, in the Risborough goal, the tall keeper thrust out an arm to divert the ball away to safety and the chance had gone.
Ironically, it was goalkeeper Hunt who had the last attempt for the home side to find an equaliser when his header, from the last corner of the game, was comfortably off target.

This was an excellent win, especially when you consider the number of miles, both on and off the pitch, that the squad had covered over the last eight days.

Four matches, three of which were away from home, racked up in excess of 220 miles – 140 of which were covered between Thursday evening and Saturday afternoon.

Those four matches; a 2-0 win at high-flyers Leighton Town, a 1-1 draw with sixth-placed Leverstock Green, a 4-0 cup win at Holmer Green, and this win at eighth-placed Risborough Rangers, saw Cockfosters go unbeaten over the period, with three clean sheets achieved in the process.

Gavin Kelsey, his management team and his young squad certainly deserve an enormous amount of credit for their achievements over the past week.

Cockfosters: Mann, Nobrega, Madu (Capt.), Entwistle, Read, Lovell, Michael, Griffin, E. Rookard, H. Rookard, Ugbomah.

Subs: Sippetts (for H. Rookard) 64 mins, Finch (for E. Rookard) 90+2 mins.

Unused: Okafor, Holland, Effah.

Yellow Cards: None

Match details

Match date

Sat 18 Feb 2023

Kickoff

15:00

Attendance

226

Competition

Premier Division

League position

8
Risborough Rangers
10
Cockfosters
Team overview
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