One Goal - Enough To Earn The Points..

Match Report – 14th March 2023

Spartan South Midlands Premier Division – League Fixture

Cockfosters (1) 1 (Sippetts 24 mins), Colney Heath (0) 0

A solitary George Sippetts goal midway through the first half proved to be enough for Cockfosters to overcome a spirited, but somewhat ineffective, Colney Heath side.

Whilst, in all honesty, this wasn’t the greatest of spectacles, there are no pictures on the scorecard. What is on the scorecard though is a home win, three points, a clean sheet and the extension of an unbeaten League run – which now numbers seven games.

This was always going to be a typical, combative local derby. With the corresponding fixture earlier in the season finishing goalless, it was always going to be a game of very few goals – and so it proved.

Heath looked to deploy the long ball forward but got nothing from the robust pairing of Aiden Read and Jay Lovell. When they looked to build attacks down the flanks, they ran into the very dependable Kenny Nobrega and Prince Madu. The more the visitors tried to launch the ball forward, the more it simply came straight back at them.

By contrast, Cockfosters’ wide men, Cory Ugbomah and Antonio Michael, were to give their opposite numbers a tough evening, as the home side produced the greater quality overall.

Cockfosters had their first attempt on goal in the 5th minute, when Reece Barrett shot over following good work from George Sippetts and after a ‘fully committed’ challenge by Lovell on Heath’s centre-forward Stephen Dodds, the visitors had their first opportunity in the 11th minute - but Vlad Sighiartau’s free kick was aimed straight at the defensive wall.

After twenty minutes, Cockfosters began to build the pressure. After Reece Barrett’s free-kick was touched over by Liam Studley, in the Heath goal, a series of corners followed and, from the third of these, Cockfosters took the lead in the 24th minute.

Aiden Read’s powerful header towards goal wasn’t properly dealt with and, after a brief scramble, Sippetts was in the right place at the right time to prod the ball home from close range.

With the Cockfosters back line standing firm, the visitors were reduced to shooting from range, but Sighiartau’s dipping effort in the 32nd minute wasn’t too far away.

A brilliant exchange between Michael and the overlapping Madu almost produced an opportunity for Ugbomah in the 43rd minute and the Cockfosters rear-guard needed to be fully alert to dealt with a tricky inswinging corner just before the break.

The first half ended with Cockfosters one-up.

During the latter part of the half, Heath’s manager picked up a yellow card for dissent as his frustrations began to build.

In fact, it was the first of two cards that the bench picked up during the game as – before the second half had even started – one of the substitutes was also cautioned for dissent. This would effectively be a ‘sin binning’ of a player who hadn’t yet been on the pitch!

Heath began the second half in a sharper fashion but wasted another set-piece opportunity in the 53rd minute, when it was taken short and the subsequent cross flew harmlessly behind for a goal kick.

Other than Barrett’s free-kick, which was gathered comfortably by Studley, and the ever-industrious Chris Griffin’s off-target effort, the arm-wrestle continued with no clear-cut chances emerging for either side.

Heath’s efforts were not help when Dodds, having been bettered in his ongoing dual with Lovell, found his way into the sin bin for dissent in the 68th minute. He was duly substituted once his ten-minute spell had expired.

With 15 minutes to go, the visitors had their best chance of the game to get level. A long ball forward managed to get beyond the Cockfosters back line and a Heath forward beat the onrushing Charlie Mann to the ball just outside the box. However, a split second after a lob was attempted, which was drifting away from goal, Mann collided with his opponent.

Given the fact that the collision happened after the attempt on goal had been made, the referee decided to show Mann just a yellow card. It could have easily been red, with another referee on another day.

The resulting set-piece, like the others beforehand, was duly squandered.

Some great work from Cory Ugbomah, with six minutes to go, deserved a better outcome – when his persistence caused problems in the Heath six-yard box but no one was on hand to round off his efforts - and Antonio Michael should have scored in the sixth minute of injury time, when breaking clean through, but he managed to get tangled up in his own feet, allowing Studley to smother.

The referee blew the final whistle after nine minutes of added time – to confirm another three points for the home side.

As mentioned earlier, the unbeaten league run now stands at seven – six wins and one draw – this being the fifth successive win.

Winning is clearly a habit that this young squad is enjoying – and they now need to take this form to Potton United on Saturday and avenge an earlier season ‘smash-and-grab’ loss.

Cockfosters: Mann, Nobrega, Madu (capt.), Finch, Read, Lovell, Michael, Griffin, Sippetts, Barrett, Ugbomah.

Subs: E. Rookard (for Barrett) 68 mins, Devine (for Sippetts) 87 mins.

Not Used: McMenemy, Thomson, Holland.

Yellow Card: Mann – 75 mins.