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Saturday 1st May 2010 Spartan South Midlands League - Division One COCKFOSTERS 1 CRAWLEY GREEN 1 Cockfosters fall just short in bid for top-ten finish Thursday, 6 May 2010(Courtesy of Enfield Gazette)
COCKFOSTERS just missed out on their
goal of achieving a top-ten finish in
Spartan Division One as they had to
settle for a 1-1 draw at home to Crawley
Green in their last match of the season
on Saturday.
Spartan South Midlands League - Division One COCKFOSTERS 0 HADLEY 0 Boss backs Cockfosters to avoid any more defeats Thursday, 15 April 2010(Courtesy of Enfield Gazette) NEIL EWING has backed his Cockfosters
side to finish off the campaign with a bang by going
unbeaten in their final four games of the season. Saturday 10th October 2009 Spartan South Midlands League - Division One BUCKINGHAM ATHLETIC 1 COCKFOSTERS 2 On The Move At Last....
At the tenth time of asking the Reds finally managed a league victory
and although the margin was close, this was a thoroughly convincing win against
a side who were unbeaten in their last five fixtures. Tuesday 6th October 2009 London Senior Cup - First Round COCKFOSTERS 4 HANWELL TOWN 4 a.e.t Hanwell Town won penalty shoot out 4-3 Report kindly provided by Hanwell Town - with thanks. Having already succumbed to two Spartan South Midlands League clubs from Division One in cup competitions this season, we could consider ourselves very fortunate not to have suffered a third defeat of a similar nature on Tuesday night when we just managed to edge out Cockfosters in a penalty shoot out in this London Senior Cup First Round Tie. We will now meet either Croydon or Lewisham Borough at home in the second round in November. There was little evidence of the battle to come in the opening thirty minutes during which we established a two goal lead and could well have had more. In the opening minute we should have taken the lead when a neat interchange of passes between Tashan Bradshaw and Charley Baverstock put the latter through with only the Cockfosters keeper Paul Daley to beat, but Charley's shot was blocked by the keeper's legs. At the other end, Keiran Jimmy only just managed to turn a free kick by Joe Smith around the post and then Nicky Steward given a clear run as our defenders backed off, shot across the face of our goal with nobody on hand to apply the finishing touch. A clever passing movement between Charley and Blaise O'Brien gave Charley another shooting chance but once again Daley came to Cockfosters's rescue as he turned Charley's shot aside. However, minutes later we were in the lead when an excellent pass by Steve Potter set Charley free down the right and he pulled the ball back into the path of Blaise who scored his fifth goal in three matches as he turned the ball into the vacant net. Cockfosters almost drew level ten minutes later when from a cross by Smith, Danny Curbelo who was to be a constant threat throughout, with a with a clear target in font of him headed the ball wide.This miss was to prove costly for the home side as a minute later we were two ahead. Daley made a fine save diving to his left to beat Charley's shot away but the ball rebounded straight into the path of Michael Buckley who steered it back into the empty net. We thought we had gone three ahead two minutes later when Jason Tucker's free kick was headed home by Gulad Adan but the assistant referee 's flag was raised for offside. In the thirty second minute, Cockfosters pulled one back from what could best be described as rather a soft penalty kick award. Steve Potter dwelling on the ball in midfield as he waited for Charley and Blaise to come back from offside positions was dispossessed and the ball was played forward into the path of Dean Barker. The referee who was at least thirty yards behind play ruled that Michael had pushed Barker as he raced through and pointed to the spot. Barker made no mistake with the kick, sending Keiran the wrong way . Cockfosters were much the better side in the second half and had it not been for Keiran's keeping and some poor finishing they would have had the game won by the end of the ninety minutes. Twice early in the half, the ball was swung across our goalmouth from the left with the ball just drifting beyond our far post and then after a good ball down the right by Wesley Ewing, Smith drove the ball across goal only for Aaron Ewing to somehow turn it over the bar from point blank range. Cockfosters deservedly drew level just over the hour mark when a long cross by Paul Wood to the far post was headed back across goal by Curbelo . Keiran's punch clear under pressure went straight to the feet of Ewing who made up for his earlier miss as he volleyed the ball home. Two minutes later, Barker was right through but Keiran saved well at his feet and then Keiran failed to hold onto a shot and was dispossessed by Barker but Jason managed to scramble Barker's shot behind for a corner. We continued to live dangerously at the back with Daley almost a spectator at the other end and it seemed almost certain that we were out of the cup when with one minute remaining, another good cross by Smith was once again headed back across goal by Curbelo for Barker to score. However,we drew level two minutes later when an astute through ball by Jason found Blaise unmarked and he calmly lifted the ball over Daley to send the tie into extra time. Two minutes into injury time, Keiran did well to turn Barker's free kick against the inside of our goal post before Gulad hooked the ball clear. Chris Mills then sent Charley through but he screwed his shot across the face of the Cockfosters goal but minutes later we were back in front when from a well flighted free kick by Chris, Jason headed the ball home. In the second period of extra time, Keiran turned a fierce shot from Smith over the bar at his near post and then Barker with a clear cut opportunity headed wide from a corner kick. Cockfosters made their only substitution of the half introducing Sammy Gomez to the fray and he was quickly into action with two forceful runs forward. Just as it seemed as if Jason's goal would be enough to clinch our victory, we failed to deal with a long clearance down field by Daley and Aaron Ewing hooked home the equaliser to set up the penalty shoot out. Jason Tucker and Dean Barker both scored with their first kicks for their respective sides before Aaron Wise missed with our second kick and when Cockfosters scored from both their second and third kicks, it again looked as if we were going out. Chris Mills tucked away our fourth kick after Keiran had saved Cockfoster's fourth kick and when Smith drove the home side's fifth kick wide, Matt O'Brien struck home our fifth kick to send us through to the next round. Side: Keiran Jimmy, Marvyn Watson, Gulad Adan, Ian Jimmy, Jason Tucker, Matt O'Brien, Tashan Bradshaw, Michael Buckley, Charley Baverstock, Blaise O'Brien and Steven Potter. Substitutes used: Chris Mills for Potter (65), Aaron Wise for Buckley (82) and Aonghus Martin for Bradshaw (95) Tuesday 1st September 2009 F.A. Cup - Preliminary Round Replay COCKFOSTERS 1 POTTERS BAR TOWN 4 THIS TIME NEXT YEAR!!....
Following last Saturdays 1 - 1 draw at Potters Bar, the Reds
were unable to capitalise on taking a lead after only 5 minutes in this FA
Challenge Cup Preliminary Round Replay. Saturday 29th August 2009 F.A. Cup - Preliminary Round POTTERS BAR TOWN 1 COCKFOSTERS 1 MONTGOMERY HEROICS.....
Tuesday 25th August 2009 Spartan South Midlands League - Division One COCKFOSTERS 1 LONDON COLNEY 1 BATTLING REDS DENIED FIRST WIN..... Cockfosters produced their fourth consecutive league draw of the
season on Tuesday night, although contrary to the other three, this was
possible a case of one point won rather than two points dropped. Spartan South Midlands League - Division One COCKFOSTERS 1 AFC DUNSTABLE 1 COCKFOSTERS SLOW TO COME TO THE BOIL.....
Wednesday 19th August 2009 Spartan South Midlands League - Division One TOKYNGTON MANOR 2 COCKFOSTERS 2 EWING CRACKER AS REDS DO IT THE HARD WAY..... Cockfosters salvaged a point from this Division One league fixture, deep into injury time, with a ‘super strike’ from Aaron Ewing. Despite trailing 2 – 0 at the interval the Reds will probably consider themselves extremely unlucky not to have picked up all three points from this game. On the immaculate playing surface at Reynolds Fields, which Tokyngton are ground sharing this season from Hanwell Town, both sides attempted to play neat and tidy football, however neither side was helped by the numerous delays encountered waiting for match balls to be returned from behind the perimeter fencing. The hosts took the lead on nine minutes when their ‘man-mountain’ striker Melford Simpson took advantage of a fortunate ricochet which left him with just Scott Montgomery in the Cockfosters goal to beat from ten yards. Cockfosters squandered several good chances to draw level and paid the penalty on 36 minutes when Tokyngton were again the recipients of some good fortune when a defensive clearance struck the ‘man mountain’ and rebounded his strike partner Andy Wilson to slot home number two from just a few yards out. Cockfosters increased the pace somewhat after the interval and it appeared just a matter of time before they would open their account. The goal duly came on the hour when central defender Tom Boxer found himself with a yard to spare in Tokyngton’s penalty area and duly slotted the ball home. The Reds were now almost in total control of the game and only excellent handling by Jon Cardy in the home goal prevented further goals. With time running out Aaron Ewing produced a spectacular equalising goal when his shot from the left hand corner of the penalty area swerved and dipped into the far top corner. Our hosts were no doubt bemoaning their misfortune of again conceding a late goal, similar to that which they suffered in their 3-2 defeat last Saturday in their FA Cup tie against Chalfont St Peter. However it could and possibly should have got even worse, when with just about the last kick of the game Joe Smith blasted over when clear through on goal. Rakim Richards, who deputised for the Reds unavailable captain Jamie Alexander, in the centre of the Reds defence proved once more what a versatile player he is, even finding time to support the wave of attacks during the final period of the game. Next Saturday the Reds entertain newly promoted team AFC Dunstable at Chalk Lane.
Saturday 15th August 2009 F.A. Cup - Extra Preliminary Round NORTH GREENFORD UNITED 0 COCKFOSTERS 2 BATTLING WIN SETS UP POTTERS BAR DERBY...... The Reds went into this Extra Preliminary round of the FA Cup very much the underdogs, against a side who play at one level higher and who had taken a maximum 6 points from their first two league fixtures, with an impressive goal average of 9 goals for and only 1 against. This compared with Cockfosters rather indifferent start of just 1 point from their two league fixtures and a less than impressive goal difference of 2 goals for and 5 against. But as has been said on many occasions ‘football is a funny game’. With the advantage of both the slight slope and a stiff breeze behind them Cockfosters easily held their own during the first half and although their one goal lead at half time came from a somewhat fortunate goal on 33 minutes, coming directly from a right wing corner taken by Aaron Ewing with the outside of his right boot, on the balance of play it was just about deserved. The home side certainly got more to grips with the game after the interval putting Cockfosters were under immense pressure for a 20 minute spell, during which they rode their luck on several occasions, accompanied by some resolute defending. Danny Curbelo replaced Junior Adeoye after 65 minutes and almost immediately got in front of his defender to nod the ball into the path of Dean Barker who calmly lobbed the ball over the advancing keeper. This two goal cushion allowed the Reds to play with somewhat more composure and on the occasions when North Greenford got into goal-scoring positions, their final effort was most times off target and they saw out the remainder of the game untroubled. The central defensive partnership of skipper Jamie Alexander and last season’s Young Player of the Year Tom Boxer was outstanding throughout and the central midfield pairing of Aaron Ewing and Rakim Richards hardly wasted a ball all afternoon. Manager Neil Ewing must be delighted that what is basically a completely new team from last season are quickly developing into an excellent unit with an amazing ‘will to win’ attitude which should serve them well over the approaching months.
Saturday 4th April 2009 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division COCKFOSTERS 0 BIGGLESWADE TOWN 2 No Sign Of A Shock At Chalk Lane......
Tuesday 31st March 2009 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division HERTFORD TOWN 1 COCKFOSTERS 1 Rakim Lifts The Roof As Joe Falls Through It ......Following the weekend's dismal performance at Tring, something a bit more appetising was needed at Hertford. Once again the team was decimated by last minute drop outs, although nobody could hardly blame Joe Smith for falling through a roof. Neil Ewing gave a debut to U18 Taylan Uysal, a first full game for Joe Greer and a good contribution from 16 yr old Luke Papini from the bench. A few weeks ago, Hertford's Dave Hunt wasted several chances when the sides met at Chalk Lane and last night he was guilty of missing with a shot that flashed wide and minutes later hooking the ball over the bar. Taylan Uysal soon got to grips with the challenge of first team football and a last ditch tackle from the young mankept the score goalless. Cockfosters first half chances were limited but when Steve Kessack fired well wide, he would have backed himself to have found the target. Hertford made the breakthrough on 34 minutes following a challenge by Nicky Martin on the edge of the box, Daryl Mitchell drifted the freekick goalwards that Paul Daley was unable to touch over. Just before the break on 43 minutes, Hertford were awarded a penalty after two handball appeals within a couple of seconds eventually persuaded the Referee to be sympathetic to the claim, although how Tom Boxer could get out of the way left me confused. Never mind, up steps Mr Hunt and fires the spot kick onto Paul Daley's right hand post and behind to safety. The second half saw Cockfosters crank up their performance, driven on by Paul Daley, wearing the captain's armband, the Reds commanded much more respect. Danny Curbelo saw a header go past the angle from Steve Kessack's cross and with Tom Boxer and Rakim Richards dominant at the back Hertford's goal scoring chances were limited. As the game progressed Cockfosters looked the more creative with Luke Papini involving himself with some deft touches on a poor playing surface. But the pitch didn't come into it as Aaron Ewing hung up a free kick in the 83rd minute which fell to Rakim Richards to pick his spot past Robinson. And that's how it finished, Neil Ewing might have been upset before the game but an hour and a half later he was surely delighted with the performance - especially of the youngsters.
Saturday 28th March 2009 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division TRING ATHLETIC 2 COCKFOSTERS 1 The 45 Minute Warm Up...... A trip to the Grass Roots Stadium and a clash with Tring Athletic. When examining the fixture list as we do with ever more close scrutiny at the moment, Tring away, was a game that might possibly have something at the end of it, depending which Tring Athletic turn up. As it transpired, it was a case of which Cockfosters team would turn up. It has to be said, that Neil Ewing has not had the best of luck as Matt Kierney became the latest crock and will miss the rest of the season. That apart, a first half injury to Matt Keogh did little for Cockfosters fortunes either. In mainly a rearguard first half, Cockfosters were nowhere like the terriers that drew at Brimsdown, instead they allowed Tring to dominate, particularly in the middle of the field, and consequently the game. There were two early let offs for Cockfosters that seemed to set the pattern of a disjointed first half. Only on a couple of occasions when Nathan Eno and Joe Smith got behind the Tring back line did Cockfosters threaten, but the supply that followed was snuffed out by 'keeper Dave Clark. After a couple of close encounters and a fine save by Paul Daley, came the Tring breakthrough as Danny Hutchings sliced a cross from Tony Fields past Paul Daley to give Tring a 27th minute lead. Seconds later that should have been two as Matt Myatt blazed wildly at a very tempting target. The nearest Cockfosters came in a dismal first half was when Danny Curbelo was inches off target with a header from Aaron Ewing's free kick. The second half saw the introduction of Dan Little, and if "Crouchie" had just a little more determination to meet Danny Curbelo's cross then the big man would have scored within twenty seconds of making his debut. Seconds later there were jitters in the home defence as Clark spilled a cross from Curbelo. Tring remained a threat as Daley was forced to turn attempts aside from Iannone and Fields. Just when it seemed thaqt Cockfosters were at last getting a foothold in the game, Iannone scrambled the ball home at the near post to put Tring 2-0 up. But Cockfosters at least now looked up for it and Joe Smith was narrowly wide, Crouchie had a shot smuggled to safety and Danny Curbelo had a powerful header cleared off the line by the head of Rob Duncan. As the clock edged towards the ninety, a free kick wide on the left was headed home by Danny Curbelo. Sadly there was no real time to build on that as Tring shut up shop in the closing moments. We certainly did not do enough to win the game - but it does make life difficult when we don't get started until half-time. Wednesday 25th March 2009 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division BRIMSDOWN ROVERS 2 COCKFOSTERS 2 Derby Ding Dong As Reds Earn Vital Point...... Before Christmas, Brimsdown could barely buy a point, not that we were much better, but 2009 has seen Rovers turn in the form that has put any possible thoughts of relegation miles behind. With Cockfosters still trying to clamber away from the mire and Brimsdown eager to keep the pressure on, this local derby had the ingredients of an eventful evening. With former Cockfosters man Ben Andreos out suspended, each side had an one old boy on duty. Nicky Steward, formerly of Chalk Lane, was on parade for Brimsdown, whilst Matt Keogh, now wearing the Red shirt, was flying the flag for Cockfosters, even though a shortage of fitness meant that that appearance would come from the bench. Even though Matt Keogh barely had 30 minutes on the pitch, his contribution was to prove to be the more influential of the two. With all that was at stake, a strong start is what was needed - but the best laid plans and all that!!! Before the watch had reached the three minute mark, Brimsdown had snatched the lead. A ball played down the right channel, ended in a chase between Steve Kessack and Brimsdown's Rob Teppett. With Paul Daley bellowing for the ball to be cleared, Kessack missed the opportunity to hook the ball to safety and suddenly Teppet was in on goal and his low shot went across Daley and found the far corner of the net. For the first twenty minutes, Cockfosters barely threatened Mark Virgo's goal, and the game developed into a midfield battle, with Brimsdown looking the sharper, although they also suffered from a lack of creative ideas. For Cockfosters, the biggest threat was Dan Curbelo, who managed to win almost every ball in the air all night, much to the disgust of the boisterous natives. The referee did not endear himself to either set of the players as the heat of the battle was turned up. Brimsdown were guilty of conceding a string of free kicks, one of which was to provide Cockfosters with the equaliser. After 31 minutes, Aaron Ewing drifted a kick across the face of the Brimsdown goal for Danny Curbelo to send his header beyond Virgo. The wind was directly behind Brimsdown in the first half and couple that with some quick thinking from Mark Virgo and you have the reason Brimsdown added to their lead after 44 minutes. Another of a number of free kicks was hit goalwards by Aaron Ewing, but this one was over hit and stuck firmly in Virgo's hands. Two seconds after Ewing's kick, the ball was beaming its way upfield where Cockfosters had left Jamie O'Donoghue and Steve Kessack on a one -to-one. Again the race was on and within seconds of being on the front foot, Cockfosters were 2-1 down as O'Donoghue knocked the ball beyond the advancing Daley. The second half began with Joe Smith having an effort disallowed for offside and Mark Virgo tipping a Danny Curbelo header onto the bar and over. Time for a shake-up as Matt Keogh and Michael Casey were introduced. The changes forced a total reshuffle across the Cockfosters back line and also a couple of changes in mid-field. There was no official foul count, but let's just say that Brimsdown were conceding their share, and yet again the indiscipline led directly to Cockfosters equaliser. On 73 minutes, a free kick 25 yards was on offer, well within Matt Keogh's range, and the big man smashed the ball past the defensive wall and Virgo's reach to level the game at 2-2. Charlie Moxom fired over from the edge of the area, but with the Cockfosters back four now firmly in command, Brimsdown did not have one shot on target throughout the second half. As the clocked ticked down, the Cockfosters faithful showed some sign of nerves - based on 90+ minutes experiences of the past. But no such worries. In the end Cockfosters had to settle for a point that might well have been three. Thursday 19th March 2009 South Midlands Floodlight Cup - Senior Section COCKFOSTERS 1 HERTFORD TOWN 4 U18s Shine In Defeat...... As holders of the trophy we are obliged to defend the cup, but as the fixture list has turned out, in fairness, the last thing that was needed was an additional game with all the creaking bones there are around Chalk Lane at the moment. What an ideal opportunity then for Neil Ewing to plunge some new young faces into the fray. This he did, with seven of the current U18 squad, and if you include Kieron Bishop who has first team experience but also represents the U18s, that makes eight, then youth definitely was given its head. How would they fare? Well they were far from overawed and in the opening half-hour matched Hertford every step of the way. It was Cockfosters who made the breakthrough when captain for the night, Matt Kearney curled a left foot effort from twenty yards beyond the dive of Lee Robinson.Darryl Mitchell hit back after 35 minutes when his free kick bounced back off the defensive wall to allow a second strike that found the far corner. Seven minutes later, Troy Alexander-Jarrett made the most of a failed claim for offside and sped goalwards before side-stepping Mark Jackson to put Hertford 2-1 up. With the crowd waiting for the half-time whistle and a warm cup of tea, Hertford benefitted from a handball decision which was converted from the spot to give the Blues a flattering 3-1 lead. Danny Curbelo replaced the injured Mark Jackson in goal for the second half but was rarely troubled, called on to claim a couple of crosses as the game as a spectacle went off the boil. But that should not disguise the contribution made by all of the U18s who to a man played tremendously well. The final act came when a short corner was eventually floated across for Scott O'Donoghue to head home.
Tuesday 17th March 2009 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division COCKFOSTERS 1 COLNEY HEATH 2 The Point That Got Away...... With the relentless pressure on our fixture list, this game was the sixth in the last thirteen days.. too much for anybody. The game began brightly enough with Colney Heath showing few signs of the dip in form they have suffered after a successful season that at one time saw them challenging in third place. The opening minutes belong to Colney Heath with Cockfosters grateful for Paul Daley's dash from goal that stopped Phil Jackman in his tracks. Within thirty seconds the same scenario repeated at the other end with Tom Blackman halting Danny Curbelo's surge on goal. the breakthrough came on 19 minutes and it came the way of Colney Heath. Matt Keogh was penalised for a foul on Jackman just outside the box and when the kick came in deep at the far post Ant Muthusamy sneaked in and tucked the ball just inside the post. Jackman was a handful and within minutes saw an effort roll just beyond the post. The visitors had better movement, first touch and were supporting their front men well. For all that, Cockfosters hit back after 39 minutes when Ian Reddington nipped in to take advantage of a mix-up between Blackman and Muthusamy to roll the ball into a vacant net. You don't see many rockets at Chalk Lane, but on Tuesday Matt Keogh unleashed the most ferocious Exocet that I have witnessed, only to be denied as Blackman redeemed himself from the earlier howler to magnificently turn the shot round for a corner. The second half was short on spectacle until the closing stages. A draw seemed odds-on as neither side could claim the ascendency. However with ten minutes left, Kieron Bishop, with just about his first touch after coming off the bench, conceded a penalty. Richard Howard stepped up but his effort was well saved by Paul Daley and Cockfosters were still on course for that point. The game suddenly opened up and there were chances at each end. Curbelo played in Bishop and momentarily the chance was there but the moment was not seized nor when Nathan Eno headed over in the dying minutes. The cruelty was just about to be delivered. With the game into added time, Richard Howard was faced with an easy tap-in as the Cockfosters rearguard disappeared. There has to be a lesson there somewhere that - What we have we hold. A point would have been a good enough prize on the night... Saturday 14th March 2009 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division COCKFOSTERS 2 CHALFONT St. PETER 3 Running On Empty......  Having
had the best run of results all season, Saturday's clash against the F.A.
Vase semi-finalists was always going to be the sternest of tests. Having
showed so much fight and spirit in recent games, the opening half-hour was
as flat as it comes. From the off we were second best, barely able to get
the ball out of our own half for long periods.
Charlie Strutton with a shot that just crept by the far post signalled his
intentions and with the Reds clearly in need of a pick-me-up the signs were
ominous. It took 15 minutes for the Saints to score when Barry Brosnan got
in behind Tom Boxer leaving the Chalfont man one on one with Paul Daley.
Brosnan's finish was clinical and it looked like a long afternoon ahead. It
was with some relief that the half-time whistle blew without any further
damage having been inflicted. The second half began with Cockfosters far
more competitive and within seven minutes of the restart, Nathan Eno burst
through the heart of the Chalfont defence to coolly lob the advancing Mark
Oliver. Chalfont are a quality side and it seemed that they took some afront
at the cheek of Cockfosters
 levelling.
It took four minutes to re-establish the lead although most neutrals would
claim that the non-hoisting of the Asst. Referee's flag allowed Lee Togwell
to put the Saints back in the driving seat. At least Cockfosters were not
prepared to lie down and on 80 minutes the game was levelled at 2-2. Aaron
Ewing took a corner on the right and Nathan Eno was at the far post to head
Cockfosters back level. When a point would have been a tremendous and much
needed boost, Chalfont changed gear and retook the lead almost immediately.
Charlie Strutton benefitted from a lack of concentration in the home defence
and Cockfosters were behind once more.
Thursday 12th March 2009 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division WELWYN GARDEN CITY 1 COCKFOSTERS 2 Citizen Smith Floors Citizens......
It's true that we are not the only ones, but the intensive schedule of
matches that has been inflicted on us and others in the Division would have
those at Old Trafford and The Emirates squealing like pigs if anyone even
dare mention such a program. Imagine all of the conspiracy theories that
those prima donnas of the Premier League would come up with. The Cockfosters caravan trundled into Herns
Lane with bones creaking and very little left in the tank, to play the
fourth of six games in an eight day period.. Losing Matt Keogh
in the warm-up meant a first minute substitution so the omens were not the
best. Cockfosters were forced to play five across the middle of the pitch
with Dan Curbelo playing a lone role up front. This ploy largely worked well
in the first half, the consequence being that Paul Daley was only troubled
once in the first period when he had to deal with a Stuart Blackburne shot
midway through the half. Fabio Valenti also wasted a good shooting
opportunity as his drive comfortably cleared Daley's bar. Welwyn found it
difficult to make any worthwhile headway against a wall of red shirts that
were intent on protecting what was already in the bank, rapidly shutting
down and getting key blocks on as the cause demanded. With Cockfosters
limitations in attack, Mark Blackburne in the Welwyn goal only had a Matt
Kearney drive from 25 yards to deal with as his first half contribution,
although Danny Curbelo flashed a header over from Joe Smith's corner.
Cockfosters may have been short on attacking creativity in the opening 45
but within a minute of the restart the width of the pitch was fully utilised
as Matt Kearney played in Joe Smith wide on the right. Smith set sail for
the Welwyn goal and his firm finish was partially parried by Blackburne, but
not enough to prevent the Reds taking the lead. Cockfosters defending was
not so effective in the early stages and the speedy Welwyn front-line were
turning the Cockfosters rearguard and all too frequently it was a race. One
such charge left Paul Daley injured as he came out and clashed with Stuart
Blackburne. Having already found the way to goal, eleven minutes later, Cockfosters went down the
same path again. Steve Kessack started the move with a short pass to Joe
Smith wide on the right. Smith rolled around his marker and made tracks down
the flank before squaring the a ball across the face of the goal for Danny Curbelo to lash home. Sadly from Cockfosters viewpoint the two goal cushion
was shortlived as Blackburne smashed home an angled drive five minutes later
which would really turn up the heat. From here on in it was pretty well all
Welwyn and although the pressure was intense, the defending matched it.
Although, from a string of corners, Welwyn eventually found the target but
the referee's whistle rescued the Reds after Daley was adjudged to have been
fouled. With Welwyn being frustrated by the stubborn resolve of the visitors
and their own shortcomings in being able to test the goalkeeper, frustration
boiled to the top. With five minutes of normal time remaining, Welwyn's
Junior Lewis, an "experienced pro", did not show that particular quality as
he half-volleyed Ian Reddington, with the ball dead at a free kick, right in
front of the Referee. No option other than to say "Goodnight - Please switch
on the showers". With that moment of madness came an easing of the pressure
and Cockfosters were comfortably able to see out the remaining minutes. From
a team that limped onto the pitch two hours earlier - the bounce in the step
and the singing in the dressing room at the end said it all.
Tuesday 10th March 2009 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division COCKFOSTERS 4 HARINGEY BOROUGH 3 A Night To Remember......
Ingredients... local derby..six pointer...seven goals and add to that the
importance of the points to both sides and you have on your plate an
irresistible recipe. And so it turned out. Haringey flew out of the traps,
and within a minute Paull Abbott had flighted in a cross from the left that
Laselle Simon had time to spare before planting a firm header beyond Paul
Daley. For the opening exchanges the Borough were buzzing against a
Cockfosters team that were still in the dressing room. Sharper all round,
Haringey were really up for it and with still just six minutes on the clock,
Cockfosters were stunned again. Karl Lewis outstripped Steve Kessack down
the middle, and from the edge of the box, curled his shot beyond Daley and
into the top corner to put Haringey 2-0 up and in dreamland. It may have
been dreamland for Haringey but for Cockfosters it was the stuff of
nightmares. In a game of such importance, this was turning into a critical
situation and it took the considerable goading and encouragement of the
experienced Paul Daley and Matt Keogh to stem the flow. Slowly the tide
turned and as Haringey were forced back some unsafe handling by Jamaine
Edwards in the Haringey goal gave Cockfosters encouragement. However there
was nothing unsafe as Edwards did well to beat away a powerful attempt from
Aaron Ewing. Crosses were raining in from both sides and this seemed to be
Cockfosters most lucrative route to goal. One delivery from Nathan Eno
eluded the grounded Edwards at the near post leaving Danny Curbelo with a
far post tap-in from two yards. Amazingly the chance went begging as Curbelo
planted the ball straight back into the arms of the startled 'keeper on the
other post. Cockfosters were now turning up the heat but Haringey survived
to the break with their lead intact. Within a minute of the restart, the
recovery was on - Matt Keogh sent a 40 yard diagonal ball beyond the Borough
back line for Aaron Ewing to latch onto, evade the advancing Edwards and
calmly roll the ball home. The pressure was now on as Curbelo headed a Ewing
cross over and the same player had a shot punched away by Edwards. There
remaind the danger of the speedy Karl Lewis up front for Haringey and one
effort had to be well saved by Daley. But, with tails up, Cockfosters
powered forward and after 63 minutes the anticipated equaliser arrived.
Danny Curbelo was the more determined as a powerful charge down the middle
saw him surge into the area, where his presence and the bounce beat Edwards,
leaving Curbelo to race on and head the ball into the vacant net.
Cockfosters briefly took their foot off the gas and Haringey got their
second wind. After 73 minutes, the Borough retook the lead after, following
a corner, a bizarre sequence of shots flashing across the Cockfosters goal
was finally ended as Paull Abbott slammed the ball home. Time to turn the
heat up again and from a corner on the right, Aaron Ewing found the head of
Matt Keogh beyond the far post, which was returned into the fray for Rakim
Richards to powerfully head Cockfosters level at 3-3 with seven minutes
remaining. With the clock now ticking down, Cockfosters looked the more
likely winners and after 86 minutes it arrived. Haringey were guilty of a
disastrous lapse in concentration, as for some reason they allowed Nathan
Eno to escape their attention and wriggle his way along the goal-line before
delivering a cross that had "head me home" written all over it. This Curbelo
duly obliged to clinch the win before disappearing beneath a sea of red
shirts. There was still time to bite the nails as in added time, Abbott sent
a free kick screaming inches wide of Daley's right hand post. The final
whistle was greeted by the Chalk Lane faithful as if the Cup had just been
one. Still - it was a bloody good game - it was superb entertainment and Oh
Yes It's been a long, long season so why not enjoy it! They deserve
it.......
Saturday 7th March 2009 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division COCKFOSTERS 2 HERTFORD TOWN 1 From Back To Front Battlers......  By their own admission, Hertford did not expect
to return to their base empty handed. That they did was wholly due to the
battling performance that Cockfosters plight demanded. The rearguard were
superb to a man and the recent additions of Matt Keogh at the heart of the
defence and goalkeeper, Paul Daley, have stiffened up no end, a defence that
has been by any stretch of the imagination, too generous for too long. That
Cockfosters held a two goal advantage by half-time was due to two of the
scruffiest goals seen at Chalk Lane for some time. But in each case, the
build up was neat and decisive. After 21 minutes, Kieron Bishop started the
move down the left and was set clear by Nathan Eno's neat pass to deliver a
low cross into the Hertford goalmouth. In the scramble that followed,
Hertford's Duncan Hamilton's touch hit the body of the grounded Danny
Curbelo and crept over the line. Four minutes later, Joe smith sent in an
angled shot that beat Louis O'Neil in the Hertford goal, all ends up. The
danger seemed to have passed as Danny Curbelo's effort from the rebound went
straight at O'Neil, only for the 'keeper to allow the ball through his legs
to give Cockfosters a two goal lead. Hertford started the second half with
more purpose and after 58 minutes reduced the lead when Rob Luya received
from a free kick and raced into the left hand side of the area before
unleashing a shot past Daley. There then followed a spell of baffling
refereeing decisions which left most in and around Chalk Lane totally
bemused and in a flurry of cards and free kicks, Rakim Richards was to catch
sight of a yellow for rolling the ball four yards away. That was to cost
dear as Richards saw the same card minutes later for a foul that was more
justified. Reduced to ten men, Cockfosters had to dig in and as they went
deeper and deeper, chances opened up for Hertford and in particular for
David Hunt. Fortunately for
 Cockfosters, Hunt was wayward with his finishing
that on another day would have presented him with a hat-trick. At the other
end, Joe Smith took too much time when staring at O'Neil and his shot was
sent wide of the stranded 'keeper as the faithful held their breath in
anticipation of the game being killed off. Another chance was to fall to our
man Joe when Danny Curbelo did well to get to Nathan Eno's cross and head
back across the face of the goal only for Smith to miss the target again.
The referee hardly endeared himself to the crowd as he entered the 97th
minute and with it came Hertford's last chance. A free kick from just
outside the area was blasted goalwards but to the relief of all, Daley
managed to turn it over the bar - which was the only shot apart from the
goal, that he had to deal with. Hardly vintage, but that was a massive three
points - now we need to follow that up. Thursday 5th March 2009 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division COCKFOSTERS 0 LEVERSTOCK GREEN 2 Daley Delivers As Reds Mis-fire......
Cockfosters ended up empty handed after an
opening period that suggested that there might well be something in it by
the end of the night. Neil Ewing paraded new signings Matt Keogh and Mark
Marshall as a new central defensive pairing against one of the most prolific
front lines in the Division. Although Cockfosters had the lion's share of
the play in that opening period, it's true to say that Elliott Thomas in the
Leverstock goal was hardly over-worked. This game was eventually to be
determined by the accuracy of the respective forward lines and on that score
it's sad to admit that Leverstock were hitting the target with regularity.
In Jimmy Armstrong, Leverstock have one of the Division's leading marksmen
and after 21 minutes, the said no. 9 had added to his goal count. Matt
Wardle was able to provide a pass from the right hand side of the box and
there was Armstrong about eight yards in front of an exposed Paul Daley, who
had no chance, as Leverstock went one up. We all talk about the rub of the
green, so when the Asst. Referee flagged for a Cockfosters throw-in, most
people assumed that it would be taken by someone in a red shirt - but no.
The referee overruled his assistant, something not seen in the professional
game for a throw-in, and as Cockfosters were caught flat-footed, Wardle
scampered away before cutting in and dancing down the goal line to provide
Armstrong with a tap-in. Amazing, from being well in the hunt to 2-0 down in
the space of three minutes. Not surprisingly, Leverstock went into the
ascendency and only Paul Daley prevented a first half deluge. Cockfosters
seemed certain to reduce the deficit after 38 minutes when Joe Smith's cross
was volleyed goalwards by Danny Curbelo only to strike the somewhat
fortunate Thomas. As half-time approached, saves from Frankie Jowle, and a
double save from Charlie Gorman's fierce volley followed by keeping out
Armstong's attempt from the rebound, kept Leverstock at bay. The second half
was only minutes old as Gorman hit the post and Armstrong was denied by
another fine Daley save. As the half progressed, Cockfosters came more into
it, but the finishing was wayward as Thomas was too frequently allowed to
watch the ball disappear into the night sky, and Leverstock's hold on the
game was never really threatened.
Saturday 28th February 2009 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division St. MARGARETSBURY 2 COCKFOSTERS 0 Reds Red Card Blues......  Hopes were high that
following the promising display against Hanwell a further 3 points could
come via this encounter against a Bury side having something of an
indifferent season. In truth our performance levels did not dip and after
having a good deal of the play things went all pear shaped for us when Tom
Boxer got involved in a last man situation in our box and received an
inevitable straight red for his troubles. It is always easy to be wise after
the event but it has to be argued that to let an opponent have an
unchallenged pop at goal that he could well miss is sometimes better than
risking a clumsy tackle ending up with a penalty and a ten man situation for
the rest of the game. Unfortunately that is how things panned out and after
36 mins we battled it out with ten men following a successful penalty
conversion by John Barker. Prior to
Tom's exit we were giving a very good account of ourselves with some bright
attacking play supported by those now familiar steam engine mid field runs
from Joe Smith and Aaron Ewing. Curbelo and Kearney repeatedly gave the home
defence plenty of problems with the former just failing to hit the sweet
spot of his forehead on four occasions. The second half was not predictable
in as much that we did not lay down and continued to take the game to the
Bury with our ten men. When the home side did give us problems at the back
Paul Daley came to our rescue with some unbelieveable shot stopping.
Hutchings had one shot on target that had
goal written all over it until a last ditch block by a defender took it off
course. Our best other opportunity fell to Joe Smith who went narrowly wide
with a fierce incoming header on goal. Mid way through the half Marcel Okoro
came off the bench to show us that we have a young player capable of
ruffling up defences with some boisterous forceful running combined with
some neat tricks with the ball. As seems to be common with St Margaretsbury
games we had a bit of needle enter into the game, and this one was no
exception, when captain Danny Hutchings got involved in a chaotic scrap
which should have seen the red card come out again but amazingly it stayed
in the ref's pocket. Our constant pushing forward was always going to leave
us open at the back and not surprisingly we got punished when sub Odoko
Xaniel sealed the game for our hosts by netting in the 85 minute. Although
we are not picking up a steady stream of points it is encouraging to see us
playing well with an infusion of young academy talent looking as though they
can handle the first team scene.
Tuesday 24th February 2009 Spartan South Midlands League - Challenge Trophy - Semi-Final COCKFOSTERS 2 CHALFONT St. PETER 5 Chalfont Come With Stacks Of Missiles.......
Thirty minutes into this league cup
encounter our impressive cup run looked to be continuing when we really
took the game to our visitors and led by 2 goal to nil following goals
from Matt Kearney and Danny Curbelo. The first of them on 14 mins had an
element of good fortune about it when Kearney somehow got behind keeper
Oliver who had advanced to the edge of his box to deal with an innocent
looking back pass. It ended up all a bit like the loneliness of the long
distance runner as Matt galloped his way to the goal line before
smashing the ball home. If that was a gift chance then their was nothing
fortunate about our second on the half hour because it was an absolute
blinding move that cut Chalfont's defence to shreds. Smith and Kearney
combined to set up the in running Curbelo who applied the lethal
finishing touch with a sweeping shot into the net. An absolute gem and
we were deservedly on a high giving our F.A. Vase campaigners a bloody
good lesson in the arts of the glorious game. Sadly however from thereon
Chalfont seemed to find another gear and were level by the break through
goals from Strutton and Swaysland. During their rush on our goal Paul
Daley and Rakim Richards did wonders between the posts to keep the
scores level, and at times Richards become so involved with goal line
saves, that it was questionable just who was the keeper. If there was a
grouse on our part, it had to be that Chalfont got the better of some
gratuitous linesman decisions in order to get back in the game. No such
complaints about the second half as Chalfont introduced their version of
Rory Delap in the person of Ben Stack who hurled a monster throw on 50
mins for Paxton to nod home a simple header. An even longer Stack
missile 15 mins later provided the same service for Terrell Lewis to
convert from close in. Chalfont were now beginning to run us a bit
ragged at the back and on 85 mins Anthony Wright did a D.I.Y. job out on
the left, chasing a seemingly lost cause before cutting in, before
crashing the ball home. We did have our chances to add a bit of
respectability to the scoreline but debutant Billy Smyth failed to
capitalise on the couple of sniffs at goal that came his way. Certainly
no complaints about the end result, but to be fair we did give our
visitors a good fight and did manage to get the goal of the game with
the Curbelo strike.
Saturday 21st February 2009 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division COCKFOSTERS 2 HANWELL TOWN 0 From Out Of Nowhere.......
With a healthy 39 points as opposed to our 13
our visitors could be excused for thinking that they only needed to turn up
for an easy three points. Footie however is not like that and Hanwell were
in for a rude awakening as we put in one of our more gutsy performances of
the season. The side at present has the nucleus of a promising outfit based
on a mixture of wise old heads and the long awaited breakthrough of some of
our star academy lads making it into the first team. Hanwell throughout the
entire 90 mins looked to be a very jaded lot and in comparison we were the
side that played like a top half team. On ten minutes a touch of high class
professionalism played out on our very modest Dacre field patch led to us
taking the lead. A very astute Aaron Ewing standing over the ball for a free
kick just outside the box asked the question to the referee if he could have
a go at goal and no sooner had the nod been given the ball was nestling in
the back of the net whilst keeper Hussein was still wall building. A
brilliant strike from Aaron but equally brilliant was his knowledge of the
game to take advantage of a Hanwell defence caught with their pants down.
Our main spearhead of Matt Kearney and Danny Curbelo seemed to be up for it
right from the start with blood and thunder guts Curbelo in particular
scrapping for anything that resembled a football. Kearney on the other hand
showed his class as a clever player at holding the ball up and brought back
memories of the Penfold days. Curbelo was unlucky with a deft header that
just looped over the bar and he swiftly followed it up with another smacking
header that met up with remarkable resistance from the acrobatic Hussein.
Similar to our first goal that seemingly came from out of nowhere our second
on 28 mins carried the same trade mark as Dan the Man strolled across the
left side of the box with not a hint of menace about him until he let fly at
goal delivering a gem of a cross shot that beat his adversary Hussein all
ends up. Earlier in the week match commentators drooled over the way Man
United's Welbeck dispatched a similar ball into the net but if anything the
Curbelo version was better. Two nil up at the break and a very encouraging
display at the back showing no hint of our 70 goal blues. The second half
was a bit quieter for us on the attack front with our best chance falling to
Ewiing who wildly wellied a Curbelo set up into the Compton end oak tree.
What attacks Hanwell did muster up were either quelled by our well drilled
backline or dealt with superbly by our number one Daley. All in all a very
promising display against a side who were no pushover but on the day made to
look very ordinary indeed. Rakim Richards has proved that he can have a red
shirt for as long as he wants and oozes quality as does the tireless Joe
Smith who had a busy day bombing down the right. Captain Casey had a great
game in the middle of the park and until he was injured Nick Martin looked
the business wherever he roamed.
Saturday 31st January 2009 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division BIGGLESWADE UNITED 3 COCKFOSTERS 2 Missed Chances See Us Miss Out.......
Games against fellow strugglers are always
recognised as 6 pointers and this was exactly that sort of game for us. It
did not take long to realise that United were indeed easy to open up at the
back and when Dave Pigden got to the by line to pull the ball back
 across
the six yard box the luck of the gods were with our hosts when Jon Moniatis
just failed to make contact. A speculative ball from Hutchings in the 13 th
minute however found Moniatis in oceans of space on the left wing and with
keeper Lawrence caught in no mans land trying to thwart the threat on his
goal Jon managed to steer the perfect pass to Dave Pigden for a clinical
strike on goal. Almost immediately afterwards Jon found himself through on
goal right down the throat of a very wobbly Utd defence but an untidy
challenge from Lawrence stopped him in his tracks and a good penalty shout
was denied. There was nothing to suggest that Biggleswade were threatening
to get back into the game as we continued to attack looking for a second
goal. On the half hour mark a Utd free kick just outside our box gave them
the chance of a rare pop at goal. Keeper Daley spent some considerable time
constructing his wall but it was all to no avail as Meshach Cole planted the
ball into the top corner of the net with Daley not moving a single muscle in
his body. Level at half time was not what we deserved and when Matthew Brown
restored our lead following a
corner kick scramble one minute into the second half it triggered off
another bout of good attacking plat from us. A Pigden drifter only just
failed to deceive keeper Lawrence and Moniatis had a couple of clear chances
that he would have normally buried. Once again their appeared to be little
threat coming from Utd when in a matter of five minutes they took the game
away from us by taking the lead through goals from Cole and an o,g, from
Kenna in the 68th and 72nd mins. It could have been worse when a penalty
shout went against us a minute later but thankfully Daley saved with a great
stop. We had chances to at least scramble a point out of the game not least
a Moniatis strike that rapped the upright with the last kick of the game. To
have played so well especially on the attacking front and not reap the real
rewards from it all was so very frustrating. The energetic Joe Smith was one
of those who certainly did not deserve to be on the losing side.
 ..........Oh
Yes! And it
was bloody freezing.....
Saturday 17th January 2009 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division COCKFOSTERS 2 OXHEY JETS 4 Blues Luck Not To See Red.......  As yet our recent
decent cup form has not transferred itself to the bread and butter of the
league. Prior to this game the sixty six goals leaked so far this season
speaks a lot for the way we have struggled to keep the ball out of our net
and sadly no other team has a worse record than ours in the entire league.
Another four were added to the tally after this game and visitors Oxhey Jets
were well worthy of taking all the points. Unlike other seasons our main
problem has been to firmly establish a regular first team squad and having
to use 44 players up to mid season stage highlights this point. Another pair
were introduced into the fray for this game in the form of the ever loyal
Danny Hutchings and the wandering
nomad Liam Kenna who decided to return to the Lane. Squad circulation is a
massive headache any management has to deal with at our football level but
in our case different bodies having to be used has been slightly above the
norm and one has to commiserate with a management burdened with such
problems. It has to be truthfully said that as a club we seem to attract too
many drifters who don the red shirt and then wander off on their way again.
The opening period of the Oxhey encounter saw us putting in a fair
performance against opposition who were clearly geared up to good fast
attacking play. That we survived the first 25 minutes without any undue
worries at the back suggested that we might get something from the game and
when Jon Moniatis sprang the off side trap to win us a penalty following a
crude keeper chop down, things momentarily looked good for us when Jon
predictably netted the spot kick. Up until then Morgan , Hunt, Richards and
Conway were tidying up reasonably well at the back but following our goal
Oxhey seemed to turn up another gear
and their front
 men
playing superbly off the shoulder of their markers began to give us some
scary moments. Just when we thought our lead would stay intact to the break
their was a raid down the left and from the gaping hole created Wayne Gladdy
gobbled up a gift chance from six yards out. The second half was only a
minute old when sloppy loss of ball possession in mid field led to Adam
Lowton firing home a corker from long range. Lowton was again on hand to
score his second on sixty mins and when sub Arthur made it 4, 1, on eighty
five mins the match was effectively put to bed by our hosts. The latter part
of the game saw the introduction of Joe Smith and Kieran Bishop from our
bench. Joe will always give you a good run for your money with his new
version of the older Hutchings engine room but it was Kieran who caught the
eye providing us with a bit of life down the left. It was fitting that he
added a late consolation goal for us with a sweetly taken shot that saw the
ball completely cut out the keeper on its way ino an empty net. Disregarding
our penalty it is of note that the Kieran Bishop strike on goal was our only
effort on target for the entire game but on the excuses front Oxhey keeper
Chris Walker can consider himself lucky that he did not see red when guilty
of fouling an opponent on a one on one situation. To have received no card
at all beggars belief.
Saturday 27th December 2008 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division COCKFOSTERS 2 BRIMSDOWN ROVERS 3 Ben The Tormentor....... With both sides
desperate for points this game was destined to be a bigger than usual local
derby game. Added to the menu was the fact that Rovers fielded Ben Andreos a
recent signing from us in his preferred attacking role. That he performed
well in this role cannot be denied and right from the off Ben looked sharp
and very much up for it. Within 5 mins of play he burst down our right flank
and set up a sitter for a colleague but thankfully for us Barry Breen came
to our rescue with a brave save. Having recovered from this early fright we
gradually began to put our act together and on 9 mins Wes Ewing sent out a
searching ball that found Curbelo lurking outside the bar doors. Dan's
ensuing cross was whipped over with such venom Jon Moniatis needed only the
slightest of touches on ball to beat Montgomery at the near post. From the
moment the ball left Ewing's feet to the clinical Monnie execution on goal
the move oused sheer class befitting upper premier league levels. There then
followed a a real ding dong battle for supremacy and to be honest Andreos
was giving our defence some real problems with his strong runs on goal being
denied only by another great Breen save and then a brilliant last ditch
block from Casey inside the 6 yard box. Just when we thought that our lead
would stay intact till the break we conceded a goal from a corner kick which
led to a game of ping pong ending up with an Adam Moss shot getting a final
ping off Casey before hitting the net. The second half opened up with
neither side taking control and on 59 mins we were grateful for a terrible
mistake by Chalie Moxom which resulted in all of our 3 front men bearing
down on Montgomery. The ball however was at the feet of Moniatis and only he
was going to take responsibility for putting his charge into the net and
this he done by planting the ball across goal into the far corner, On 67
mins villain became hero for Rovers when the industrious Moxom let fly with
a stunner to level the scores. Our lead looked certain to be restored
shortly afterwards when Moniatis created an opening for a hat trick strike
but he got the last bit all wrong and scuffed his shot wide. In between all
this we were entertained by a classic clash with the
 handbags coming out
all over pitch and the game lost its identity when a twenty two man scrum
formed on the edge of our box. Amazingly the referee kept his red card in
his pocket but the final nail in the coffin was not far away and driving the
nail home just had to be the Andreos boy and he did this with a header in
the 87th min. We at Cockfosters knew all about his heading skills and it did
not help matters when our tormenter appeared to be on a desert island as the
Rovers free kick came over. Dan Curbelo got a second yellow close to time
to add to our woes. No complaints really and our visitors shaded a fairly
tight game which hinged a lot on our inability to defend set pieces
comfortably.
Tuesday 16th December 2008 Spartan South Midlands League - Challenge Trophy - Third Round BROXBOURNE BORO' V & E 4 COCKFOSTERS 5 Moniatis hat-trick But Full Supporting Cast See Reds Through....... THe headlines will go quite justifiably to Jon Moniatis, whose first half hat-trick was the cornerstone of the victory that puts Cockfosters into the last eight of the competition. But Jon will no doubt point to the other end of the pitch where Dan Curbelo, with a fabulous first half performance, kept the eager Broxbourne forwards at bay. The third major player in this battle was manager Neil Ewing, who was forced and was quite happy to pitch several of the U18's into the squad.... and they did not let him down. With defences at each end looking vulnerable, it was Cockfosters who made the breakthrough after 13 minutes. A revitalised Jon Moniatis reacted quicker than any of the home defenders and managed to prod the ball over the line after Joe Smith had presented the chance eight yards from goal. The ball was being moved around by both sides on a fine playing surface and an entertaining evening was on the cards. Broxbourne had a clear chance to level, but as in one of those Christmas Horror Miss DVD's, the chance was shovelled over the top with the goal gaping. Coupled with some fine saves from Dan Curbelo, the lead was maintained and if Dave Pigden had any luck , then his hooked attempt that flew off the angle of the home crossbar would have doubled the lead. But we did not have to wait long before Moniatis worked a position on the left near the goal-line, cut back inside to open the angle and fire across Virgo and into the far corner. However, the two goal advantage only lasted a couple of minutes before Rob Tungatt tucked the ball home from very close-in despite the prolonged appeals for offside that eventually soured the relationship of Curbelo with referee Wynne. Chances were coming thick and fast and when Thibault Aliadiaire cut in from the left his cross was smashed against a post by a Broxbourne defender. In the scramble that followed, the ball was only partially cleared and when the cross came back in Virgo wrapped both arms around Moniatis's neck like a scarf leaving the referee to point to the spot. Moniatis fired home to claim his first half hat-trick two minutes before the break. In such an open game, the half-time talk was all about the probability of the game finishing five goals each... they were to be proved not too far wide of the mark. With the second half just seven minutes old Matt Mitchell was on hand to force the ball over the line after it had initially hit the post in a goalmouth scramble. Just when it seemed that Broxbourne would turn the screw came the goal of the evening. Joe Smith picked the ball up from twenty-five yards, took a couple of touches to his left and let fly with his left foot leaving Virgo clutching at the night sky as the ball flew into the roof of the net. More goals seemed a certainty and it was now Broxbourne who posed the threat. Tony Burke had a speculative lob from way out go wide with Curbelo stranded and when a cross came in from the right, Wes Ewing was penalised for a push allowing Robert Kemble to make it 4-3 from the spot after 72 minutes. Although Broxbourne enjoyed more of the possession during this spell they created little danger to Curbelo's goal and the credit for that has to go to the workrate that the entire Cockfosters team displayed. Unfortunately, a total lack of concentration was allowed to bring Broxbourne level. As Cockfosters dithered at a free kick conceded some thirty yards from goal, the home side were quick to react as the ball was slipped down the side of a partially built wall for Ryan Wade to fire high into the net to square it at 4-4. With all looking at watches and expecting another 30 minutes in the gathering gloom, Cockfosters roared back and once more stormed into the lead. Thibault Aliadiaire found himself with the opening to fire low past Virgo's left hand to grab the deciding goal. To individually identify the star performers would mean my naming thirteen players. This was a great win for Cockfosters, for Neil Ewing & Ron Syrett and for the young lads that were introduced.
Saturday 6th December 2008 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division OXHEY JETS 2 COCKFOSTERS 1 Unlucky Not To Get Something.......
Saturday 22nd November 2008 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division COCKFOSTERS 2 KINGSBURY LONDON TIGERS 3 Beware The Fat Lady.....  Played
out in bitterly cold conditions this game was barely 4 mins old when
Cockfosters themselves were caught cold with a Tigers goal. Right from the
off it was obvious that our visitors had a pair of wide runners with whippet
like pace capable of giving us a lot of problems and so it came as no
surprise the opening goal came from this source. Renars Zarchenko one of the
whippets in question got the better of Morgan down the left in order to cut
in and score with ease. The first half from thereon drifted into snooze
control with very little happening for either side up front. There was one
incident which sparked a bit of life into the game and that came close to
half time when Jon Moniatis was hauled down by keeper Kambila just outside
the box. Sadly for us the referee saw the situation not as a case of a last
defender tackle and the blatantly obvious red card offence went unpunished.
The second half was predictable in as much that nearly all our threats on
the Tigers goal came from what Dan O'Connor could conjure with his pace down
both wings. An early opportunity given to Ian Reddington was wasted when he
took on an impossible shot on
goal instead of a lay off a lay off to those players better placed. Jon
Moniatis followed this up with a self created opening and although he got
everything seemingly right by finishing with a good firm strike on goal the
keeper saved brilliantly. Ian Reddington then came close to an equaliser
when he rattled the upright with a stinging drive. That equaliser did
however arrive shortly afterwards on 68 mins and it was the O'Connor lad who
got behind enemy lines to deliver an under pressure cross which caused
problems between centre back and keeper thus giving Dave Pigden the chance
of an unguarded net tap in. Somewhat against the run of play we conceded a
goal in the first minute of added time, when Edson Cata bundled the ball
home from close in. All seemed lost and the point we strived hard for looked
to be gone and then from out of nowhere, and with the clock now showing six
minutes of added time played, O'Connor went on a rapier like run right
down the throat of the Tigers defence. Home supporters looked on with baited
breath as Dan bore down on goal to finish it off with an unstoppable drive.
The ensuing celebrations were a sight for sore eyes and that precious point
was now surely back in the bag. Unfortunately the Fat Lady had not performed
her finale piece and straight from the restart we lost enough concentration
so as to lose another goal when Elton Almieda turned the game on its head
with a Tigers winner. The obvious lesson to be leant from all this is beware
the Fat Lady she can be a cruel cow at times especially in footie games..
Tuesday 18th November 2008 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division Cup COCKFOSTERS 2 HOLMER GREEN 1 No Late Night Extra As Chandler Chips In.......
Fresh from a much needed boost following the win at Colney Heath at the
weekend, Neil Ewing rang the changes for this Premier Division Cup tie
against fellow strugglers, Holmer Green. There was a last minute change
when Charlie Morgan was injured in the warm-up and Michael Casey stepped
in. Having started the better with Dave Pigden having a shot cleared off
the line after just two minutes, Holmer Green quickly found their feet
and in the opening minutes looked the sharper of the two. Cockfosters
then survived a scare from a corner and in the early stages were second
best in mid-field and were having to defend in depth. Slowly,
Cockfosters found their feet and after 32 minutes took the lead through
Jon Moniatis. Holmer 'keeper Gareth Tinsley, failed to cleanly collect a
Dave Pigden shot and Monnie bundled the ball over the line at the far
post to signal his return following a three match ban. The goal provided
the boost that the Reds needed and they comfortably controlled the rest
of the half. Jamie Brandon was getting his first full first team game of
the season and twice his supply line provided the sort of opportunities
that should have put the tie to bed. A free kick on the left was inches
in front of Ian Reddington, who was unable to convert at the far post
and minutes later, Tinsley reached and then fumbled a Brandon driven
cross but on this occasion Jon Moniatis was unable to get the touch to
convert. Cockfosters were hardly convincing and the visitors began to
look the better team as the half progressed. Memories of Holmer's last
visit to these shores resurfaced as Andy Shed, a hatrick hero for Holmer
in the league game in September, once more set up a tight finish with a
goal after 77 minutes. Holmer were now belying their current league form
and when substitute Steve Groves let fly from just outside the box, Dan
Curbelo produced an outstanding save to keep Cockfosters in it. Despite
Holmer's superiority at this stage, Cockfosters still had ample chances
to win but the cutting edge was missing. With extra-time a real
probability, Ian Reddington strode forward and let fly. His shot was
blocked and the ball fell for Jack Chandler whose first touch was
sublime and his second better as he coolly chipped the ball high into
the net to give Cockfosters the win and a trip to Biggleswade United in
the next Round.
Saturday 15th November 2008 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division COLNEY HEATH 2 COCKFOSTERS 3 Dan The Man.....
Taking the seasons current stats of both
ttams into consideration the Magpies can be excused for thinking that
turning up was enough to bag three easy points. They were in for a rude
awakening and the stats accounted for nothing and in the end they were
beaten by a far better side on the day. Right from the off it was a case
of were the Magpies capable of containing our 'Will o the Wisp' in the
person of Dan O'Connor and the the answer to that question soon become
apparent as 'O'C' popped up here there and everywhere tormenting the
daylights out of his markers wherever he chose to roam. In particular he
claimed the right flank territory which was an area a combine harvester
could have gone through with ease. Dan went down this path after just 5
mins and sent over a deflected cross which led to Dave Pigden cleverly
side footing the ball into the net for our opener. Colney must
have looked upon this has merely an embarrassing blip because 5 mins
later captain Neil Jordan was given the freedom of the penalty box to
plant a deft header past an unusually immobile Danny Curbelo. If the
Maggies thought this was to be the turning point in the game then they
certainly got it all wrong and the combine harvester effect came more
and more into our game and any amount of Butch defending was not going
to stop the lad with the number 9 shirt. On 30 mins a Reds corner was
defended poorly when a clearing header fell to the feet of Joe Smith who
in turn sent the ball back to where it came from with such pace and
venom keeper Blackman did not even get a sniff of it as the net bulged
behind him. We kept our lead to the break thanks mainly to some good
solid defending where Curbelo was the king pin with a series of superb
confident handling from nigh constant aerial bombardment. A frustrated
Colney coach repeatedly yelled out a compliment to Danny when he
urged his players to keep their crosses away from the keeper. The home
side looked a bit more up for it in the second half but they still had
no answer to our driving forward . Ewing set up 'O C' with the simplest
of chances and yet somehow the header missed the goal completely. Sub
Nathan Eno also had a brilliant chance but blazed the ball hopelessly
wide. We however did extend our lead on 70 mins when O'Connor went down
the combine harvester path once again to tee up an opportunity for Aaron
Ewing who had made a gut busting run from deep. Aaron caught the ball as
sweet as a nut giving keeper Blackman no chance whatsoever. The strike
on goal was all about technique allied to perfect body balance and the
timing of an intelligent run to the launch area of the shot. A penalty
for a dubious handling offence gave Colney a chance to get back in the
game on 80 mins but on fire Curbelo turned the spot kick round for a
corner. Direct from the corner Phil Jackman scored with good solid
header and in turn it bought out the handbags resulting in the Maggies
going down to ten men. We hung on in for the 3 points and should have
increased our lead with chances that went begging. A really good result
then for us and Neil Ewing must be pleased about the way our defensive
play has improved. As a team performance it was top drawer stuff and
Colney Heath got a kick up the backside they were I am sure not
expecting. M.O.M. CURBELO 5 O'CONNOR 2 ANDREOS 2 EWING 1 CONWAY1 PIGDEN
1
Saturday 8th November 2008 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division COCKFOSTERS 1 LANGFORD 2 A Battling Performance As Reds Rue Misses.....  With
the game barely 45 seconds old,
Neil Ewing must have wondered what he'd walked into as Langford had the ball
in the Cockfosters net. Fortunately the assistant's flag rescued the home
team. In a bizarre start, the red lights were flashing once more as
immediately following the disallowed goal, Langford were ridiculously
awarded a free kick on the six yard line, for a passback in a packed
goalmouth scramble. Dan Curbelo's protests earned him a yellow and
Langford's Rob Groves had the same fate as he took the kick before the
referee's whistle. Amazingly the early mayhem lasted six minutes before any
real football took place. With Cockfosters trying to bounce back from
the 5-0 drubbing at Leverstock Green, Neil Ewing rang the changes for his
first game at the helm and it soon became apparent that the team were
prepared to roll up their sleeves and put in a performance for the new boss.
As often happens when you are down bad luck is never far away and so it was
as Langford took the lead after 24 minutes. With Cockfosters defending in
depth, a cross was delivered from the left and the attempted clearance
struck Kevin Hunt with the ball dropping at the feet of Langford's Dave
Brown who prodded home from four yards out. Credit the spirit that was on
display by the home team as they evelled within three minutes. Nicky Steward
picked up the ball on the left and his early pass sent Dan O'Connor racing
clear to outstrip the Langford rearguard and calmly roll the ball
beyond Dan Allington's dive. After a fairly even first half, Cockfosters
stormed onto the offensive after the break and there was a succession of
clear cut opportunities to take the lead. Aaron Ewing had a shot deflected
wide before Gavin Conway was also narrowly off target. The chances came
thick and fast with third placed Langford clearly rattled. Frustration crept
into the visitors play and it manifested itself when Langford's John Coley
saw red after two rapid yellow cards. Joe Delasalle was the rock in the
visitors defence and twice rescued his side with some timely tackles denying
both Dan O'Connor and Dave Pigden. O'Connor crossed from the left and
Allington in goal fumbled and could only shovel the ball past the post with
Pigden about to pounce. Michael Casey and Joe Smith in midfield were
restricting the visitors and wide of them Ewing and Steward were piling on
the pressure from wider areas. Casey sliced open the Langford last line and
put O'Connor in on goal. On this occasion O'Connor's accuracy deserted him
and the chance had gone. They say, it's vital to take your chances when on
top - sadly Cockfosters were unable to follow that advice and and the
inevitable lay in waiting. After 80 minutes, Rob Groves hoisted a free kick
from just inside the Cockfosters half into the area and when the ball was
only half cleared it fell for Delasalle to crash it past Curbelo to
give the visitors a somewhat fortunate win. The screams of delight from the
Langford team at the final whistle told its own story - you'd have thought
they had won the Champions League. A disappointing start for Neil Ewing and
Ron Syrett but a superb performance and as Neil put it after the game - "I
could not have asked for another ounce from any of my players - they were
all superb".
Saturday 1st November 2008 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division LEVERSTOCK GREEN 5 COCKFOSTERS 0 Outplayed... Our mini revival came to an abrupt end when Leverstock Green gave us a 5 0 tanning to bring us back down to earth with a bang. The wet cold weather conditions it had to be said were atrocious and did a lot to dampen our spirits well before half time when a 3-0 deficit needed to be retrieved . Lee Walker in goal got very little in the way of cover and closing down attacking players was almost non existent and consequently the home team front men had a field day. Shots were being peppered on Lee at a fast rate and it was not long before one long range effort in the 14th minute could only be parried out to the feet of Dan Griggs who seized on the chance to lash the ball home. Further goals from Armstrong and Hammond in the 21st and 30th mins sealed the game up for Leverstock before the break. Even when we are defending poorly our creative play in attack normally looks good but their were no signs of it in this game and the entire first half was shot free on the home goal, although a penalty box foul on Lee Barker was and should have been a spot kick decision. The second half saw the weather making a joke of the conditions and when Leverstocks Matt Wardle bagged a brace of goals in the 70th and 80th mins it became just a case of us wanting the final whistle to blow. To be fair we marginally improved in the second half with sub Ben Andreos adding a bit more punch up front. Excuses can be directed at the terrible weather but then Leverstock had to play in the same conditions. Going forward was our biggest concern in this game because it lacked the usual thrust associated with our game.Saturday 25th October 2008 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division BROXBOURNE BOROUGH V & E 1 COCKFOSTERS 1 Dan Or Dan? ... Anyway, Dan Rescues Point For Reds.. .....Cockfosters continued their recent improvement in form with a very creditable draw against near neighbours Broxbourne Borough. Kicking up the slight slope and against a very strong wind Cockfosters enjoyed the better of the first half but despite creating three or four very good opportunities they failed to find the target or even trouble the home keeper.Up front both Nicky Steward and Dan O’Connor were continually causing the Broxbourne defence problems and were well supported by midfielders Nicky Page and Ian Reddington, together with the marauding runs of both wing-backs Lee Barker and Steve Kessack However it was our hosts who went closest to taking the lead, when just before the interval a snap shot from the edge of the area hit the post and somehow the rebound was scrambled to safety. Unfortunately the second half did not live up to the promise of the preceding 45 minutes and for the majority of the half play was rather scrappy with neither goalkeeper being called into action.Considering the defensive problems that have plagued Cockfosters in recent games this was a far more encouraging performance with both Gavin Conway and Jack Chandler in the central defensive positions having fine games. Steve Kessack, who twisted his knee, was replaced by Michael Casey on the hour and Nicky Steward, who had run himself into the ground for the cause, was replaced after 70 minutes by Ben Andreos.The deadlock was finally broken after 78 minutes when the Reds were caught rather cold from a quickly taken free kick which presented Danny Ward with a clear opening which he struck wide of Danny Curbelo in the Red’s goal and into the far corner.With 10 minutes to go David Craig replaced Lee Barker with the more attacking option of Youth team player Emmanuel Osei-Owusu. As the game moved into injury time, it appeared Cockfosters would again be denied any points from a game that they had probably just edged but for a change good fortune was on our side and a free kick from around 30 yards out was floated into the danger area by Dan O’Connor, and with several players, including Danny Curbelo who had run the length of the pitch to get involved, the ball somehow evaded everybody including the Broxbourne keeper and nestled in the back of the net.Whilst all this was going on the Referee’s Assistant had flagged somebody offside, however following a brief discussion the Referee, he over-ruled his Assistant, claiming that there had been no interference involved by our attacking players. Obviously Broxbourne were very unhappy with this late equaliser but all things considered a draw was a fair result over the ninety minutes. Saturday 18th October 2008 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division COCKFOSTERS 3 BIGGLESWADE UNITED 2 O'Connor Up To His Old Hat Tricks Again..... ..... The
last memories our visitors had of us as a footie team was the nightmare
4, 0, mauling we gave them on their own patch last season. United could
be forgiven if they thought such a drubbing would not be on the cards
again if only because they were riding high with 19 points and we were
rock bottom with 6 points. Add to this the fact that they took the scalp
of local rivals Town earlier this season and that they in turn had
thrashed us 7, 1, the bookies would surely have gone for an away
banker. Football however is not like that and although the scoreline
would suggest a close encounter we again gave United a tough time and
they were very lucky to keep the deficit down to a single goal. The
O'Connor lad is obviously our trump card in any game we play and this
one was no exception with 'O,C,' here there and everywhere right from
the off. Alongside 'Bestie' Steward some terrific football was being
conjured up by the pair and when O'Connor put us in front after 13
minutes it was fully deserved. Our visitors made the mistake of allowing
Dan with too much space in the mid box area and they were punished when
he sent in a rasping shot that beat keeper Lawrence all ends up. Within
two minutes our lead had disappeared when from a fortunate free kick
just outside the penalty area Biggleswade found the net with a classic
strike into the top corner of the net from Meshack Cole. 'Bestie' came
to our rescue to restore our lead on 30 minutes when he roasted his
marker out on the right and then followed it up with 'a help yourself to
that one' pass to the feet of 'O,C,' and our top target man duly
accepted. Calamity once again soon followed and again within two mins
United levelled through Sean Murray The goal came about through a silly
mix up between Conway and Curbelo that allowed Murray to nip in and nod
the ball into an empty net. Although only level in the game at the break
we were clearly in the driving seat and United knew that it was a
Cockfosters team at their best again coming to haunt them. Throughout
the entire second half Biggleswade were made to look very ordinary and
their 13 point tally difference better than us seemed to be a sick joke.
Needless to say it was O'Connor who continued to torment the living
daylights out of anyone who took on the job of marking him. In the 57th
minute it was the turn of an unfortunate centre back to try and halt his
progress down the left and predictably he was dumped on his arse as Dan
then moved in menacingly on goal before firing home at the near post to
finish of a great match winning hat trick. Biggleswade in the meantime
rarely got a sniff on our goal which was ably protected by the
authoritative Curbelo. Dan argues that he likes the outfield front man
job better but it cannot be denied he never lets us down when he plays
between the sticks. This was by far our best league performance of the
season so far and collectively at the back we looked more organised.
Nicky Page was having a great game roaming all over the pitch whilst
Nicky Martin put in one of his best performances for us in a 'Reds'
shirt. More than anything in this game we were a TEAM that had belief in
themselves for we quite clearly are not a basement side, ask any United
player that one. MoM... Dan O'Connor 5. Nicky Steward 3,
Nicky Page 2, Jack Chandler 2Wednesday 15th October 2008 Spartan South Midlands League - Challenge Trophy CRAWLEY GREEN 1 COCKFOSTERS 2 Late Late O'Connor Sees Reds Through..... .....
Saturday 11th October 2008 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division BIGGLESWADE TOWN 7 COCKFOSTERS 1 Waders Wade Through Our Defence..... ..... This
was our biggest defeat for over seven years and took our league tally
against to a massive 37 goals over just 11 games. The game was only 4
minutes old when a Biggleswade move saw attacker Ryan Redford waltz
through our back line with ridiculous ease to score the opening goal.
Our inability to defend any sort of set piece play against us showed up
on 10 minutes when Kevin Cooper planted a simple header home from a
freekick taken out on the right. We survived another 20 mins and then
succumbed to yet another free kick situation. This time our old foe
Cooper had plenty of time to lash the ball home from close in. It was
all oh so easy for the home team and when Ben Andreos diverted the ball
into our net on 43 minutes the game was effectively over before the
break. Throughout the first half we had two sniffs at goal, one being a
Nicky Steward effort that the keeper dealt with comfortably and the
other a wild O'Connor shot following a brilliant Steward through ball.
Things drastically changed for us in the second half when an injured Lee
Walker had to make way for outfielder Jack Chandler to guard the net.
Kevin Hunt also took a rest as also did Ben Andreos for Gavin Conway and
Ian Reddington. Probably the best goal of the game came from Dan
O'Connor in the 57 th minute when from a seemingly no win situation he
planted a sweet drifting shot across the keeper into the far corner of
the net prompting the keeper to utter 'you cant stop those sort of
shots' Just when we thought that another revival like that at Langford
was brewing up we again conceded a goal direct from the restart when
Gavin Conway gifted our hosts with another own goal. Adam Bensaud added
a sixth for the Waders with a clever lob over Chandlers head and the
final nail in the coffin came in added time when Neil Morgan crashed
home a close range chance.
Tuesday 7th October 2008 London Senior Cup - First Round COCKFOSTERS 5 HARINGEY BOROUGH 0 A Little Light Relief..... .....
With the belated non-availability of ' keeper Dan Lewis, Danny Curbelo
answered the call and pulled on the green jersey. Also on parade were
Charlie Morgan and Joe Smith making their first team debuts and each
grabbed the opportunity with both hands. Following the bizarre
performance against Langford at the weekend, a boost of defensive
confidence was what was needed. Facing us were a Haringey side who would
also benefit from a confidence boosting performance. With each team
having conceded thirty or more goals already this season, the chances of
a goalless draw were just about unthinkable. So it proved, within four
minutes Cockfosters struck when a quickly taken freekick from Aaron
Ewing set Dave Pigden surging up the right. Pigden's cross was perfectly
delivered for Dan O'Connor to ram the ball past Dan White in the
Haringey goal. Within minutes, Haringey could well have levelled, as
momentary mayhem in the Cockfosters goalmouth gave Lewis Laws the
opportunity, but the Haringey man could not get the ball out of his feet
and the chance was gone. On ten minutes Cockfosters doubled the lead and
the same trio that engineered the opening goal were all involved again.
Aaron Ewing, in a central midfield position, picked out a pass for Dan
O'Connor on the corner of the penalty area and that was the writing on
the wall as DOC burst into the area and crossed for Dave Pigden to apply
the finishing touch. With Dan O'Connor reverting to a central attacking
position rather than operating wide on the l
 eft,
gave Cockfosters far more of a cutting edge. Another surge from
O'Connor, and he was in behind Haringey again, but this time the
delivery on a plate was met by Dave Pigden shovelling the ball over the
bar with only White to beat. Two nil down and a shell shocked Borough
stuck to the task and had plenty of the ball but the finishing was
woeful best epitomised by Lewis Laws miss as he wildly lashed over the
bar with the goal at his mercy. The second half began with Pigden
sending a screamer inches wide but within four minutes the game was
effectively sealed as Dan O'Connor was sent sprawling in the box by Kris
Kifleyesus for a nailed on penalty. O'Connor picked himself up and
coolly smashed the ball home.
That was to be the first of three goals in the space of seven minutes.
Next was Aaron Ewing, who picked up the pieces following a chance for
Jack Chandler and knocked the ball past White despite the 'keeper
getting a hand to the ball - but not quite enough. Within two minutes,
it was 5-0 as Dave Pigden brought his goal tally to eleven for the
season. On the hour, a triple substitution, Jon Moniatis and Nicky
Steward replaced Pigden and O'Connor while Jack Chandler made way for
Ian Reddington. With the game in the bag, surely the next target was a
clean sheet and credit Haringey who continued to knock the ball about,
retaining possession but mostly in front of the Cockfosters defence
where Charlie Morgan hardly put a foot wrong all night and fully
justified his selection. Dan Curbelo was not forced to make much in the
way of direct saves but his handling of crosses was faultless. Lasalle
Simon, back on his old stamping ground, had a fair game for Borough and
was unfortunate with an effort that hit the post. Unfortunately for
Cockfosters, they finished the game with ten after Jon Moniatis
retaliated to a Wild kick by pushing the ball in his attacker's chest
and was red carded after 85 minutes. Yes it was great to have a morale
boosting win but bigger examinations await, starting with Biggleswade
Town at the weekend. MoM Charlie Morgan 4 Dave Pigden 3 Dan
O'Connor 3 Danny Curbelo 2Saturday 4th October 2008 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division LANGFORD 6 COCKFOSTERS 4 Fosters Thrash Langford 4 - 6..... .....
Unless the onlooker was more appreciative of the defensive side of the
beautiful game then it has to be said this was an amazing game to watch.
Losing 6-1. with twenty to play who could have dreamed that the home
side would be grateful of the final whistle as we repeatedly tore their
defence apart with attack after attack putting the wobblies into a very
shaky Langford back line. If the Forde Park faithful were to be
perfectly honest with themselves they would have to concede that no team
this season has given
 their defence so many problems as lowly placed
Cockfosters. Our defending however was beyond abysmal and during a stage
early in the second half we seemed to totally capitulate to anything the
Langford attack threw at us. The Langford management can seek little
comfort from winning the game because they must know the reality of it
all was that they had no answer other than a lot of luck to stemming the
tide of raids we put on their goal. Had we have managed to match the
home sides more clinical finishing then the score could so easily have
been 7, 6 to us. That is not tongue in cheek reporting but a truthful
observation of an extraordinary game. Just like the Vase encounter
Langford soon cruised into a two goal lead within the half hour with
goals from David Howell and Wes Byrne. Down the right O'Connor was
giving his marker so many problems the additional services of Rob Groves
were repeatedly called upon to salvage dangerous situations.. O'Connor
has a reputation for showing up the Langford defence and duly took quite
a bit of roughing up for his troubles. One such episode in the 32nd
minute led to a fizzing Lee Barker free kick being headed home 'get in
there' fashion by Jack Chandler. Sadly
 our defence soon went A.W.O.L.
again just before the break when that man again Rob Groves notched up
his 7th goal against us in three games. As presents go he will never
score a more easy goal. Although 3-1 down at the break there was enough
evidence from our attacking play to suggest that we could pull the game
around providing the defending improved. Within 15 seconds of the second
half we went 4-1 down when an embarrassed Dan Lewis saw Wes Byrne
lob the ball over his head and into the the net. Ten minutes later Paul
Donald added a fifth and when Byrne got his hat trick goal on 70 minutes
it looked so terribly awful for us as we defended like no hopers. What
followed was super attacking play by us and the reason why Langford
could not add to their score was because they were too busy defending.
Jon Moniatis got things rolling when 0.C.set him up for our second and
that was soon followed by the in form Dave Pigden coolly lobbing the
ball over keeper Young for our third. When Michael Casey thundered in an
unstoppable header with still five to play the home defence were quite
simply chasing shadows. Quite unbelievably in those last five minutes
their were chances for us to have turned the game completely on its head
but it was not to be and Langford although winners knew that they had
been in a game and if truth were faced up to they will not have
their back line tested so severely again this season. Our weakness is
blatantly obvious and 30 goals already leaked so far this season says it
all and we are not going to win when we seem to be forever chasing the
game from behind.Saturday 27th September 2008 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division COCKFOSTERS 3 WELWYN GARDEN CITY 3 Reds Get Corner Kick Blues..... ..... Like us our
visitors had showed some poor early season form but of late they have
come through a good patch with back to back wins. That form looked to be
continuing when they cruised to a two goal lead within ten minutes of
the start. Goals from Scott McGuiness and David Iwediuno in the second
and tenth minutes made sure that we were going to have a scrap on our
hands if something was going to be salvaged from the game. The first
goal was real pub team defending with a flat back line exposed with the
simplest of up and over balls for McGuiness to walk through and score.
The second was a header scored direct from a corner and our charity in
this department has been a sad part of our game for far too long now. We
badly needed a quick response to this setback and that arrived five
minutes later when a a pair of fast feet in the six yard box enabled
Dave Piigden to fiind the space for a snap shot that beat the keeper at
the near post. A second Pigden goal on 25 mins was a class act to
savour. Dave working his socks off in our own half suddenly released Jon
Moniatis for an attack down the right wing. Jon set off on his run and
Dave set off on his run from deep to hopefully receive the return pass
which duly arrived at the far post for a tap in goal. A brilliantly
engineered goal with both players getting what needed to be done
absolutely spot on in timing and execution. This was followed up with
Gavin Conway
being very unlucky not to give us the lead with a cunning drifting shot
that saw the ball shave the upright. Their was still enough time in the
half for us to show how bad our corner kick defending really is when
Scott  McGuimess
took advantage of his freedom of the box to plant a home a simple headed
goal on 35 mins. The second half definitely belonged to us with Ewing,
Pigden O'Connor and Moniatis all going close to levelling in quick
succession. When we did eventually score in the 60th minute it was
purely down to the guts and determination of Aaron Ewing's lung busting
effort not to give up on a ball heading for touch. It has to be said
that their was no one else on the pitch capable of retrieving such a
lost cause of a ball. Aaron's resulting cross fell to the feet of
O'Connor who in turn conjured up the space for an angled shot on goal
which beat the keeper all end s up. From hereon we should have gone on
to comfortably take the game but it was not to be. Twice Pigden
delivered penetrating balls for Moniatis to latch on to and on both
occasions the end product was missing from those famous white boots.
M.O.M. PIGDEN 8 EWING 4
Saturday 20th September 2008 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division COCKFOSTERS 1 TRING ATHLETIC 1 With Appreciation to "The Lady In Red"..... ..... More
than anything from this game we needed some assurances that the team is
capable of improving after a very disappointing start to the season.
Tring Athletic we knew would give us a good test out and the game, it
has to be said, ended with some encouraging signs of better things to
come although lady luck was surell dressed up in red for the game. We
did however edge a dour first half battle for supremacy and could quite
easily have done better than a one goal lead at the break. Our first
chance came when Moniatis, Chandler, and Pigden carved out a gaping
hole in the Tring defence only for the ball to get stuck under Dave's
feet at the time to pull the trigger on an excellent move. The corner
kick that followed should
have seen Chandler do better with a far post opportunity. 'O.C.' did all
the hard work to set himself up for a strike on goal but the final
delivery was powder puff stuff and the keeper saved comfortably. One
Monnie snap shot was unlucky not to count when the ball bounced in front
of a surprised keeper who had no idea of dealing with it other than to
watch on as the ball skimmed over the bar. Tring in the meantime were
not shy at going forward and for us it was good to see our back line
holding up a lot tighter with Andreos, Casey and Hurrell in particular
performing well. With five to go to the interval we opened the scoring
via an unusual route with keeper Lewis wide out on the right in his own
half unleashing a long ball into the heart of the Tring box. Monnie got
just enough head on the ball to loop it over the centre backs head so
that Dave Pigden could come in on the blind side and lob the ball over
the advancing keepers head. The second half saw our visitors coming more
into the game and all too often the lady in red had to come to our
rescue aided by some pitiful finishing by the Tring front line. We
reached the dreaded added time hoodo jinx with our lead still intact and
as if inevitable we fell to the sucker punch when a long punt upfield
from deep within Tring territory led to sub Andy Humphries latching on
to the ball to score a goal that was a carbon copy of the one scored
earlier by Dave Pigden. Amazingly therewas still time for us to snatch a
winner but Jack Chandlers cross shot shaved the upright right at the
death of a very long match. M.O.M. ANDREOS 7 CASEY 2 PIGDEN 2 HURRELL 1
Saturday 13th September 2008 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division COCKFOSTERS 2 KENTISH TOWN 6 Easy Pickings For Slick Town.....
Those who turned up late missed an amazing opening twelve minutes. From the
first whistle, Kentish Town moved the ball around in impressive style and it
looked as though Cockfosters would be in for a difficult afternoon. How
difficult would unfold later. It took three minutes for Cockfosters to
muster their first assault and with it came the opening goal scored by Dave
Pigden. Pigden was released in the inside right channel and from just inside
the box fired across the goal beating Hartles and found the target via the
far post. Great start, but the joy was short lived as the visitors soon
clawed the goal back thanks to a very generous penalty decision that went
against Lewis Pelling. The central defender was penalised for handball for
blocking a cross fired from point blank range. Paul Butler stepped up and
was fortunate to see his delivery creep under the dive of Dan Lewis. 1-1
after 6 minutes. After ten minutes; cue another trip to the p.a. system as
Cockfosters retook the lead. A neat move started on the left saw the ball
moved across the pitch and back again allowing Nicky Steward to deliver a
cross to the head of Dave Pigden at the far post. Pigden's header, on any
other day, would have been comfortably saved, but the hapless Hartles
managed to fumble and the ball crept over the line to give Cockfosters the
lead for the second time. Two minutes later and it was time to announce the
fourth goal of the
afternoon. The visitors were playing the slicker football and levelled as
Larry Miller volleyed home the equaliser after enjoying the freedom of Chalk
Lane. Even at this early stage it always seemed that Kentish Town would be
the more likely. So it proved as Mark Doyle crossed from the left to the
unmarked Jon Donaghue to head Town in front for the first time after 30
minutes. Moments later, Dave Pigden seemed sure to bag a first half
hat-trick, but a fine block by Hartles partially redeemed his earlier
red-faced moment. With Cockfosters unable to retain the ball up front or
support quickly enough, the pressure was increasingly in the
 Cockfosters
defensive territory. Sarfraz Pavino had a great shooting opportunity that
was sliced wildly wide and on the stroke of half-time Butler must have
believed his shot would rip into the top corner of the net until Dan Lewis
made a great stop look incredibly simple. Kentish Town finally put the game
to bed after 53 minutes through substitute Karim Essiaghi who benefitted
from a fine pass from Pavino, before unleashing a shot that gave Lewis
little chance. Four became five after 70 minutes. For the second time in the
game Donaghue was left unattended at the far post and he was never going to
waste the opportunity of planting a header beyond Lewis. When you thought it
couldn't get worse -- it did. A horrendous attempted clearance spun skywards
and suddenly Doyle was in beyond the Cockfosters rearguard to roll the ball
into an unguarded net. Ben Andreos, Lewis Pelling and Steve Kessack
battled all afternoon at the heart of the defence but as a team, on the day,
Cockfosters were no match for the energy or ability that Kentish Town
offered. By this time, Jon Moniatis and Lee Barker had joined the fray but
it was all a little too late to influence the result on an afternoon that
started so brightly but ended in despair....Mom Ben Andreos 7; Dave
Pigden 2; Steve Kessack 2; Lewis Pelling 1Wednesday 10th September 2008 Challenge Trophy - First Round HATFIELD TOWN 0 COCKFOSTERS 2 Poacher & The Steward Rise To The Challenge.....
With Hatfield Town, newcomers to Division One of
the S.S.M.L., currently unbeaten in the League and having conceded just two
goals, they must have fancied their chances of progressing in the
competition. From the start,
Hatfield looked the busier and for the opening minutes had the better of the
possession. For all that they were fairly comfortably contained outside the
18 yard area. Making his debut for Cockfosters at the heart of the defence
was Lewis Pelling, and how good it was to see some height in the defence.
For all of Hatfield's endeavour, this particular scribe had an empty notepad
for fifteen minutes. It took that long for either side to muster a shot on
goal and when it came Michael Casey's effort did not trouble Brandon in the
Hatfield goal. Dan Lewis, fisted a clearance beyond the edge of the box
which fell to Hatfield's Terry Caswell who returned the ball well over the
bar. That was Hatfield's first attempt on goal after 24 minutes of
mediocrity. Moments later, through the generosity of a Referee's Asst., Rhys
Lawrence raced clear, mind you he did have a four yard start on Kevin Hunt,
but was foiled by a good block by Dan Lewis. From that moment the game
gradually began to warm up and straight from the save the ball was worked up
the right touchline to Nicky Martin. Martin cleverly engineered an
opportunity to square the ball across the face of the goal for Nicky Steward
to finish off only for Brandon to deny "Besty" with a fine save. Aaron Ewing
set up Nicky Steward with a half chance that was deflected for a corner and
when the flag kick came over, it eventually fell to Nicky Page , whose
curled shot rattled the crossbar. Cockfosters were now building a head of
steam and an opening goal looked imminent. Brandon had to smother a
dangerous cross from Pigden but with half-time looming the breakthrough
came. Brandon could only parry Steward's angled shot and the ball fell
invitingly for poacher Pigden to give Cockfosters a deserved lead. The
second half started with Cockfosters moving the ball around well and soon
had the game put to bed when a neat passing move from Aaron Ewing to Nicky
Page and then to Nicky Steward saw our man "Besty" find the back of the net
in spectacular style. With Hatfield still having their share of the ball, it
was not going to be their night as the Cockfosters rearguard with Ben
Andreos and Lewis Pelling comfortably coped with everything the hosts came
up with. Cockfosters should have gone further ahead, but Dave Pigden's air
shot from Steward's cross reminded us all it was Ryder Cup week. On 70
minutes, after sterling performances, Nicky Steward and Dave Pigden were
replaced by Jon Moniatis and Josh D'Jelal and suddenly Hatfield had another
set of problems to face. One flicked header from Jon Moniatis gave Aaron
Ewing a shooting chance but the finish was too high. Hatfield did stage a
late rally but Dan Staples clear header from a corner sailed harmlessly over
and that was it. The prize for the winners?... A trip to sunny Barton where
we take on Crawley Green.
Saturday 6th September 2008 F.A. Carlsberg VASE - First Round Qualifying LANGFORD 5 COCKFOSTERS 1 Spunky Fosters Up For It.....
Forget the scoreline, we were not that bad and
could so easily have been the winners in this encounter. Langford F.C.
president the reverent J. Broadbridge will no doubt be taken aback by my
opening paragraph but neutrality really is the name of my game and I am
sincere about what may seem to be a laughable statement. With Monnie and 'O.C'
out of our line up this game looked to be beyond us before a ball was kicked
but we put up a spunky display that was a credit to the 'Fosters' shirt
Everything looked to be so easy for Langford in the early stages of the game
when in the 12th minute our tormenter in last seasons 7. 3. drubbing Rob
Groves was at his old tricks scoring the opener. Our debutant last man Dan
Lewis played the ball out of defence straight to the feet of the deadly
Groves and in an instant the ball was sent back over Dan's head into the
net. At this stage there were no signs of our spirited play emerging.
Michael Casey was certainly looking to be something like his old self and
maybe the softer going is more to his liking. He let fly with one stonking
shot that keeper Young could only parry out with the strongest of hands.
Michael was again on hand with another vicious drive that rattled the cross
bar. Langford followed this up with probably their best move of the match
when they opened us up for Wes Byrne to fire home in the 18th minute. We
badly needed to narrow the deficit before the break and should have done so
when a do or die run from Aaron Ewing finished up with a precision pass to
Dave Pigden lurking in mid box territory. With the luxury of time to spare
the chance was snatched at and we went in at half time still two down. There
was something about our game that suggested that we had a lot more to offer
in the second half and indeed there was. Unfortunately it could not have got
off to a worse start when on 50 mins Steve Kessack made an innocuous looking
challenge on Howell in the box and the referee pointed to the spot. It was
certainly no sending off offence for Steve but the alleged verbal that
followed led to him having an early shower. Up stepped that thorn in our
side Rob Groves to smash the spot kick home. Normally such a set back would
be the cue for a team to capitulate but not us on this occasion and we
turned up a gear to really give our hosts a game of it. What happened next
is where I based my seemingly bizarre statement that we could have nicked
the game. A brilliant run by Nicky Page to the by line ended with a pull
back that saw Dave Pigden on hand to slip the present home on 62 mins.
Bestie was having a cracking game and one ball to Page should have resulted
in a quickfire second goal for us but keeper Young was at his best to deny
Nicky. Aaron is just the type of guy to have in your team when down to 10
men simply because his energy levels are equivalent to two players in one
shirt. He wore a furrow down the right side of the pitch with raid after
raid tormenting his marker till he was dizzy. Combining with Casey he set up
a great chance for Pigden to have a double strike on goal. Dave got his act
about right but each time the brilliance of Young denied him a second goal.
Of late for us conceding corner kicks is like giving away a penalty and in
the 75th and 83rd mins we let in a brace of headers, one from Howell and the
other from Pateman, both direct from a corner. Down 5. 1. and the injustice
of being denied a penalty when Andreos had his shirt blatantly lifted in the
box was hard to swallow. Bestie should have done better with one clear
opportunity that saw him take on too much turf and very little ball. One
encouraging thing to come out of this game was the fight we put up against
adversity and not forgetting the sub introduction of Josh Dalal who tested
Langford hero Young with a cracking drive across goal that smacked the
upright. Here is a young star who clearly did not look out of place in a
Reds first team shirt, their was plenty of oomph in his game and an attitude
tailor made to trouble defences. Despite letting in five goals Dan Lewis had
a very good game and his confident handling was good to see. If the reverent
J.Broadbridge thinks my assessment of this game to be over biased I will
concede a goal and say 5. 5. would have been a fairer scoreline.
M.o.M. Aaron Ewing 4; Nicky Steward 3; Dan Lewis 2; Ben Andreos
1; Nicky Page 1; Nicky Martin 1
Tuesday 30th August 2008 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division COCKFOSTERS 2 HOLMER GREEN 3 Andy Sheds No Tears For Us .....Holmer Green must like us because whenever they are on one of their miserable form runs we help them out by surrendering 3 points to them. For this latest charity act we had cameo appearances from Nicky Steward and Dominic Gentle, both players seemingly showing up from nowhere. Holmer Green looked very ordinary and to be truthful they were just that and definitely 3 point material for the likes of us playing them in our own yard. Nicky Steward will always add a new dimension to our game with his ability to take on defenders in the tightest of situations and he did just that right from the off. Corner kicks against us are a constant bogey to defend and Holmer Green made it look so damn easy as they planted a header past Chay via a grateful Andy Shed on 15 mins. We, in the meantime breezed through our visitors back line at will and the hiccup of going one down was surely only going to be temporary. Instead it was our visitors who turned the screw on 32 mins with another goal brought about by woeful defending from us. We were all over the place and Andy Shed once again said thanks very much with a crashing drive into a bemused Chays net. Ben Andreos took us into the break with a goal that put some belief back into our game with a scrambled effort that just squirmed over the line. Things looked very predictable when the second half saw us level on 47 mins. Steward let fly wih a long range effort from fully 40 yards and keeper Simon Mines could only watch as the ball drifted over his head and into the net. The game was now ours for the taking but we made hard work of it squandering chance after chance to take the lead. With the game four minutes into added time it all went tits up for us when a reckless take no prisoners challenge in our box by Dan Hurrell gifted Andy Shed with a chance to score a hat trick with a third from the spot and he made no mistake. Shell shocked we drooped off losers to a previously pointless Holmer Green. Teams don't have to open us up of late and nearly all the 11 goals conceded in the past three games have been give aways through sloppy defending. Saturday 30th August 2008 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division COCKFOSTERS 0 BERKHAMSTED TOWN 3 A Stroll In The Sun For Berko .....
As kick off time approached, I was pondering with another of the Chalk Lane
faithful, which Cockfosters would turn up this afternoon as we basked in the
glorious sunshine. Unfortunately, it was debateable whether anyone turned up
at all as Cockfosters meekly surrendered the three points. From the outset
it seemed that Cockfosters were determined to be second best as Berkhamsted
dictated the early exchanges with Cockfosters doing most of the chasing. Ben
Andreos came to the rescue with a goal-line clearance from Alex McCarthy
after 13 minutes and it took another three minutes before Cockfosters
mustered their first attempt at goal as Lee Barker screwed a shot wide
following a nick Page corner. After 19 minutes of scrappy play, Berko took
the
 lead.
Ben Butler hoisted a ball into the Cockfosters goalmouth and the retreating
Chay Morris was unable to touch the ball over the bar.With Cockfosters
unable to get going, no-one capable of putting their foot on the ball or
complete loss of touch, the probability of a home win were already receding.
The only bright moment of a poor first half performance came when Jon
Moniatis set up Michael Cooper, who looked nailed-on to bring Cockfosters
level, only for Cooper's stinging drive to be brilliantly saved by Sam
Styles in the Berko goal. Just when you think it can't get worse... it did
exactly that. Ben Butler this time became the provider as his cross from
deep on the left evaded the grasp of Chay Morris and Tony Fields headed
Berkhamsted into a two goal lead four minutes before half-time. On the
stroke of half-time, Berkhamsted lost Sean Biswell who fell awkwardly under
a Ben Andreos challenge. At a time when "Respect" is the keyword - I wonder
whether it is a two-way street as I put down my notepad and went to act as a
stretcher bearer for the stricken Biswell only to be accosted by the local "Jobsworth"
Referee's Assistant who demanded to know who I was and what was I doing on
the pitch. Having pointed out, that having officiated at Chalk Lane on
numerous occasions he might have realised that I was the Chairman, Assistant
Secretary, Joint Programme Editor, Acting Press Reporter, Occasional
part-time Groundsman, Website Controller and former Manager and have been
involved with the Club for nearly thirty years, I was far from a hoodie
doing a one man pitch invasion. Rant over... Back to the
game... David Craig made his impressions of the first half clear with a
triple substitution at the start of the second half. Michael Casey, Kevin
Reade and Dave Pigden were introduced and although the tempo increased the
passing rhythm was not going to show its presence this afternoon. Michael
Casey slipped a ball through to Dan O'Connor whose finish cleared the bar
while at the other end Alex McCarthy produced a dazzling run before
providing Wayne Barber with a chance that Lee Barker did well to block. The
closest the Reds were to come in the second half was when O'Connor latched
onto a lashed Morris clearance and his angled drive was inches over. Casey
also had a couple of efforts ; one lashed over and one well tipped over by
Styles. In truth there was not much back to front football being played and
the visitors rarely looked like dropping any points. Any remote hope of a
comeback went completely out of the window as Tony Fields capped a fine
individual performance for Berkhamsted when he bundled the ball home from a
corner in the 72nd minute. With Cockfosters striving to get some
consolation, the back door was left open for Barber to have a shot well
saved by Morris and Butler to misfire when clear. The game finished on a
sour note as Berkhamsted's sub Perry Gilbert threatened a handbags World War
Three and was red carded. The final whistle...Music to the ears.MOM Kevin Hunt 4 Gavin Conway 4 Ben Andreos 3 Michael Casey 1
Saturday 23rd August 2008 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division COCKFOSTERS 1 HAREFIELD UNITED 1 Hares Stopped In Their Tracks.....
Although early days yet the Hares came to Chalk Lane as league leaders and
for us to share a point with them following their three wins start to the
season has to be seen as encouraging. Even more encouraging was the fact
that we were very unlucky not to bag all three points because on chances
created we clearly came out on top. The first half it has to be said was a
bit of a yawn with neither side in control and the best thing about it had
to be the pitch and how good it looked. On the defensive front Hunt, Andreos
and Kessack looked up for it and Morris did all that was expected of him
keeping a tidy goal. Our attack although fairly lively had a predictable
look about it and if Moniatis and O'Connor themselves do not work the flanks
nothing much gets crossed into the box. The trouble with such a situation is
that in the box is where Monnie and 'OC' should be. The second half opened
up a lot more livelier and whenever we threatened it was for certain the
terrible twins would be involved. Twice 'OC' got latched on to one on one
through balls and both times he fluffed the chances. An opposition members
view of our number 8 man 'was built like a fly weight with the body
strengthh of a rhino'. It was Moniatis who eventually put in the powerhouse
run that led to our opener on 52 mins. Man for man, muscle for muscle it is
no contest when Jon has a defender in tow and it all ended up with a
stinging drive on goal that the keeper could only parry to the feet of Steve
Kessack who in turn smashed the ball home. From hereon Harefield came at us
good and hard and Chay kept on doing his bit to keep our lead intact.
Moniatis dragged the ball back from the by line for a certain Aaron Ewing
contact but the birthday boy's run was inches off target. Our old corner
kick bogey came back to haunt us on 68 mins when Adam Willis headed home
unchallenged to square matters up. The best opportunity for us to nick the
game came when Nicky Page almost pulled off his party piece shot consisting
of a drifting ball across goal that only just failed to find its top corner
target. All in all a good spirited display after a slow start and to be
honest we will not meet up with much better opposition this season. My own
particular M.O.M. VOTES WITH OTHERS TO FOLLOW. MONIATIS 2 MORRIS 1
Saturday 16th August 2008 F.A. Cup - Extra Preliminary Round COCKFOSTERS 0 AMPTHILL TOWN 1 Lynch Hangs Us Out To Dry.....
It cannot be argued that this cup is a big money
earner for the likes of Cockfosters F.C. To bow out at the first hurdle is a
big disappointment and Wembley dreams will have to be put on hold for
another year. We started fairly brightly kicking into a strong tail wind and
our usual up front pair of Moniatis and O'Connor looked as though they would
soon unlock the first division sides defence although old hand Diego Vasques
doesn't let much get past him in goal. This was a game where we created the
chances but never once succeeded in getting the strike on goal away with any
real threat. O'Connor's first effort after 5 mins was a clear opportunity
for him to test the keeper but his shot was made up of 90 per cent Dacre
Field and 10 per cent ball and rolled tamely to a grateful Vasques. A
brilliant Casey ball put Dan on a run down the right and his penetrating run
led to a cross that Moniatis only just failed to connect with. Ben Andreos
chipped in with a good firm header that only just crept wide and Michael
Casey's shot from inside the box had goal written all over it when suddenly
a defensive block from nowhere denied us a certain goal. Although
threatening we could not get that killer shot away and the best effort of
the first half in fact came from Ampthill defender Tom Lynch whose sliced
clearance produced a great save from his keeper. Ampthill were not shy at
going forward and Chay kept us in the game with some good shot stopping when
it mattered. Our second half showing was all about huffing and puffing with
little actual threat on our visitors goal. Sub Michael Cooper should have
put us in the lead when Moniatis laid one on a plate only for the ball to be
blasted for six into cricket club territory. Neither Reade or Page were
getting much change from their markers and that was where our general
weakness lay in our attack play. Chay in the meantime kept on doing his bit
to keep the Ampthill attack out with a string of fine saves. One 40
yarder in the 80th min from Tom Lynch however saw Chay in all sorts of
trouble with a bouncing ball that drifted over his shoulder and into the
net. A cruel blow to a keeper who was up until then walking away with the
M.O.M. All in all a sloppy game with a sloppy result for us and we got what
we deserved an early exit out of the money spinning F.A, Cup. The game
produced some bizarre tongue in cheek M.O.M. voting from team management
their choices being COOPER 4 on for 15 mins missing a sitter during that
time and PIGDEN 2 on for 10 mins doing nothing out of the ordinary in that
time. Other voting went less controversial with KESSACK 4 MORRIS 2. ST
MARGARETSBURY O,CONNOR 4 HURRELL 3 ANDREOS 2 MORRIS 2 MONIATIS 1.
Tuesday 12th August 2008 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division COCKFOSTERS 3 St. MARGARETSBURY 0 Battling Reds Stun The Saints..... Following the opening day disappointment at Aylesbury Vale, Cockfosters faced
near neighbours, St. Margaretsbury, who came to Chalk Lane after a fine win
against Chalfont St. Peter and the memory of six easy points against Cockfosters
last year. If there were any thoughts of easy pickings by the Saints, then they
were immediately dispelled. The game started at a frantic pace and that set the
tone for a tremendous spectacle. The early moments belonged to the Saints who
quickly mustered a couple of shooting chances, but as was to be the case all
evening, the finishing lacked any venom or accuracy. Having weathered the first
minutes, Cockfosters began to up the tempo and Nicky Page and Steve
Kessack down the left, began to cause some anxiety in the visitors defence. It
was in this area that Cockfosters engineered the opening goal of the evening.
Jon Moniatis won possession
Saturday 9th August 2008 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division AYLESBURY VALE 2 COCKFOSTERS 1 Flattered Vale Nick The Points..... Unlike the searing heat experienced in last seasons league opener this game was played out in cold blustery wet conditions. We benefited in the first half with a strong wind up our backsides but failed to capitalise on our advantage. Nicky Page saw a lot of the ball early on and it was his midfield running which threatened the Vale defence most. Our first shot on goal came from a left side break which left Adrian John with a good chance to score. The chance went begging with Adrian sending in a tame shot that lacked any sort of venom and the keeper saved comfortably. On 14 mins a very ordinary looking Vale side made their first attack on our goal and an exposed Chay Morris clobbered the threat with a clumsy save at the attackers feet. There was a good attempt to save the spot kick but the ball eventually squirmed over the line. We responded with good efforts from Moniatis and O'Connor with the latter desperately unlucky with a wicked banana shot that the keeper just managed to turn wide. Danny Hurrell came on for Adrian John ten minutess before the break and a further substitution was made at half time with Kevin Hunt making way for Kevin Reade. It was from Reade that most of our attacking play stemmed from when we really took the game to Vale early into the second half. One Reade break in the 55th minute led to a cross that had the host defence in all sorts of panic. Amidst it all O'Connor, Pigden and Moniatis exchanged some slick passes and the final Big Dave pass set up Jon for a strike that saw the ball buried in a flash. One ugly moment in the 70th minute between Chandler and Iannone should have seen Vale down to ten men for the remainder of the game but the referee must have left his red card in the changing room. O'Connor too fell victim to some slack refereeing when he was butchered in the box and yet denied an obvious penalty. We clearly had the better of the spoils in the second and looked to be setting ourselves up for the winner. Instead the home side bagged the important decider 5 minutes from time when sub Martin Kinsey headed home with his first and only touch of the game. The frustrating fact about this game was that 3 points were their for the taking but just like last season silly defensive slips allow the opposition to nick the points from us. It is not that our opponents are opening us up with some clever play but more a case of silly defensive errors which invite the other side to punish us. M.O.M. ANDREOS 6 MONIATIS 5 READE 1
Friday 2nd May 2008 Potters Bar Charity Cup - Final COCKFOSTERS 3 OLD OWENS 1 Cockfosters Cruise To Cup Win (in the end).... ....
Saturday 26th April 2008 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division COCKFOSTERS 0 BEACONSFIELD SYCOB 1 Champions Ride Their Luck ....
Wednesday 23rd April 2008 Potters Bar Charity Cup - Semi-Final COCKFOSTERS 2 COLNEY HEATH 1 A Hit & A Miss For Big Dave... ....Although not the most difficult of cups to secure a final place this Potters Bar Charity semi final win against friendly adversaries Colney Heath was not to be sniffed at because both teams took the tie very seriously. We now meet Old Owens in the final hoping to erase the memory of the 3-0 drubbing they gave us at the Lane three years ago in the same competition. For this game we had the luxury of three attack minded strikers on parade in Dave Pigden , Jon Moniatis and playing a more subdued role, Ben Penfold. Of the three it was Pigden who put himself around causing most of the problems for Colney's defence and within 10 minutes he hit home a typical Big Dave strike. Okay, the effort was ruled offside but that did not stop it being a brilliant piece of strike play engineered in a flash whilst totally unaware that the lino's flag was raised. Dave went on to miss a stone bonkers sitter from no more than a couple of yards out and sods law had it he was not offside on that occasion. Moniatis conjured up our only other positive chance of a dour first half when he held the ball up on the by-line and with three defenders around him he still managed to lay the ball back for Jack Chandler to fire a screamer that had goal written all over until it met a defensive block inches away from its target. No doubt still having hamstring problems, Monnie never ventured out for the second half and 'Twinkletoes O'Connor took his place and immediately started with his devastating runs straight into Colney's bemused rearguard. Conceding headed goals has been a weak point in our defending this season and sure enough the old bogey struck in the 52nd minute when Lee Gorrell made it at least goal 39 against us from an opponents head. These statistics could be a little higher as the writer has not seen all the games this term. On 60 minutes Dave Pigden turned the game around for us with a great opportunists strike that saw him screw home a shot on goal that needed all the skills of a contortionist. Dave's attempt had done its job and was about to cross the line when O'Connor said 'Ta very much' to nick his 29th of the season. If we are a soft touch in conceding headed goals then equally so we don't knock many in with the nut. That luxury however duly came our way with the winner on 75 mins and it was powerhouse Ben Andreos who charged in to head home from a free kick. It was a goal all about sheer guts and determination coupled with brilliant execution. This week we take on the champions Beaconsfield on our patch and although they turned us over on their ground earlier this campaign, they were fortunate to take the 3 points. Our season has had its ups and downs but here is the opportunity to show the rest of the league what Cockfosters football is all about by taking the game to Beaconsfield and play them off the park. You can do it.
Saturday 19th April 2008 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division LEVERSTOCK GREEN 4 COCKFOSTERS 0 No Complaints.... With two tasty away wins under our belt we looked for a third against a high scoring Leverstock side. It was not to be as we clearly ran out of gas puffing and panting and rarely getting anywhere over the entire 90 mins. The first half was littered with route one belts up the field and our midfield could only wave good bye to the ball as it repeatedly soared over their heads from deep. Leverstock's lively attack showed early promise when a break down the right forced Chay Morris into making a great save with his legs. Midway through the half their was a bizarre incident when a stone bonkers deliberate hand ball in the box by an opposing defender was met with unbelievable mute response by our players and the crime went unpunished. Predictably Dan O'Connor with Monnies number 9 on his back made our first real threat on goal when he broke through the middle to test the keeper with swerving drive that the keeper could only partially deal with. The ball broke to Jamie Brandon on the right by line and with very little options available to him he floated the ball over the keepers head but just as the clever flick looked to have done its job a brilliant on line defenders header cleared the danger. Having contained our hosts for 45 mins we went in at half time confident that their was something in the game for us especially with slope and wind advantage now to our advantage. That advantage unfortunately accounted for nothing as we caved in to some punishing attack play from Leverstock's 80 goal attack so much so that it was soon 84 with well taken strikes in the 55th, 70th, 75th and 79th mins. Our threats on their goal were very few with the best a great angled shot from O'Connor bringing the best out of the keeper. No complaints because we did not perform on the day in conditions more suited to the wastes of Siberia. M.O.M. CONWAY 5 EWING 3 O'CONNOR 2 ANDREOS 2. AYLESBURY HUNT 7 BRANDON 2 CONWAY 2 O'CONNOR 1 POTTON UTD O'CONNOR 8 MONIATIS 2 HUNT 2 Tuesday 15th April 2008 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division AYLESBURY VALE 1 COCKFOSTERS 2 Last Man Standing ....If only........ our record at Chalk Lane could match the away form, then the need to look over our shoulders would have disappeared some while ago. The away win at Harefield was followed up by another three points on the road at Aylesbury which accounts for nine of our eleven wins. With the squad already down to the bare bones, the last thing that we wanted was to see Jon Moniatis limp out of the game and the season early in the proceedings. Moniatis was replaced by a barely fit Nicky Page but the patched up team produced some great football. On a rain soaked evening, Cockfosters moved the ball around with pace and accuracy. Jamie Brandon had a first team recall and produced the kind of sparkling performance that we know he is well capable of. With Dan O'Connor playing up front the two combined to terrorise the Aylesbury rearguard. Moments before his early departure, Moniatis picked up the ball on half-way, wide on the right. A slide rule pass up the line found Jamie Brandon and despite the attention of two Vale defenders, Brandon created the opening for a cross that was swept home by Dan O'Connor to give Cockfosters the lead after fifteen minutes. Ten minutes later and it was the same pairing that doubled the lead but this time O'Connor was the provider. A quick counter attack found only two Aylesbury defenders at home and when it comes to a race the smart money would go on O'Connor winning it. With O'Connor outstripping the defence his low cross was tucked away by Brandon. Although Aylesbury had there fair share of possession they rarely looked like breaking through and Chay Morris had little to do other than straight forward goalkeeping housekeeping. The second half began with the hosts urgently seeking a way back into the game and within four minute of the restart it was game on. For probaly the only time in the evening the Cockfosters central defence opened the door and galloping through it came Luke Mellisi, Aylesbury's leading marksman. Chay Morris, faced with Mellisi, forced the Aylesbury man wide but Mellisi was still able to find the target as Morris could only help the goalbound shot in. Rather than press home the psychological advantage, Aylesbury were given precious few sights of goal as Cockfosters headed home with the points. It's usual for the goalscorers to grab the headlines, but this was a tremendous team performance and to single out individuals would be an injustice to those not named. MOM to follow.....Saturday 12th April 2008 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division HAREFIELD UNITED 1 COCKFOSTERS 2 A Great Result.... In complete contrast to the London Tigers game this one had the lot with pulsating lively action right up to the final whistle. With less than a minute gone Jon Moniatis was through on goal and brought out a desperate save from the Hares keeper. Later Jon conjured up our best chance of the first half when he struck down the left to puill back a gem of a pass to Dave Pigden whose first tme effort saw the ball achieve unbelievable elevation in order to find the crossbar. Prior to the game starting our hopes were not too high as David Craig had the bare bones of a squad to pick from and yet as the game progressed we grew in confidence especially at the back where Steve Scripps , Ben Andreos, Gavin Conway and in particular Kevin Hunt were playing out of their skin holding a very fast Hares front line. We in turn managed to keep the home defence fully occupied and as a last resort to stop our frequent raids they all too often resorted to being shameful shirt lifters rather than tacklers in their efforts to retrieve the ball. The second half was only 7 mins old when we struck gold with a classic strike from Aaron Ewing. Reade pumped in a daisy cutter from the right and when the ball was teed up by Pigden it fell to Ewing to apply the lethal coupe de gras. From just outside the box Aaron clipped home a right fizzer that had so much speed and bend on it the keeper did not move a muscle even though he had his left hand upright well covered. We had good chances to go two up when three one on ones were wasted by us in quick succession. Ewing , O'Connor and Brandon all to a man shot straight into the keepers arms when clean through on goal. These misses looked to be costly when Jamie Houliston struck to put a lucky Harefield level on 70 mins. Justice however was soon restored when ten mins later Ewing laid on a chance for Jon Moniatis to come out best in a defender and keeper mix up that allowed him to cleverly slip a slow motion ball across the line. It may not have looked to be a very pretty goal but it was a gem that won us the game and in its execution Jon showed us just how versatile his striking game really is. M.O.M. CONWAY 4 HUNT 4 ANDREOS 2 SCRIPPS 1 MONIATIS 1. Thursday 10th April 2008 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division COCKFOSTERS 0 KINGSBURY LONDON TIGERS 0 Tigers Tame Our Play....
Our visitors had obviously done their
homework on our play and thoughts of us carrying out a repeat of the mauling
we gave them earlier in the season were soon dispelled. Rarely were we
allowed to put even the most basic of moves together to threaten their
number one. The one squeak of a chance we had in the first half fell to Dan
O'Connor who bustled his way into the box but our pitch came to the visitors
aid when a nasty bobble of the ball led to O'Connor losing control and the
chance was lost. The Kingsbury side played to their name by tigerishly
snarling and snapping at us whenever we were on the ball and these tactics
succeeded in unsettling us throughout the 90 mins. Likewise our defence kept
a tight control of things at the back although Lee Walker must have been
pleased to see his defenders get him out of trouble following a poor pass
out of his area...Second half started promising, with Cockfosters dominating
possession but unable to cause any real problems in the Tigers back four
where Sirak Beyene mopped up anything that threatened to break through.
Kevin Reade, who had replaced Rob Laney, looked the most likely, but even
though he got behind on two or three occasions, nothing came from his supply
line. Midway through the half, Kingsbury upped the tempo and began to
threaten but the revamped rearguard coped with everything thrown at them.
Gavin Conway along with Kevin Hunt and Dan Hurrell (not played for seven
months) were outstanding. Although we could not boast a shot on target for
all of the second half, the Tigers rarely bared their teeth either. Lee
Walker did well to palm a corner over the top when under pressure but not
until added time did the Tigers look likely to score when Denilson Vicente
had a clear headed chance but fortunately for Cockfosters he fired it
straight at Walker. Another fine performance from Aaron Ewing who always
tried to pick his pass. The fixture list began to take its toll as tiredness
and a couple of knocks did little for our cause. A battling performance -
not very pretty - but a point each was about right. ...M.O.M.
CONWAY 6 EWING 3 HUNT 2 O'CONNOR 1
Tuesday 8th April 2008 South Midlands Floodlight Cup - Semi-Final COCKFOSTERS 3 POTTON UNITED 2 Dan The Man...... Those people visiting Chalk Lane for this encounter had two options on offer, one the game being played out on the pitch and the other the plastic version being screened on television from Anfield in the warmth of the bar. The 'Gooner' brigade it has to be said got it all wrong because the the real football stuff was being dished out on our pitch. It was argueably our best performance of the season and our guaranteed place in the final richly deserved. No matter who the opposition are we always seem to get our attack gear immediately into overdrive and this game was no exception with 'Red Boots' joining 'White Boots' for a late season reunion the scene was set for a lot of action up front. Kevin Reade was there to supply the ammo from the right and things looked really promising from the off when with two close markers on him Reade still managed to deliver a cross that narrowly avoided the head of the incoming Jon Moniatis. Dan O'Connor immediately followed this up with a good chance in front of goal but his effort went straight into the keepers arms. Our dominance in Potton's defensive half of the pitch was so obvious that we notched up an astonishing 17 corner kicks in the first half and yet surprisingly from this set play feast only a good firm Rob Laney header across goal produced any real threat. Failing to deal with set piece's has cost us a lot of goals this season and the hoodoo again struck 13 mins into the game when a free kick into our box was headed across goal allowing John Mullholland to finish with ease. Despite all our attack minded play our opening goal on 40 mins came not by creativity but by a weak clearance from Potton keeper Purcell that fell invitingly for Dan O'Connor who then seized on the opportunity of lobbing the ball into an empty net. Things were looking tidy at the back and Jon Moniatis should have made it 2- 1. when he sprang the off side trap only for him to miss out with an effort that sailed over the bar. The early set back however did not knock us out of our stride and although we went in at half time only level the game was clearly ours for the taking. The second half certainly saw us continue where we left off and when Laney burst into the visitors box to unleash a wicked ball across goal the signs looked good for more of the same. In the meantime Aaron Ewing was carrying out his usual Pit Bull role in midfield with great effect. Fifteen mins into the half one such piece of battling Ewing play out on the left set up Dan O'Connor for a dribbling run across the penalty area which is bad news for any defence and for Potton it was curtains the moment Dan conjured up enough space to fire home amidst a sea of defenders legs Unfortunately for us the set piece thing again came to haunt us 10 mins later when a Potton corner kick led to a Mulholland header smacking the crossbar and Carl Simm was on hand to hit the ball home. It was yet again O'Connor who came to our rescue ten mins from time with a winner coming from the unusual source that of a drop ball play. Dan received the ball on the edge of the penalty area and when he got his sights on goal he unleashed a screamer that beat a very good keeper all ends up. A brilliant hat trick from a man in top form. Dan will undoubtedly be our player of the year with a 27 goal haul and had neutrals been around to see his play throughout the season that honour could so easily be applied to the Premier League as well. As for the team performance this was a 10 out of 10 showing beating anything the television in the bar had to offer. MOM to follow....
Saturday 5th April 2008 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division COCKFOSTERS 2 HOLMER GREEN 2 A Touch Of Class In Reserve......
Tuesday 1st April 2008 Potters Bar Charity Cup - First Round COCKFOSTERS 4 NORTH MYMMS 2 Moniatis Spares The Blushes......
Within eight minutes of this much delayed fixture getting underway, it seemed that 'form book' may well have indicated an easy ride for Cockfosters - moral (Never trust the form book). Francis Otari had caused mayhem for the Mymms defence from Cockfosters first corner of the night and within seconds , the second was even more damaging as Otari soared above his markers to head Cockfosters in front. When Dave Pigden calmly slotted the second, the writing was surely on the wall for Mymms. After 38 minutes Lee Edwards instinctively thrust up an arm to keep Pigden's goalbound shot out and North Mymms were down to ten with the penalty to come. However, this turned out to be a pivotal moment of the evening as Pigden's well struck kick was brilliantly saved by Tommy Duke, diving to his right. Immediately, this set Mymms up for a battle royal and with goals either side of the break from Stewart Street and Matt Monte-Colombo, the Herts Senior team were level and looking good. Suddenly it was roll your sleeves up time as Cockfosters were denied the luxury of time and space as Mymms battled for every ball. Even so, the challenge looked doomed and with the introduction of Jon Moniatis at half-time, Cockfosters had the right tool in the box to unhinge the gallant Mymms ten. Moniatis cut along the goal-line from the right to set up Dave Pigden for a tap-in, unfortunately our number 9 tapped it into the cricket field next door. Undaunted Moniatis battled to make an impression and soon put Cockfosters ahead when he forced the ball home from close-in. But the best was saved until last when Moniatis stormed up the left and after cutting in fired past the startled Duke from a narrow angle to clinch the win that earns Cockfosters a semi-final tie against Colney Heath. MOM to follow..... Wednesday 25th March 2008 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division HANWELL TOWN 2 COCKFOSTERS 1 Cockfosters Come Up Short......
With Chay Morris picking the ball out of the net before most
spectators had taken their seats you would have thought it
was going
Tuesday 18th March 2008 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division COCKFOSTERS 2 LONDON COLNEY 2 Another Jekyll & Hyde Performance......
Saturday 15th March 2008 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division COCKFOSTERS 0 BRIMSDOWN ROVERS 1 Strikers On Strike....
Saturday 8th March 2008 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division COLNEY HEATH 0 COCKFOSTERS 0 Magpies Lucky To Share The Spoils......
Wednesday 5th March 2008 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division BIGGLESWADE TOWN 2 COCKFOSTERS 1 Not Pretty But What Muggings Are?...... After failing to enthuse in our last outing at
the weekend, the long haul out to Bedford to take on high-flying Biggleswade
Town turned out to be far more uplifting experience; and for the second time
this season we can justifiably claimed to have been mugged. On this occasion we
could not honestly claim to have been the better team, but had someone upstairs
been smiling more kindly then we should have shared the spoils. Four penalty
shouts, three of which were nailed on, would normally have led
Saturday 1st March 2008 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division COCKFOSTERS 1 OXHEY JETS 1 Reds And Jets In Snooze Control......
Most low scoring draws normally
turn out to be boring affairs and although this game
certainly wasn't quite that it did lack a lot of passion
from both sides. Manager David Craig as always had his pre
match headache of trying to put an eleven out due to all
manner of reasons and injuries to players was, it has to be
said, not the primary cause. Our win at the Jets ground
earlier this season was one of our most comfortable wins to
date, so we took them on with confidence hoping to soon
erase the Holmer Green blip. It looked good when we scored
after 10 mins with our first real threat on the Oxhey goal.
A long Rob Laney throw in
Tuesday 26th February 2008 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division HOLMER GREEN 2 COCKFOSTERS 1 Whipped By The Whipping Boys...... Coming off the back of a great win against Biggleswade United on their own patch we must have thought that at trip to one of the leagues whipping boys Holmer Green would be 3 points in the bag. Footie however is not like that and we came away from the 'Greens' patch with our tails betwween our legs after being beaten by a better side on the night. Before a ball was kicked in the match the noise coming from the home dressing room could be loudly heard in the adjoining bar. The manager was clearly giving his charges a kick up the backside for a long run of rubbish performances. What was said clearly worked because Holmer Green came out on to the pitch very much up for a scrap and we were knocked out of our stride right from the off never once being allowed to spray our pretty stuff around. It soon became apparent that if the battling 'Greens were to take the lead we would be hard put to get back in the game. That goal duly came fromTom Alabaster in the 25th min when we conceded our 27th goal of the season from a corner kick situation. We had our inevitable chances to draw level but with a sniff of a welcome win in their nostrils the home side dug in and defended like tigers snapping and hustling our players whenever they took possesion of the ball. Mid way through the second half it got even better for the home team when they got present from us in the form of a sloppy Steve Weldon back pass to Lee Walker. Simon Williams nipped in to walk the ball into an empty net. Holmer Green at this stage were getting a nose bleed with a massive 2. 0. lead against us. Late in the game Jon Moniatis put in some great work in order to set Kevin Reade up for a smartly taken goal but it proved not enough and at the end of it all it has to be said we were beaten by the right tactics on the night. Too many times we had to resort to desperation stuff because our passing game was being wrecked by closing down. Reade, Barker and Page were the best of a very average bunch on the night. M.O.M. votes to follow. Saturday 23rd February 2008 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division BIGGLESWADE UNITED 0 COCKFOSTERS 4 Hail The New Maradonna......
We picked up our 7th away scalp
of rhe season with an embarrassingly easy win against a
United side that did not turn up for the game and might as
well have stayed in the dressing room. To be honest though
we never made things easy for our hosts as we tore into them
right from the off with all guns blazing never once taking
our foot off the gas for the entire 90 minutes. This was as
near vintage 'Reds' as one will ever get and few if any
teams in the league could have lived with us on this fine
all round display. To make matters worse for United the club
chose this game to go worldwide on the internet with a first
ever step 5 game going out broadcast live via www. MYBUFC.
com Our early raids were predictably down our right flank
where the Lee Barker, Nick Martin and Kevin Reade
combination ripped open the Biggleswade defence at will and
it came as no surprise when the inevitable opener for us on
18 mins came about due to work from this trio. Needless to
say it was the on fire Reade who provided the final icing on
the cake with a cross begging for the ball to be buried and
this was duly achieved by Jon Moniatis whose looping header
beat the
Tuesday 19th February 2008 South Midlands Floodlight Cup - Senior Section COCKFOSTERS 2 EYNESBURY ROVERS 1 a.e.t. Beauty And The Beast......
Our opponents for this tie were a bit of an unknown quantity and we had to wait for the game to be set in motion before we knew what to really expect. It did not take too long to realise that our Northants rivals were nigh totally devoid of the pretty stuff with plenty of hefty lumps protecting their keeper and all in all their general play seemed to rely on all round intimidation. As is always the case with the 'Reds' when they are on top form they go straight for the jugular of opposing defences and although they had a heavyweight back line barrier that tended to kick out at anything which moved our exciting attack play frequently found a way through. Of course nothing can be done by the easy route of putting the ball across the goal line and we had our usual crop of squandered chances although to be fair keeper Danny Workman was just that and worked heroics protecting his net. The off side rule in soccer has always produced some weird interpretations of its true meaning by linos and the one concocted up to deny Dave Pigden with our opening goal came straight out of the fantasy world. The penalty award is another that seems to forever court controversy and if the decision that robbed us of a free pop at goal following Dan O'Connor's crude penalty box take out is anything to go by such controversy will go on until doomsday. The following is not a quote from the author but from the visiting keeper and it reads 'How on earth did the referee not see that as a penalty'. Going down to a goal from Eynesbury seemed inconceivable but somehow we managed do achieve the impossible and let them in for a goal full of basic errors when Chay's clearance was charged down by Sam Kingston. Michael Casey did his best to retrieve the situation but Kingston's shot got carried over the line in the effort to clear the danger. The second half looked to be taking the shape of a pear with plenty of openings producing no goals so the bench came into play. Almost instantly Tony Nielson looked the part with some lovely weighted balls that carved open gaping holes in the Rovers bully boy defence. One lay off was criminally wasted by O'Connor but he in turn got our break through 15 mins from time when he again got hacked down by the heavy brigade. This time justice was seen to be done and Jon Moniatis blasted the spot kick home. Extra time and the battle between beauty and the beast continued with beauty emerging as the eventual winners, but not before Cockfosters had survived a couple of scares with Chay Morris twice making telling stops. Cometh the hour, cometh the man and when Captain Marvel Steve Weldon popped up in the Eynesbury penalty area to put the finishing touches to some good Moniatis work after 117 minutes, the prospect of a penalty shoot-out was gone and the warmth of the clubhouse was only moments away. Manager David Craig came on during a crisis point during the second half and his on pitch coaching certainly paid dividends as we went on to win a game that could so easily have been lost. M. O. M. VOTING ............
Saturday 16th February 2008 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division COCKFOSTERS 3 WELWYN GARDEN CITY 3 Six Goals With Six Star Entertainment......
This was our fourth encounter
with the 'Citizens' this season and as yet for us they
remain unbeaten opposition. With memories of a very
fortunate league win against us in October we had a right to
be more than confident that our visitors would have matters
reversed on Dacre Field. As an attacking force their are few
teams in the league that can match us for flair and thrust
but it is also true to say we have fallen down badly on the
clinical finishing front. Our opening attacking play in
most games always look good right from the kick off with
this one being no exception and it seemed encouraging when
Page and Laney linked up well on the left to open up
Welwyn's defence but sadly Laney's eventual lethal cross
ended up in no mans land for a throw in. If our opening
attacking play is always encouraging then it also has to be
said that our defensive lapses also appear early in a game.
Tuesday 12th February 2008 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division COCKFOSTERS 4 COLNEY HEATH 3 Magpies Rocked By Reds Revival......
Having battled so well at the weekend against Hertford
Town, David Craig pinned his faith in the same starting
eleven and whilst the approach against Hertford was more
defensively biased it could not be argued that tonight's
tactics were similar. More hinged on this game than
local bragging rights and from the start it was
Cockfosters totally on the front foot. Up front, Jon
Moniatis and Dan O'Connor really stretched the Magpies
defence with Tom Blackman in the Heath goal doing well
to smother a low drive from the Reds No.9. With Rob
Laney and Nicky Page prominent in much of Cockfosters
early sorties, the visiting keeper was by far the
busier. On 18 minutes Cockfosters took a deserved lead
when Colney Heath were all at sea as Moniatis and
O'Connor battled to force the ball home, eventually
Nicky Page took up the challenge to smash the ball
beyond Blackman. Minutes later Moniatis teed up a
chance for O'Connor but the volley flew wide. At this
stage Heath had little to offer and when they did
approach Cockfosters last third the uncompromising
defence was at its meanest. As is often the case,
supremacy needs to be fruitful and in not ramming home
the advantage, Cockfosters were suddenly rocked by an
unexpected equaliser. Thirty-seven minutes of total
dominance had passed before Colney Heath's first threat
on goal. Martin Standen found space on the right to
stand up a cross to the far post which was not
adequately dealt with ; the ball finding itself at the
feet of Greg Deacon who made no mistake from ten yards.
That was a pivotal moment as the confidence drained from
Cockfosters with the visitors now in the driving seat -
but no further damage was done before the break. That
was saved unit just after.!!! Three minutes after the
restart and Neil Jordan delivered a freekick from wide
on the left and the tallest man on the pitch, Ashley
Armakhu was higher than all others to head past Chay
Morris to put Heath 2-1 up. Before the P.A. announcer
had finished, Martin Standen had unleashed a ferocious
volley from an acute angle for a spectacular third. With
the Chalk Lane faithful reliving nightmares of Langford,
the De Ja Vue thought could well be excused. As the half
wore on Gavin Conway rattled the crossbar and Moniatis
was denied by a brave save from Blackman but it seemed
that a comeback was not part of the script. Oh ye of
little faith! With nineteen minutes to go Nicky Page was
full of hope as he scampered to retrieve the ball for a
corner - the delivery was tailor made for Michael Casey
to head Cockfosters back in contention. Cockfosters were
by now beginning to build a head of steam and an equaliser
looked a possibility as the visitors tried all means
legally possible to run down the clock. That wasn't the only thing that was run down as Kevin Reade and Dan
O'Connor were clattered whenever they threatened. By now
Craigie had sacrificed the defensive contributions of
Gavin Conway, Steve Kessack and Nicky Martin, who had
played a full part, for an even more attacking final assault.
With just five minutes left Colney Heath conceded
another free kick beyond the corner of the area and Dan
O'Connor drove the kick low through a crowded goalmouth
without anyone getting a touch to level at 3-3. Within a
minute the comeback was complete when an attempted
backpass by Lee Gorrell was short on power and Dave
Pigden latched on to cleverly beat Blackman for the
winner. Yes, the result was brilliant for us but it was
great to hear people in the clubhouse afterwards saying
how much they had enjoyed the game. Again very difficult
to pick M.o.M. but the nod went to Casey 6, Page 2,
Weldon 2, Moniatis 1, Laney 1
Saturday 9th February 2008 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division HERTFORD TOWN 2 COCKFOSTERS 0 Hertford Flattered......
 Following on in the wake of
that freakish Langford result we more than got our act
back together in this tough encounter against one of the
leagues big boys. Forget the result this was us
performing well and a precious away point was only
denied us when a refereeing decision late in the game
landed Hertford a gift Kevin Cooper goal from the
spot.Clearly only the ball felt the force of a Ben
Andreos tackle on drama queen diver Ryan Redford but the
oscar winning act that followed convinced the ref that
foul play had occurred. Prior to these dramatics we were
doing a great job of containing our hosts free scoring
attack. Indeed in the first half we could so easily have
gone in at half time one to the good had it not been for
a glaring miss from our hot form man Dan O'Connor. With
ex world cup star Ossie Ardilles present as a spectator
the Cockfosters red shirt and those wearing it did us
proud as we continually snuffed out Hertford's strong
attacking threat. Ex 'Red' Ian Cooper was one such
threat who throughout his time on the pitch had little
joy trying to escape from Ben Andreos's 'Y' fronts. It
cannot be denied that our present game relies heavily on
the O'Connor lad as our number one safe cracker
unlocking defences. The ease with which he can waltz
past as many as three defenders at a time was clearly
evident in this game and some of those wicked by-line
crosses he produced should have had better endings to
them. On the whole however this was a great team
performance with the added time goal from Kevin Cooper a
flattery bonus to a Hertford side who knew they had got
out of jail by the decision of a sympathetic referee. To
add insult to injury our powerhouse android got his
marching orders at the time of the penalty incident.
Nicky Page had a good game in his free role of popping
up all over the pitch and there was not much grass that
did not find his boots stud marks. Backing Page up was
Gavin Conway with another tireless driving act pushing
and probing right across the park. Michael Casey put in
one of his dynamic steam engine performances as a centre
back to win man of the match but this was yet another
game where we performed so well as an outfit that votes
could have really gone to anyone. We are now on the run
in to the season's closure and if there is one major
factor about our general game in the Premier league it
is that repeatedly we are producing performances that
warrant points but getting nothing from the game. In
short we are not as bad as our league placing suggests
and no one know that better than Hertford Town. M.O.M.
CASEY 5 CONWAY 3 PAGE 3 WELDON 1
Saturday 2nd February 2008 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division COCKFOSTERS 3 LANGFORD 7 A Jekyll & Hyde Nightmare......
Football they say is a game of two halves and that old adage surely applied to this game. The first half was all red as we slipped into our familiar attacking mode right from the kick off. Debutant Phil Turner in particular looked sharp up front with plenty of pace. His shooting boots however were it seems left in the dressing room and a first half hat trick of good chances were wasted through poor finishing. Our opening goal on seven mins came about via a piece of dogged play by the marauding Ben Andreos who whipped over a corner flag cross for Dan O'Connor to head the ball home at the far post. In defence their was an air of confidence with clean tidying up whenever Langford's 60 goal attack tried to get through. All in all an extremely good first half with high hopes back to back home wins. Right from the start of the second half Langford pinged the ball around as if they were determined to make this their blue half. What happened to our defence in the opening 12 mins of the half beggars belief as Langford rammed home four goals in quickfire fashion. Our main tormenter was wingman Robert Groves who must have been puzzled by the ease in which he bagged a hat trick. Wes Byrne also got into the scoring act as we invited Langford to pepper our goal with unchallenged raids coming from all angles. At one stage tucked in between this defensive nightmare Dan O'Connor had pulled the scores level at 2. 2. when he again put the finishing touch to an Andreos cross. O'Connor marred another great display by later getting a needless red for excessive verbal in the direction of the referee. Wes Byrne hit a fifth for the visitors as we continued to let Langford behind us with embarrassing ease. Dave Pigden still cold from the bench got one back for us with a typical poached goal but that was merely the cue for us to immediately gift Groves wih a fourth from the spot and our total humiliation was complete when Marc Barnes raced through virtually unchallenged to grab a goal in the dying seconds to leave us smarting from a bizarre 7- 3. defeat. The 10 man thing is hardly any excuse for the way we capitulated in this game. M.O.M. VOTES O'CONNOR 6 ANDREOS 3 MARTIN 2 WELDON 1Fo
Saturday 26th January 2008 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division COCKFOSTERS 3 TRING ATHLETIC 1 Tring Taught A Lesson......
Saturday 5th January 2008 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division BROXBOURNE BOROUGH V & E 0 COCKFOSTERS 1 A Game Of Two Dans....
This game produced our first clean sheet defensively since the Tigers game way back in August. It also produced some quality football all across the park it being one of those rare games where no player deserved to be ignored for M.O.M. voting. Boro were having a solid run of form and must have been taken aback by the way we tore into them right from the off of this game. Reade was the first to show how easy it could be to get behind the hosts back line when he set O'Connor up for a straight forward heading chance which was wasted with the goal at his mercy. Moniatis too had an early chance which went begging and that was followed by another when he just failed to profit from a keeper's spill to a fierce O'Connor drive. The Boro defence had no answer to O'Connors free running play and he deservedly got our opener on 35 minutes. The Boro players although well beyond the nappie stage were sold dummie after dummie as Dan wriggled his way into the box and it all ended with a great strike that beat the keeper all ends up. Ben Andreos was pushing forward whenever he could with one foray resulting in a bullet drive that the keeper just found enough finger tip to send it over the bar. Meanwhile at the back we looked well organised with Otira having one of his best games in a red shirt. At the break the Boro committee to a man were drooling over the O'Connor display and especially the goal so much so that Graham was offered a bag of dolly mixtures to take Dan off our hands. The second half belonged to Boro but we did have our chances to increase our lead. One O'Connor run on to a beautifully weighted Reade through ball should have led to a penalty yet somehow the referee saw it differently. Monnie failed to capitalise from a sloppy goal kick that went straight to his feet but thanks to some brilliant keeping from Curbelo we secured victory with that single magic goal. Right across the pitch this was the old Cockfosters battling for ther pride just two games away from the St Margaretsbury nightmare. M.O.M. voting could have gone to all and sundry but the Curbello show won the day in the end. Nice to see David Craig back in the dugout even though Tony Faulkner must have wished motormouth had'nt turned up. M.O.M. CURBELO 7 O'CONNOR 2 ANDREOS 2 WELDON 1 Saturday 29th December 2007 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division COCKFOSTERS 2 CHALFONT St. PETER 2 'White Boots' Is Back....
Following on from a
disappointing display against St Margaretsbury where the
wheels well and truly came off our tracks we bounced back in
fine style against title challenging Chalfont St Peter.
Right from the off our attitude looked so different with Rob
Saturday 22nd December 2007 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division St. MARGARETSBURY 4 COCKFOSTERS 0 The Bury's Bury Us....
This was without doubt our worse performance of the season. We were all round bad and if their are excuses to be found it has to be that Stan had a pre match nightmare trying to find eleven fit bodies to put out on the pitch. With just a bare eleven and an empty subs bench those on parade were going to be severely tested for fitness. Some of those eleven were glaringly lacking in match fitness and certainly not 90 minuters. So those are the just excuses out of the way but from hereon it reads bad with a 3 goal blast from Bury's Matt Maskell killing the game stone dead between the 30th and 37the minutes. Without O'Connor providing us with our usual midfield thrust we as an attacking unit were toothless. Andreos had our best chance of getting us back in the game right from the second half kick off but his free header on goal went wide. Add to that a squeak of a Moniatis chance coupled with a Lee Barker go it alone raid into Bury's box and that was just about our total attack contribution throughout the entire game. Any sniff of a chance to get something from the game died when Kaine Lovett lobbed an embarassed Lee Walker to make it 4. 0. five mins into the second half. M.O.M. VOTES TO FOLLOW BUT THEY WILL BE DIFFICULT TO FIND.
Saturday 15th December 2007 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division COCKFOSTERS 2 BIGGLESWADE UNITED 4 Same Old Story....
And so it goes on with yet another game we could so easily have won ending up in defeat. It is difficult to apportion blame on either defence or attack as both departments are equally to blame for the way we continue to let lesser teams nick 3 points off us. The real truth is that this game had the chances in it for us to have won 6 - 4. With Danny Curbelo up front we had the rare luxury of having some aerial power in attack but the first chance that fell to Danny's head was wasted with an unusually tame strike that went straight to the keepers hands. On 14 mins we dished out an early Christmas present to our grateful visitors with an opening Jake Goodship goal that was laughingly defended in true Sunday Park footie fashion, it was that bad and far too painful to elaborate on. To our credit we never let this set back interfere with our pushing forward with plenty of drive and as is generally the case of late in our games it was the O'Connor lad who created most of the chances for us. Dan is our top scorer this season from mid field with 14 goals but it has to be said that total could have been doubled with more consistent finishing. One angled cross shot from O'Connor should have led to us drawing level instead of going well wide of the far post. Ben Andreos came forward at every opportunity in his characteristic never say die battling style and but for some brilliant shot stopping by keeper Adams a vicious swerving 30 yarder would have given us that deserved leveller. Their were chances for United to go further ahead and on one break Francia Otira saved the situation with a classic penalty box challenge. Shortly afterwards Chay came good with a brave block when left in no mans land by his fellow defenders. Reade was always on hand causing trouble down the right with one set up for Page ending up going agonisingly wide. Just when it looked as though we would go in at the break one down a long hoick from out of our defence found O'Connor bursting through for a finish that saw the ball being lobbed over the keepers head. At this stage we were playing good stuff and yet within 5 mins of the second half we committed hari kari when Simon Catmur was allowed so much time to blast the ball home following an uncleared corner kick. It did not help our cause when 10 mins later Lee Barker saw red and got a red for a bit of handbag stuff played out right in front of the referee. Again it was O'Connor who done his best to get us back in the game with a determined run terminating with a clumsy United challenge in the box. Ben Andreos took the spot kick and although hit powerfully strong and true keeper Chris Adams met the challenge with a pair of strong hands to keep his net safe. Those well known white boots of Jon Moniatis made a much welcome appearance on the pitch with 20 mins to go and it was not long before they went into action sending one screamer towards goal but once again hero Adams matched the strike with a great save. It was now time for us to give out another present on 75 mins when a United break down the right led to Craig Rydeheard breezing through our static defence for a simple goal. With ten to go Dan O'Connor inspired us to fight back again with a well placed cross shot that seemed to deceive the keeper and make Adams look human after all. When O'Connor followed up with a peach of a through ball for Curbelo to finish the equaliser looked to be in the bag and yet somehow that amazing elevation a ball can find from so close in led to it sailing over the bar. Biggleswade's fourth goal from Dan Gaskin finally killed us off and Chay l know will want to forget about that one. Sad to learn that Penners has left our ranks he was a good all round front man and he will be hard to replace. M.O.M. O'CONNOR 7 WELDON 3 OTIRA 1 ANDREOS 1 Saturday 1st December 2007 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division COCKFOSTERS 2 BIGGLESWADE TOWN 4 Five Minutes Of Madness..... It is becoming increasingly more
difficult to have to report that we should have got something
out of a game which we got nothing from in the way of league
points. Sadly this match was no different and league leaders or
not Biggleswade Town were made to look so very ordinary
especially in a second half where we pegged them back in their
half for practically the entire 45 minutes. At the end of it all
however Town found our net on four occasions whilst we only
profited with two goals from our lions share of the 90 mins..
This game was certainly lost in the latter stages of a first
half which initially saw us take the game to our visitors with a
goal on 22 mins scored by league debutant Nick Nicou. The
combined threat of O'Connor and Nicou bearing down on the Town
goal led to panic stations for keeper Aaron Springham and his
mishandling of the situation led to a runaway ball finding Nicou
in the six yard box for a simple tap in. Before the commencement
of our defensive
Tuesday 27th November 2007 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division COCKFOSTERS 2 RUISLIP MANOR 2 A Spot Of Luck In Injury Time..... During the lead up to this game
the word around the manor was that Ruislip were in some
disarray with a new bunch of players being drafted in to halt
the slide. Because of this we had little idea what kind
of Ruislip team were going to take the field against us. As a
team no matter what the opposition we always appear to kick off
in the right frame of mind and this game was no exception with
some bright moves strung together as we pushed forward in our
usual gung ho style. Of late our general play relies heavily on
a right sided attack and that is how we played it for the
opening period with Reade as usual seeing plenty of the ball.
Allied with the fact that Gary Haycock was a starter for this
game it meant that crosses were not necessarily going to be
bread and butter for opposition defenders to gobble up. It is
amazing how Haycock manages to find the ball from all the
crosses that rain over and it is almost as if there is some
magnetic force involved. It was a fierce goalbound header from
Gary which led to our opener on 8 minutes. Their seemed little
danger of the ball finding the net with plenty of defenders on
guard patrolling the line but an alert Dave Pigden standing back
to goal somehow delivered a clever side flick on the ball to
create a goal from nothing. Straight from the restart our flat
footed defence got caught stone cold as Ruislip got behind us to
level. Haycock continued to be our main threat of attack with
plenty of good old fashioned aerial power causing Ruislip
problems whenever he wandered into the box in search of a
flying ball. Ben Penfold too was as industrious as ever and one
piece of typical determined running opened up a chance for
Pigden but this time Dave's impersonation of a Thiery Henry six
yard box spin did not come off. A share of the spoils at the
interval told us that Ruislip were not going to be the whipping
boys that their lowly league placing suggested. Indeed within 5
minutes of the second half they took the lead when Chay sliced a
pass back clearance straight into the path of a Ruislip's Jordan
Moore who finished with embarrassing ease. From hereon we
battled hard without any luck until the 80th minute when a
fortunate handball decision gave us the opportunity of levelling
from the spot. Steve Weldon known for his no nonsense blasting
of the ball
Saturday 24th November 2007 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division BEACONSFIELD SYCOB 1 COCKFOSTERS 0 No Luck, No Goals, No Points..... At risk of coming over as boring with too much of the same thing it has to be truthfully reported that we deserved to get something from this game. Alas that killer instinct in front of goal still plagues our general play and over the season it has for sure cost us a lot of points. At least a share of the spoils was ours for the taking against a Beaconsfield side who can consider themselves lucky to nick all three points. We were certainly the team to make most of the early attacking threats and here again with risk of coming over as boring the truth is that Kevin Reade and Dan O'Connor provided most of the thrust for us. It was a Reade run that gave us our first chance on 5 mins with a whipping cross which found O'Connor for a strike that grazed the upright. Beaconsfield broke clear immediately afterwards and only a timely Hutch tackle prevented the speedy Steve Jones from homing in on our goal. Another Reade cross found Dave Pigden at the near post for a difficult snap chance It was then the turn of Steve Weldon to save us with a great challenge that denied the troublesome Jones from getting behind us. A long individual O'Connor bursting run had reached the trigger pulling stage when he was hauled down just outside the box but justice was not done when Conway's free kick was dealt with comfortably by keeper Hart. Hutchings had one good effort saved from yet another Reade right wing opening whilst Nicky Page performed a slick piece of trickery by the corner flag and we were unlucky not to make something of his cross. The first half was definitely ours and yet we came out for the second half allowing Beaconsfield to come at us and we paid for it on 67 mins. Casey conceded a free kick just outside our box and the resulting set piece led to Chay making a great effort to hold a stinging low drive but the ball broke free to Sonny Seaton who made no mistake from close in. Reade was still sending over plenty of ammunition from the right and Page was unlucky not to convert a half chance at the far post. Our best chance of the 90 mins came when O'Connor slipped in a beauty for Dave Pigden to latch on to but Dave's firm strike found too much altitude and the ball cleared the bar. Chay Morris done enough to deservedly take the M.O.M. accolades. MORRIS 6 O'CONNOR 2 WELDON 1 READE 1 OKEKE 1 CASEY 1 Saturday 17th November 2007 F.A. Carlsberg Vase - Second Round ROMFORD 3 COCKFOSTERS 1 Romford's Revenge......
With the Tring hangover barely out of the players system it did us no favours when we conceded a goal from set piece play after just 13 mins. If our defending has been exposed of late with 14 in our net from 3 games then our weakness at coping with set piece play is even more worrying. Paul White was the Romford player grateful of planting an unchallenged header into our net direct from a corner. Once again it has to be said that Dan O'Connor was our main threat up front with a good runs from midfield. One bursting run to the right by line should have led to an equaliser but none of our players in the box could get a shot away. Penfold too caused problems for the Romford defence with energetic runs down both flanks. A second goal conceded was always going to be bad news for us especially with morale being at such a low ebb. Sadly it did however come in the 36th minute when Ben Turner nipped in between our hapless back line to tuck away a simple header beyond Chay. It was O'Connor again who did his best to lift us with a deep run from the back that was checked crudely just outside the box. Steve Weldon struck the resulting free kick with typical venom but keeper Martin matched it with a great save. Close to half time when we were chasing a goal to take us into the changing room a little happier we committed hari kari when Romford's aerial dominance exposed us once again. A simple nod down opened us up and Brad Jones stuck away an easy chance to virtually settle the tie before the break. During the second half we put up a spirited display without seriously threatening our hosts defence. Chay was also called upon to save us at times when we went for broke leaving gaps at the back. Chances to Hutchings, Laney, and a Barker special all failed to count as we pushed forward more and more. A well deserved consolation goal did eventually arrive on 88 minutes when a wicked Nick Page corner caused enough Romford panic to allow O'Connor to stab home from close range. Before the game our manager David Craig decided to call it a day. It goes without saying that the very fact that we are now a Premier league club is due mainly to Dave's boundless enthusiasm and commitment to the job in hand and for that we will always be grateful. As I personally see matters one of the biggest problems about Premier league management is the quickfire games coming up one after the other with more often than not two games a week over prolonged periods. Constantly having to find teams to put out on the pitch therefore becomes a major headache for a part time manager. We at Cockfosters wish Mark Standen well as he steps up to take full control of our first team. M.O.M. VOTES TO FOLLOW.
Tuesday 13th November 2007 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division TRING ATHLETIC 7 COCKFOSTERS 0 A Night not to Remember.... (report courtesy Tring Athletic website)
Saturday 10th November 2007 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division LONDON COLNEY 1 COCKFOSTERS 2 'Blueboys' Blues Continue..... Prior to this match the general talking point was could the usually proud London Colney team be as poor as their rock bottom league position suggested and if so it would help us out because we badly needed to get back on track away from our home sickness blues. Throughout the first half of this encounter the answer to the question was an emphatic yes the 'blueboys' were really that poor as we seemed to coast past a London Colney defence with so much ease it became embarrasing. Rob Laney made his long awaited comeback in this game after a prolonged lay off through injury and it was good to see the loyal lad turning out for us again for a full 90 minutes. Our early supremacy did not account for anything positive until the 14th minute when Dave Pigden broke free down the right channel. Having been squeezed to the by line Colney's defence appeared to be well in control of the threat but somehow when a goal did not seem to be on Dave fired home an angled cross shot past a surprised keeper. Jamie Brandon looked to be showing some good form down the left and was very unlucky with a do it yourself effort that ended with a shot grazing the crossbar. Nicky Page appeared to be so much more comfortable performing on the right and most of our attacking threats centred around him. On 21 minutes a slick delivery from Page put Nick Martin behind the home rearguard and the resulting killer cross found Ben Penfold free to slide a shot across goal that looked to be goalbound but strikers are a mean breed and Dave Pigden bagged the honour of having the last touch. During the whole of the first half we looked comfortable at the back although Ben Andreos did come to our rescue once with an excellently timed penalty box tackle. If the first half was ours then it has to be said the home side came out fighting that much harder for the second half honours. We on the other hand seemed to slacken off on the gas thinking the 3 points were in the bag allowing Colney to take more control of the game. Shortly after a bold three man bench substitution of Craig, Chandler and Haycock taking the field for Brandon, Page and Casey the home side sneaked a goal from out of the blue on 66 mins when Anthony Mhoutasamy scored with a deceiving backward looping header. Our second half efforts on goal were less freely available although Penfold should surely have had a penalty when just about to pull the trigger. The only other attack worthy of mention was when Pigden desperately searching for the hat trick goal was allowed do drift menacingly across the box to make way for a strike that went narrowly wide. Not the most inspiring of games but at the end of it the 3 points were ours and adds to our impressive away record of 15 from 21 so much better than 1 from 21 on our own miserable field of dreams.. M.O.M. PIGDEN 5 PENFOLD 4 ANDREOS 2 LANEY 1 HAREFIELD. READE 8 HUTCHINGS 3 A.B. STAIN 1 Tuesday 6th November 2007 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division COCKFOSTERS 0 HAREFIELD UNITED 4 Hares Have Us Looking Like Bunnies......
Considering our visitors had not scored a single goal in the previous five games prior to this encounter they must have been pleased to catch us in such poor form. Of all those that donned the red shirt for us in this game only Kevin Reade came through it all with some sort of satisfaction of how he performed on the night. Last season as a div one club we totally outplayed the hares on their own patch but it was not to be the same good fortunes for this premiership match and towards the end we were looking very ragged craving for the final whistle. As a team we are feeling the effect of injuries to key players and none more so than Dan O'Connor the driving force who can run at defences from midfield whilst the Monnie thing seems a long drag waiting to heal. Going down early especially to annoying set pieces did no favours after just 5 mins when Sean Sonner had no problems converting from a corner nod down to his feet. Our response to this setback was however positive and twice Reade laid things on a plate for us to hit back but first Hutchings and then Page scorned golden opportunities. There was then a bit of charitable luck for Harefield when a simple looking speculative effort from 35 yards by Danny Gallen achieved the unbelievable and found the back of our net. The second half was a repeat of the first as far as our attack play was concerned with only Reade firing up the front line crossing quality balls into the box. One to Jamie Brandon late in the game should have at least given us some consolation scraps. Harefield by that time had gone 3 ahead when Sonner breezed through for a strike that Chay did well to stop but the striker's second attempt hit the net. A fourth for our visitors close on time was not unexpected because it came when our team shape had totally disintegrated and we had surrendered the game. Throughout the entire 90 mins we seemed to be solely reliant on what threats Reade could provide from the right, whereas the left side failed to inject anything into our game. M.O.M. VOTES TO FOLLOW
Saturday 3rd November 2007 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division COCKFOSTERS 1 AYLESBURY VALE 2 One From Eighteen......
 Our
poor home form just refuses to desert us and it goes
without saying one point from a possible eighteen makes
for grim reading. The reasons are as plain as mud and
they are we leak goals too easily and at the other end
we let defences off the hook through poor finishing.
That our general play is exciting and great to watch is
not in question but we dont seem to be able to profit
from it with those simple statistics of scoring more
goals than our opponents and conceding less goals than
our opponents. 'One on one' situations are our biggest
nightmare both in attack and defence. We seem to let in
a lot of goals where players get in behind our rearguard
leaving Chay to sort it out and Vales brace in this game
was a typical example. Coupled with this problem In
attack we dont seem to manufacture anything once we have
got behind defences. The game started with us parading a
rare twin strike force of Penfold and Pigden aided by Kessack
pushing forward on the left. Early on our visitors
looked to be nothing special whilst we put some useful
rather than brilliant stuff together. Pigden opened up
our first scoring chance when he put a bit of muscle
around in the six yard box to set up his partner but
Penfold could not turn his tight marker for a strike. It
looked like Penfold would break the ice for us moments
later when he burst through the right
channel but he met his match when a classic defensive
tackle robbed him of the ball. Nicky Page then
offered an identical scoring opportunity for Pigden in
exactly the same position and this time the shot was
blocked and the follow up attempt by Dave hit the side
rigging. Losing possession in midfield will always
present its problems and we did this mid way through the
first half and in a flash our attack play turned sour
when Bill Perry streaked through to beat Chay at the far
post. A goal down at the break we came out with the
inevitable substitution of Kevin Reade coming on for
Liam Kenna. Kevin immediately made an impact with some
good strong running down the right and Page should have
profited more from a glorious chance to level from a
Reade set up. Just when we looked as though we were
going to
 pull
level that losing the ball in midfield bogey popped up
again and in a flash Daniel Jones was showing us how to
do the 'one on one' thing to send us two down. Jamie
Brandon came on and livened things up down the middle of
the park and was unlucky with one solo effort but was
also later to be found guilty of not saving the game for
us with a last gasp equaliser after a brilliant Gary
Haycock header had put us back in the game. M.O.M. PAGE
4 HAYCOCK 3 READE 2 MORRIS 2 KESSACK 1 LEVERSTOCK GREEN
. O,CONNOR 5 PENFOLD 2 BARKER 2 KESSACK 2 READE 1
Tuesday 30th October 2007 Herts Senior Cup - First Round POTTERS BAR TOWN 2 COCKFOSTERS 1 No Herts Cup Cheer for Reds.....
When you are due to play an important cup-tie against
local rivals from up the road in less than two hours
time - the last thing you want is your mobile phone to
be constantly ringing with players dropping out - But
that was David Craig's starting point for an evening
that from that point never really took off. Lee Barker,
Dan O'Connor and Danny Hutchings were unable to be named
on the team-sheet. Michael Casey was on his way to the
Reserves game at Harpenden and had to be re-routed and
Nicky Steward answered the call to turn up. After a
tentative opening from both camps, it was Cockfosters
who created the first real opening when a corner from
Nicky Page was met at the far post by Kevin Reade, whose
shot was cleared from the line. At this stage,
Potters Bar were not offering any real threat and
Cockfosters had better control of the game without
really looking more threatening themselves. In
Kevin Reade, Cockfosters had a genuine danger man and he
seemed the most likely to create the breakthrough.
However, with Cockfosters opting to play Dave Pigden in
a lone striker role, there was rarely concerted pressure
on the Town's back line. Although Pigden showed
willingly up-front, the support from midfield was not so
willing. However, a determined tackle saw Reade
rob Town's Andrews and set up a great shooting chance
for Pigden that Danny Burnett, in goal for Potters Bar,
saved comfortably. With half-time approaching, Potters
bar took the lead following a left-wing corner. It
seemed all slow motion as the ball dropped in the middle
of the goal area waiting for a clearance that never
materialised. Instead Darryl Wilson stabbed the ball
home for a soft opener. That gave Potters Bar the
impetus to press forward with more purpose and a couple
of half-chances could have caused Cockfosters more
damage. At the break, Michael Casey, suffering from a
slight reoccurrence of his thigh injury, was
replaced by Nick Steward who went up front to boost the
attacking options. Within minutes, Steward delivered a
cross to Liam Kenna who nodded the ball back across the
face of the goal for Pigden to head into the arms of
Burnett. An identical manoeuvre involving Reade, Steward
and Nick Martin ended with the latter squandering what
was a great chance. At this point Craigie sent on Ben
Penfold and with fresh legs came fresh hope, but in
truth the hope never really materialised as Potters Bar
looked capable of defending anything we could muster and
began to look the more likely as the evening wore on.
Andrew Thomas tested Chay and Harry Wheeler had our
custodian diving frantically for a shot that whistled
past the post. With the clock running down, Potters Bar
struck the vital blow when Sam Adesokun found room to
sweep home a cross from Wilson to seemingly put the tie
beyond Cockfosters reach. Ben Andreos and Nicky Steward
both unleashed speculative long range efforts, more in
hope than expectation. With Referee Phil Sharpe checking
his watch, Ben Penfold galloped down the right
touch-line and began to advance on goal from the
tightest of angles as Burnett raced from his goal. Ben
coolly placed the ball past the frantic 'keeper and into
the unguarded goal. On the night, we did not do enough,
but the frustrating feeling was that we would not have
needed to do much more to have claimed the result. M.O.M.
to follow....M.O.M Reade 5, Page 4, Weldon 3
Saturday 27th October 2007 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division OXHEY JETS 1 COCKFOSTERS 2 Red Jets Outpace Oxhey.....
Considering the very useful
league form of the Jets this has to be seen as one of
our best performances of the season to date. It chalked
up our fourth away win of the season and also kept our
maximum points unbeaten away record intact. Right from
the off it was us who made most of the front running
with Kevin Reade once again showing good form down the
right wing. David Craig seems to have put a new lease of
life into Kevin's game and it is good to see him really
enjoying his game of late. One bursting run right into
the heart of the Jets defence saw Reade get upended on
the edge of the box but justice was not seen to be done
when Steve Weldon blazed the ensuing free kick
opportunity over the bar. Our next promising attack had
Nick Martin in on goal for a good chance which was
wasted with a shot cum cross that went tamely wide. Dan
O'Connor was needless to say in the thick of things
whenever we went into attack mode and one gallop should
have seen Reade do better with the opening made for him.
We were eventually rewarded for our spirited play when
Ben Penfold took advantage of a bad Jets defensive gaffe
in the 30th minute. A sliced clearance spun wickedly
backwards allowing Penfold the chance to get behind the
back line and cross for Reade to smartly slide the ball
home. Within 2 minutes it was all square when from out
of the blue Luke Lloyd unleashed a missile from the left
wing which no defence on earth could deal with and the
ball was only ever going to reach one target, the net.
Five minutes from the break our lead was restored when
old warrior legs Hutch stepped up a gear. Reade created
a bit of space on the right and found Nick Martin in the
box who in turn flicked over an enticing ball for Danny
to have whack at and in an instant the ball was buried
into the back of the net. There then followed two more
good chances where Penfold and Martin could have given
us a 2 goal half time cushion. Was it to be the same old
story of us not holding on to our lead but thankfully
mainly due to a lot of guts and determination we held
out for the 3 points. Hutch was spraying precision
weighted passes around Hoddle style whilst Reade ,
Penfold, Barker, Page and O'Connor each in turn created
havoc wherever they roamed amidst a somewhat shaky Oxhey
defence. Nick Martin was unlucky with one determined
solo run that lacked only one vital ingredient the icing
on the cake to go with it. Oxhey threw on 3 strikers to
try and get something from the game but we held out well
thanks mainly to Weldon keeping his back line well
marshalled and when Chay did have to deal with the ball
he came up trumps and so did we. M.O.M. VOTING PENFOLD
4 WELDON 2 HUTCHINGS 2 O'CONNOR 2 PAGE 1 ANDREOS
1 Update on Cockfosters Management Team injury
crisis Paul Boxer, dodgy knee, Neil Ewing dodgy knee,
Mark Standen dodgy hip, Ron Syrett, dodgy knee, Ray
Farley, dodgy nose.
Saturday 20th October 2007 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division COCKFOSTERS 2 LEVERSTOCK GREEN 3 Bright Start, Dull Finish.....
Another 3 points down the swannee and yes it has to be said yet again we should have got more from this game. We started brightly enough with Kevin Reade seeing plenty of the ball on the right and when Dan O' Connor was allowed too much room in order to launch one of his specials after just 5 mins it seemed easy peasy as the ball crashed into the net. We were soon however to realise our visitors had other ideas up front and thanks to a piece of Gary Haycock timely intervention on our goaline the score remained 1. 0. That lead did not last long when on 27 mins Ben Andreos gave away a penalty and Mickey Swaysland made no mistake. Just before the interval our lead was restored when Ben Penfold broke free down the right to lob the advancing keeper Milner. It all seemed a matter of waiting for that comfort zone goal to arrive as we pushed forward early in the second half. First Nicky Page pulled out the very best from the keeper with a free kick and then Dan O' Connor made a gutsy run down the left to set up Penfold but the chance went begging and from that moment on Leverstock Green took control of the game. On 75 mins the writing was on the wall as a goalmouth scramble led to an own goal with O'Connor allegedly the culprit who pulled our hosts level. It took only 3 mins for an ordinary looking Green to then take the lead when Steve Weldon was exposed and his attempt to retrieve the situation led to another penalty. This time it was Steve Flain who slotted the ball home and that was it game over with our heads dropping more and more right to the final whistle, Whether or not we have been just plain unlucky over recent games remains to be seen but one thing is for sure we cannot continue dropping points like confetti. Tackling back in order to correct a a bad piece of play seems beyond certain players and is one area of play that is inexcusable for a red shirt wearer. M.O.M. VOTES to follow. Tuesday 16th October 2007 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division COCKFOSTERS 0 HANWELL TOWN 1 Another Des O'Connor Show.....
 Need
it be said we should have got something out of this game
and 3 points would not have been an injustice for us.
Still yet again it is the same old story of pretty
creative play with that final number in the combination
to unlock defences missing from our game and without it
matches cannot be won. Our statistics to date show us as
played 9 won 3 drawn 1 lost 5 and it is plain as mud
that we are a far better team than that for the eyes do
not deceive and there is no doubt we are playing a lot
of good football on the park. Perhaps the biggest fault
in our general play is the inability to work the
opposing keeper. This match was a typical example with
just one shot on target that being a good long range
effort from Ben Penfold that forced the keeper to work
late on in the game. In the first half it was Dan
O'Connor who provided us with most of our thrust and
what a delight for us onlookers it is to see this lad
stretch his legs across the turf. It is stuff that
pulsates the heart whenever he is in full flow being
encouraged by David Craig to' open up his body, ,drive,drive,
or ,take them on,. One such drive along the left wing
had Hanwell's defence left in tatters but what happened
to the final killer delivery ball was a joke and an
insult to the great work Dan had put in. To be able to
find nine feet plus of elevation so as to cause the
ball to soar over the cross bar from six yards is an
unbelievable art that science has no answer to. Prior to
this we had gone down after just 6 mins to a thirty yard
strike from Blake Goodman that saw a lot of our players
doing the spectating thing instead of the playing thing.
It is difficult to report on games like this especially
when we knew that Hanwell were nothing special but
that's how the cookie crumbles if creative play does not
put balls into the net. The second half was in the main
a catalogue of squandered chances with thrown in a hat
trick of good penalty shouts that may have found favour
with most referees but not Eboneezer Gray. Manager.David
Craig made a surprise start to the game mainly it is
believed so that he could rally his team from a field
marshal position. He certainly did not look out of match
practice and one perfectly waited through ball to put
Ben Penfold in was unlucky not to result in a leveller
for us, So that's it, yet another game we could and
should have won but there are no points for such tales
of woe. m.o.m. votes O'CONNOR 7 PENFOLD 5 .Saturday 13th October 2007 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division WELWYN GARDEN CITY 3 COCKFOSTERS 2 Citizens Kane Us For Missed Chances..... With three Nicks in our starting line up there were high hopes that we might have nicked 3 points from this game but alas it was not to be. Without wishing to come over as boring with the same old repeated dialogue the truth is we were the better side over the 90 mins and had we taken our chances in front of goal after creating great openings there were many more goals to be had. Our hosts were complimentary as usual and every Welwyn committee member to a man said they thought our play was exciting and at 2. 2. saw only us as being the eventual winners. The opening half however turned out to be a big non event for us with very little passion being shown. The only time keeper Bartley was worked came through two soft efforts from Penfold and Steward. There were two other efforts that went narrowly wide, one being a thunderous free kick from Ben Andreos and one of those cunning Nicky Page shots designed to drift over the keepers head. Welwyn just about shaded the first half and took the lead on 25 mins with a stupidly soft goal. It came from an innocent looking free kick taken from the half way line which somehow ended up in the net via an equally innocent looking back header. David Craig's gentle sounding overtones could be heard some distance from the changing rooms as he politely put over his feelings to the players at half time. As a consequence we came out a different side in the second half and within 5 mins we levelled through a Nicky Page goal. Nicky was allowed to drift across the box unchallenged and when he realised the shot was on he let fly with a screamer that left the keeper for dead. Within 5 mins we went down to a goal resulting from another set piece situation this time a corner kick that should have been easily cleared but instead finished up being lashed into our net. This hiccup never stopped us from continueing to carve open ruddy great holes in the Citizens defence but we never reaped any profit until the 84th min when a quick Kris Culley corner led to the ball being stabbed home from close in by the alert Dan O'Connor. At this stage the game was ours for the taking as we swept forward seeking a deserved winner but instead we fell for the sucker punch and let in Welwyn for a breakaway winner. We are more than holding our own in the Premier Division and yet we are not reaping the rewards from the creative football being produced on the park. Heads were down at the end of this encounter simply because the game was there to be won and yet we blew it. M.O.M. CONWAY 5 WELDON 3 PAGE 3 ANDREOS 1
Tuesday 9th October 2007
Spartan South Midlands League - Challenge Trophy - Second Round
BRIMSDOWN ROVERS 3 COCKFOSTERS 0
The Dan O'Connor Show....
Our previous cup exits this season have all been frustrating affairs in as much that we were quite clearly the better side on each occasion and only our poor finishing coupled with some switch off defending have let the other teams in for ill deserved wins. This game perhaps did not quite fit into the same category but make no mistake about it we gave high flying Rovers a bloody good game and have nothing to fear from them when next we meet with 3 league points in the offing. Any neutral onlooker would have seen us as unlucky not to get at least a draw out of the game and certainly the scoreline over flattered a Rovers side who in outfield defence had little to offer when it came to preventing us getting in behind them so easily. Had it not been for keeper Alan Buck coming to their rescue the game could have turned out so differently for us. Right from the off it was perfectly clear that Dan O'Connor was on song and his marker had kittens whenever Dan was on the ball. It is doubtful whether M.O.M. will ever be won again so convincingly this season for it was indeed an electrifying display of wing wizardry and that is not just a Cockfosters viewpoint but also that of a Brimsdown committee member. Dan set up Dave Pigden for an unsuccessful sharp near post stab at goal very early on in the game and shortly afterwards Dave was again unlucky not to lob the ball into an empty net after that man O,Connor had put him in on goal. The Rovers opener on 20 mins was a bit of a ping pong ball affair and the way the ball bounced around in the box led to lottery defending and Eric Manangu bought the winning ticket ensuring the ball fell at his feet for him to blast home a fierce drive. Our best chance of levelling fell to Nicky Page but what opening there was became less so as he retreated from the box and the attempt on goal never came about. A killer second goal from Manangu to put Rovers 2 up came on 32 mins and it was a howler that Chay will want to forget for it marred his earlier brilliant save from an Abraham free kick. The second half saw us pressing harder than ever and within 2 mins O'Connor invited Dave Pigden to help himself to a goal but the offer was turned down. Later Dave done a much better job when a spectacular overhead kick rapped the upright. The Rovers third from Aaron Churchouse on 60 mins was totally against the run of play and sadly for us it has to be said that it came about following a bout of Sunday league type defending. Our best efforts following this final setback came from a Lee Barker missile that got tipped over the bar and a Nicky Page close range shot that keeper Buck only just held on to. The post mortem on all this is that we have got to learn to kill off our opponents with some clinical finishing once the openings have been made and the leaking of silly goals that have not come about through our opponents clever attacking play but more as gifts for them to say thanks very much to. M.O.M. O,CONNOR 8 BARKER 2 WELDON 2 BARKINGSIDE GAME. STEWARD 4 PENFOLD 3 KENNA 2 ANDREOS 1 MORRIS 1 READE 1
Saturday 6th October 2007 F.A. Vase - First Round Proper COCKFOSTERS 2 BEDFONT GREEN 1 Reds Ten plus Craiggie too much for Bedfont..... "Is he always like that?", was the quizzical comment from
a stranger at Chalk Lane. "Always" was the reply - the subject
in question being Craiggie who roared his side on to an
outstanding performance, particularly in the second-half, when
down to ten men, Cockfosters took the game to Bedfont and fully
deserved to progress to Round Two. As the afternoon passed so
the tempo and intensity of the game rose. It started fairly
tamely , as with two boxers feeling their way in the early
stages. The outcome being that the game did not have the feel of
a full bloodied cup-tie. with the focal point for both attacks
coming mostly down the right with Bedfont's Carlos Newton and
Cockfosters Lee Barker being the most threatening. In these
opening exchanges Bedfont had more of the play in midfield but
rarely posed a threat to Chay Morris's goal. At the other end
Lee Barker, Kevin Reade and Nicky Steward looked more than
capable of opening up Bedfont but quite often the final touch in
and around the penalty area let them down. Ben Penfold was
tireless as he sought to find room down both flanks and with
Liam Kenna and Nick Martin getting forward whenever the
opportunity arose the signs were looking more promising.
Cockfosters made the breakthrough after 27 minutes when Ben
Andreos let fly an exocet of a shot from fully 35 yards that Ben
Miles in the Bedfont goal could only parry in front of him
to the
Monday 1st October 2007 London Senior Cup - Second Round BARKINGSIDE 2 COCKFOSTERS 2 A.e.t. Barkingside 5-4 on penalties Six Star Entertainment From The Reds....... This game has to be a reporters nightmare to put into print if only because as a match it was crammed full of breathtaking action for the full 120 mins and beyond, It is in no way biased to say we played our hosts off their own park ( goalie excluded ) and although they came away with the win it was a hollow victory simply because they were second best throughout and furthermore they knew it. Our strikes on goal totalled 21 with 12 on target whilst Barkingside mustered just 7 with 4 on target. In one 3 minute spell mid way through the first half their were 3 goals up for grabs for the Reds when both Penfold and Martin found the keeper in dazzling form making remarkable reaction saves and in the same dominating period Lee Barker smacked one of his specials against the upright. Make no bones about it Ben Penfold was on fire for this game, so much so, a local fan was heard to say ,We could do with someone like him, . Down the right he staked a claim for the use of the pitch and on one brilliant run he sent over a cross for Nicky Steward to plant a beautiful header across the despairing keeper and into the net. To say we could have been 5 up at the break would not be exaggerating, so much up for it were we for this tie. Barkingside came out for the second half with a brief spluttering rally which saw them level after 50 mins but that did not deter us and we put the pedal down on the gas in order to find another gear with Kevin Reade in particular in overdrive. The Barkingside keeper was playing out of his skin and although it is criminal to condense down what he had to deal with from our continuous attacking it can only be that way because their was just too much to remember. Nicky Steward was giving their defence a punishing time with his tight ball control around the box but at times it has to be said a lay off to a fellow player could have produced the goods. Extra time arrived and sods law had it that we were going to be pulled into the sucker punch and on 95 mins we went behind. Our onslaught on the Barkingside goal however never wavered and we finally got our reward 5 mins from time when Steward somehow managed to wrap his foot around the ball to beat the keeper in a goaline melee..Penalty shoot outs are always going to be cruel on the losers and none more so than this one because we oozed class and what's more our hosts knew they had got away with daylight robbery. M.O.M. votes are to follow but to be honest it would be an insult to leave anyone out of the voting for that's how electrifying we were on the night. Magic stuff lads, it was brilliant to watch.
Saturday 29th September 2007
Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division COCKFOSTERS 1 BROXBOURNE BOROUGH V & E 1 Reds Have a Swinging Time …. As a game this one had little to excite those watching it and the scoreline just about sums the match up with no side deserving of the 3 points. We had our chances to grab the maximum prize but there were too many wild leg swingers out on the park who could not seize upon the chances that went begging to be turned into goals. Twice within the opening 15 mins Penfold didll the donkey work out on the right only to see his telling crosses wasted by woeful finishing. It was indeed Penners who was our main threat throughout the first half with some trademark battling runs down the right channel. Meanwhile our local visitors were not just spectators to what was going on and we had our scary moments which fortunately Chay dealt with albeit with at times a bit of luck going his way. Our best chance of taking a half time lead fell to Samson Okeke just before the break but his wild swing from six yards sent the ball miles into ball boy territory. The second half opened up brightly for us when after 50 mins Dave Pigden was allowed to ghost through a static Broxbourne defence and deliver the goods for Penners to slot the ball home into an unguarded net. Within 5 mins however we let in Bradley Brotherton for an equaliser that resulted from some simply awful defending leaving Chay with about as much protection as a leaky condom. From hereon it was very much a tit for tat game which either side could have won. Nicky Page was very unlucky with a deceptive free kick on the right which had the keeper performing acrobatics in order to tip the ball over the bar. Right on time Dan O'Connor should have bagged those 3 points for us but once again it was wild leg swinging time and a glorious chance was yet again sent blazing wide into ball boy country. M.O.M. VOTES KESSACK 5 PENFOLD 4 KENNA 3 BALL BOY 2 BROWNIE POINTS Tuesday 25th September 2007 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division RUISLIP MANOR 2 COCKFOSTERS 3 Three Classic Goals Topple Ruislip Manor….
Played on home soil due to Ruislip's pitch problems this game had everything for those watching and was a great advert for the beautiful game. Once again it was our favourite winning scoreline showing up good for us and with three league wins on the trot the season appears to be looking a lot brighter. The squad is looking strong with all manner of starting line ups producing the goods for us. Ruislip gave us a shock when slightly against the run of play mid way through the first half they stole the lead following a bit of defensive ball watching on our part. Our equaliser ten mins later oozed class and it is not an overstatement in saying that Thierry Henry would have liked such a goal in his golden goals locker. The executor of the goal was one David Pigden who treated us to a sweet swivelling turn in the six yard box that left those marking him for dead and within the same flowing movement the coup de gras was delivered with a fierce lashing shot into the roof of the net. Dan O'Connor was clearly up for this game and was very unlucky not to score from a quickfire double stab at goal from close range. Shortly afterwards however he started on an innocent looking driving run from within our defending half which grew more threatening with every blade of grass covered. The run took Dan to within the whites of the keepers eyes whereupon he slipped the ball across goal into the net. Two classic goals that deservedly took us into an half time lead. Ruislip came out for the second half a lot more fired up and it soon become clear we were going to need a two goal cushion to ease things for us. It fortunately came ten mins into the half from the unlikely source of a Ben Andreos free kick. Ben went for broke with a vicious low drive that left the keeper in no mans land and the ball was in the net before he could move. It was the goal we needed to help stem a strong Ruislip counter attack which we managed to keep down to just one goal scored shortly after Ben's winning strike. Chay Morris did more than his share of work to help us to the three points during the late blitz on our goal. Elsewhere it was great once again to hear the rallying call from Steve Weldon hollering out first and second reds. Kevin Reade too started the game brightly and his tireless work down the right deserved to produce more than it did. Well done lads thanks for the Emirates fashion five star entertainment all for a few quid. M.O.M. O'ONNOR 4 PIGDEN 2 WELDON 2 STEWARD 2 MORRIS 1 READE 1
Tuesday 18th September 2007 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division Cup - First Round St. MARGARETSBURY 2 COCKFOSTERS 1 (a.e.t.) Brilliant Stuff From The Reds ….As a game this one had everything a spectator could have wished for from a cup tie. It was in the main overdosed with a mega amount of passion and at times that passion got out of control. The game threatened to boil over on several occasions in a first half played at lightning pace by an on fire Cockfosters. The home side had no answer for our energetic drive coupled with fast flowing moves that wove pretty patterns all across the park. As we chased and harried for the ball the cry of ,man on, constantly echoed around the ground every time a saints player was on the ball. Samson Okeke and then Nicky Steward were involved in incidents that were borderline red card incidents. At the end of it all the referee made his decision and a yellow card was seen to be justice for the crimes committed. These decisions however did not suit the St Margaretsbury fans and the continual abuse put over to Samson and Nicky made a mockery of the Respect the Referee programme adverts. They were yellow cards and should have been sportingly been accepted as such. Manager David Craig on the other hand did manage to be red carded for his characteristic over zealous behaviour and was asked to vacate the dug out. For all our early dominance we went in at half time just a single goal to the good, a well worked effort that set Dave Pigden to the by line whereupon he fed the perfect delivery for Nicky Steward to slot home. In the second half Nicky Page playing the game of his life had a goalbound shot miraculously saved by the saints keeper and that seemed to be the turning point in the game because the home side drew level shortly afterwards following a frantic goalmouth scramble. Extra time saw us trailing after just two minutes and try as we did that equaliser would not come despite some magical efforts from the in form Nicky Steward. Some of Nicky's tightly controlled footwork to work out openings was a sight for sore eyes and a delight to witness. Aaron Ewing making a rare first team appearance coupled up well with Liam Kenney down the right with the former playing his usual energetic role of never say die football. Despite losing the tie we can hold our heads up high for putting out a great display of football M.O.M. STEWARD 6 ANDREOS 3 PAGE 1 OKEKE 1 CONWAY 1 Prior to this game Cockfosters had just 3 points to show from their first four league encounters but against a more than useful Langford side they produced probably their best performance to date this season to double their points tally and move a few places up the table. On an excellent playing surface it was the home side that had the better of the early exchanges although neither keeper was unduly troubled. Mark Barnes playing down the host’s right wing was causing problems almost every time he had the ball but his final ball lacked that telling touch, although on 20 minutes Cockfosters did well to scramble the ball clear when an opening goal looked very much on the cards. On the half-hour the deadlock was broken when following another strong run by Barnes the ball broke to Wes Byrne who found the far top corner with an excellent strike from the edge of the box. Cockfosters best efforts of the half came from a couple of long range efforts from central defender Ben Andreos but at the interval our hosts lead by the only goal.
Whether it was something in the tea or Craigie’s half-time team talk the second half was a complete turn-a-round with Cockfosters playing some excellent football all round the pitch. The defence and midfield were much more competitive and gave Langford very little opportunity to create openings. At the other end of the pitch our front-runners were causing considerable problems to the home defence. Five minutes into the half Nicky Steward went past two defenders as if they weren’t there, only to be unceremoniously upended. Although Jon Moniatis’s resulting spot kick was parried, he had no problems to knock the rebound into the net to level the score. Almost immediately Nick Martin, who had an excellent game in midfield, tested the home keeper from distance. Ben Penfold made a welcome return from the sub’s bench, albeit to replace leading scorer Jon Moniatis who had picked up a groin strain. It was from a surging run to the by-line by Penfold that set up Cockfosters second. His cut back was met by Nicky Steward whose effort was parried by the keeper but only to Nicky Page who made no mistake from 8 yards. During the final 15 minutes Tuesday’s hatrick hero Dave Pigden replaced Kevin Reade and new signing Liam Kenna took over from Nicky Steward. Cockfosters were now rampant and should have increased their lead five minutes from time when Nicky Page outpaced the entire Langford defence but his cut back eluded all of the in-rushing Cockfosters players. A third goal did come a couple of minutes later when Dan O’Connor got to the by-line and his cross was crashed home by Ben Penfold to make the final result a little more realistic.
MOM votes: Ben Andreos (4), Nicky Page (4) and Nick Martin (4)
Tuesday 11th September 2007 Spartan South Midlands League - Challenge Trophy - First Round COCKFOSTERS 7 CRANFIELD UNITED 0Reds In Cruise Control.....
Saturday 8th September 2007 F.A. Vase - First Qualifying Round COCKFOSTERS 3 SOUTHEND MANOR 2Steward inspires Cup win..... For this re match, would we now have our seaside guests on the look out for F.A.Cup defeat revenge? As teams we seem to be very evenly matched and good games will always come from such ingredients. As an entertaining game this match was top drawer even though it did not produce much for the soccer skills purists. Right from the start we looked comfortable coming forward with our first threat on the seasiders goal coming from the unlikely source of Kevin Hunt working his way through the penalty box and only just failing to deliver the killer ball across goal. Fortunately, 21 mins saw us take the lead with our next real threat on goal. Nicky Steward fed Kevin Reade on the edge of the right side box and our wide man clipped over a fizzing cross just begging to be attacked. It was duly dealt with by the in form Jon Moniatis who crashed home a stonking header amidst tight marking from three defenders. By some bizarre coincidence the visitors drew level ten mins later from the same sort of Kevin Reade assault on goal. This time a Manor defender cleared his lines with a massive header which amazingly set up a one on one against Lee Walker and the winner of the encounter was Aaron Baldwin for a coolly taken leveller. A second goal should have come our way when Superbonce Gary Haycock met a corner with a firm downward header which needed only the slightest intervention from those famous white boots of Jon Moniatis but not enough leather found the ball and the chance was gone. That we never went down to a soft goal just seconds later was due to a splendid goal line clearance from Kevin Hunt. Unfortunately we did concede just before the break when Lee Walker appeared to misjudge a shot on goal that sneaked inside the upright. Nicky Steward was having a good game and seven minutes into the second half he conjured up a goal for Dan O'Connor following some tightly controlled byline trickery. Nicky worked hard for an opening that ended with a cross which Dan met sweetly with a low stooping header on goal. Dan followed that up with another fine effort on goal which keeper Adam Seal only just managed to smother. It was one of many Kevin Reade inspired raids which produced our eventual winner on 81 mins. From the resulting corner kick Superbonce caused enough aerial havoc to unsettle the Manor defence. It led to Reade having a pop at goal and from the melee that followed Nicky Steward was on hand to stab the ball home. Lee Barker gave us a scare with just seconds remaining when he took out a goal bound attacker only inches from the box. For services rendered he got a straight red and we lived to fight in another round against Sporting Bengal. Nicky Page had a good solid game in midfield tidying up things on a broad front right across the park whilst Gary Haycock also showed us that he can do pretty things with his feet as well as his head. Samson Okeke played out a masterful role as team captain and led the lads like the real battler he is, his entire game is about the team he clearly has passion for. Although the end result was good for us we clearly do still have a few problems at the back and our first goal we conceded clearly showed where our achilles heel lies. Lastly a mention of our visitors very sporting attitude shown during our two encounters, they have taken defeat on the chin twice in a matter of weeks like true sportsman. M.O.M. VOTES PAGE 3 STEWARD 3 MONIATIS 2 HAYCOCK 2 READE 1 HUNT 1Tuesday 4th September 2007 F.A. Cup - Preliminary Round Replay COCKFOSTERS 0 WELWYN GARDEN CITY 1 F.A. Cup Dream Over..... This game more than anything produced mixed feelings in as much that we let an opportunity pass by to venture further into F.A. Cup territory. It was not that we played badly and any independent spectator would have said that we edged the 90 mins. Welwyn were there to be beaten and we let them off the hook by gifting them the game with a goal 10 mins into the second half. It was from a set piece corner situation and as the ball came across we sent out invitations for our hosts to have a free pop at goal and Beamish picked up the present with a thank you very much that was easy kind of headed goal. During a fairly even first half we gave Welwyn a few scares without worrying them too much. Nicky Steward looked to be the one most likely to unlock a proven leaky defence with some tricky footwork in tight situations but everytime the last bit of the jig saw let him down. Lee Walker has to be commended for the way he filled Chay's boots and he never put a foot wrong in the entire game. From the moment we went down to our credit we attacked Welwyn for the rest of the game but in the main it was crazy hectic stuff that relied on a lot of luck coming our way. Our one golden opportunity came late in the game when Steward and Moniatis chased the same through ball on goal. Steward took the more awkward goal chance and fluffed the attempted lob strike but had he known Jon was in his wake only yards behind him the best option would have been for him to have left it for our top hit man to bury. Jon had a chance himself later with a near post header that only just squirmed wide of the upright. In defence Ben Andreos grows in stature with every game he being well worthy of his M.O.M. votes. Their are still players searching to find their true form and it shows up in the way they lack confidence to do the natural thing when on the ball. M.O.M. VOTES ANDREOS 7 HAYCOCK 4 WALKER 1Sat 1st September 2007 F.A. Cup - Preliminary Round WELWYN GARDEN CITY 1 COCKFOSTERS 1 Haycock heads for F.A. Cup trail..... Anyone who popped into Herns Lane to take in this F.A. Cup tie could have been forgiven for thinking that they had misread the fixture list. For as cup ties go this game was far from an advert for the greatest cup competition in the world. Early possession was fairly evenly spread but Welwyn looked slightly more confident and did not give their share of the ball away as easily as Cockfosters. The home side made frequent sorties,
mainly down their right flank where Cedrick Lakole at right back
had far too much time to supply a stream of crosses. Fortunately
most were safely gathered in by the safe gloves of Chay Morris.
His opposite number in the Welwyn goal had little to bother
about until the twentieth minute when Samson Okeke battled for
possession on the Welwyn goal-line, rolled the ball back to Ben
Penfold who engineered a shooting chance but unfortunately his
rising shot cleared the bar. In truth Chay was not seriously
tested until the half-hour when Ben Andreos was left injured on
the floor, the ball falling for Alex Kinsley whose firm drive
was well saved by Chay. As the half progressed we began to
look more cohesive even though our biggest threat seemed to come
from set pieces and Gary Haycock twice got on the end of crosses
to put pressure on the Welwyn goal. Having at last taken a
foothold in the game, disaster came in first half added time.
Once again Lakole was free to make progress down the right, his
cross deftly flicked on by Jason Williams into the path of Ben
Andreos, who, facing his own goal, was unable to avoid the
deflection and planted a firm header past Chay. Rowan Taylor was
introduced at the start of the second half and found himself
heading over a Gavin Conway corner from almost under the bar
within a minutes of the restart. But at least Cockfosters looked
capable of producing something. A surging run from Jon Moniatis
ended with Jon on the deck and Welwyn emerging with the ball;
although just outside the box the home side were fortunate to go
unpunished. Jamie Brandon was introduced after 66 minutes and
almost immediately won a
 corner.
The first of two successive flag kicks saw Gary Haycock and
Welwyn's Andy Beamish clash heads as Gary's header, via the
Welwyn defender flashed wide. That was just a rehearsal for when
Gavin Conway delivered the second, Welwyn had left Gary unmarked
and the big man didn't need to be asked twice as he thumped his
header past goalkeeper Tim Trebes. Welwyn then began to
take control once more and Gary Haycock and Ben Andreos were
more concerned with defensive duties. Welwyn should have
made more of some blatant chances as the game drew nearer the
final whistle. Beamish stabbed a shot wide and Perry Christian
was guilty of the miss of the match even so Chay Morris had to
pull off outstanding saves from Kinsley and Beamish to guide
Cockfosters safely through to the replay. There were some useful
contributions but largely we were a side out of sorts and will
need to up the tempo and get at Welwyn in the replay if wwe
fanvcy taking on Billericay Town in the next Round. Craigie was
less than impressed and that was apparent as the dugout decibels
were not at their peak. At the moment we seem guilty of giving
too much respect to the opposition, too much time and too much
space giving us limited opportunities to impose our own
plus points - nothing that can't be put right. M.O.M.
HAYCOCK 6 MORRIS 4 BARKER 1 ANDREOS
1 Tue 28th August 2007 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division KINGSBURY LONDON TIGERS 0 COCKFOSTERS 5 Tigers Tamed.....  After
having only 3 days previous being humiliated by conceding a
handful of goals the Reds reversed the situation with 5
themselves against a somewhat stunned Tigers team. Our new team
shape seemed to pump fresh life into our legs with Samson in
particular running his heart out enjoying his free running mid
field role. Everyone looked happier with the new system and it
certainly gave us the impetus to go full out in attack mode. The
Tigers defence was soon being tested out and at times we could
have driven a double decker bus through the big gaps being left
for us to exploit. Indeed it would seem Jon Moniatis had carved
out his own personal do not enter bus lanes denying any defender
to get near him. Within 5 mins Jon went straight for the throat
of the Tigers defence and unleashed a shot that the keeper had
no answer to. From that moment on the writing was on the wall
for the host team and we went on to give them a real lesson in
football. Mid way into the first half the inevitable second came
for us when Jon done his familiar by line piece and cut a
wicked ball back that Ben Penfold dug out from beneath his feet
before stabbing it home. The second half was only a few minutes
old when Samson Okeke mauled his way through the Tigers defence
giving the impression he was taking on lambs instead of tigers
and it all ended with a fierce cross shot that only just missed
the net. The third goal came via a fizzing cross from sub Dan
O'Connor, it sent the Tigers defence into panic stations with a
sliced clearance zooming the ball skywards and when it came back
down to planet earth it carried so much back spin the keeper was
helpless as it crossed the line. Dan's second and our fourth did
not have an element of luck about it, this time he cut in from
the left in order to plant the ball perfectly across goal for a
real gem. Jon completed the rout shortly afterwards with a spot
kick following a foul where he himself was the victim. With the
Tigers lone victory this season coming against Welwyn Garden
City. it augers well for us this Saturday and in no way should
we look to be underdogs. Everything about our play in this game
was so different, we were our old exciting best coming forward
relentlessly giving the home defence a nightmare time. The mid
field buzzed with Gavin Conway looking good as did the clubs
most consistent player this season Kevin Reade. Lee Barker
seemed so much more relaxed as a fullback whilst Kes will always
be Kes a 100 per cent man. Jamie Brandon had his first full
senior outing of the season and gave a sparkling performance a
reminder of the form of last season. Ben Andreos and Gary
Haycock did some sterling work at the back and when he was
needed Chay did his job perfectly in goal but when it came down
to M.O.M. voting there was only one man to be considered and
that was Jon Moniatis, an absolute brilliant strikers display.
MONIATIS 8 OKEKE 2 CONWAY 1 ANDREOS 1Sat 25th August 2007 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division COCKFOSTERS 1 St. Margaretsbury 5 Still Pointless.....  The
game's scoreline says it all and there is no escaping the fact
that we suffered against opposition which in reality were not a
class act, only we made them look good. For 20 mins we were in
the game and could have even taken the lead when Kevin Reade
found Jon Moniatis with a peach of a ball. Jon set himself up
perfectly for his strike but the last bit of the job lacked real
venom and the keeper saved the shot with ease. Against the run
of play on 23 mins Luis Rose put the visitors in front and from
that moment on our game went totally pear shaped. Another goal
against us before half time was the last thing we needed and yet
it came on 40 mins when Ben Herod rubbed salt in our wounds. The
inevitable subs appeared at the restart with Jason Sorial
replacing Ben Penfold and Aaron Tourlamain replaced by Gavin
Conway. Our game however never improved and we just could not
put any fizz into the match. At the back we were being pulled
all over the place and it came as no surprise when we went 3
down to an Adam Stock goal. Luis Rose hit his second of the game
with 5 to go and although Jon Moniatis whacked home the goal of
the game on 87 mins we let the Saints in for a 5th on 90 mins.12
goals against and 2 for in reply over our first three games does
not make good statistical reading and quite clearly leaking
goals so easily has to stop. Lets hope the Kingsbury game sees
our first points on the board and then if we breeze past Welwyn
in the F.A. Cup our confidence will come flooding back. M.O.M.
votes was down to 6 for this game as both Dave and Stan
abstained from voting. READE 2 HUNT 2 PAGE 2.Sat 18th August 2007 F.A. Cup - Extra Preliminary Round COCKFOSTERS 3 SOUTHEND MANOR 2Reds unbeaten in F.A. Cup ..... So
this was the big day, an historical event for the club and the
game more than lived up to the competitions great name as a
sporting spectacle. Southend Manor were a bit of an unknown
quantity for the team management with little to guide them on
what they would come up with on the pitch. First impressions
were that Cockfosters were capable of getting behind their
backline and it was Kevin Reade who initially showed the way
with some promising runs down the right. These early right sided
raids were unlucky not to lead to an opener for us especially
when Dave Pigden battled his way behind enemy lines to pull back
a six yard box pass that unfortunately met up with some superb
keeping. At the back we looked reasonably comfortable and as the
game progressed it looked to be more than likely that we could
progress further into the big cup competition. Our hopes went
that bit higher on 20 minutes when we deservedly took the lead
through our energetic midfield dynamo Dan O'Connor. Dan held
possession of the ball just outside the box and clearly he was
looking to lay the ball off to Jon Moniatis but their was just
enough retreating of his markers to open up the option for a
ping at goal himself. With no slouch of a net minder to beat he
needed to get his strike spot on and the end result was a
screamer that burst into the back of the net without any kind of
resistance from the visiting keeper. Shortly after our opener
Jon Moniatis broke through his often profitable inside left
channel only to be roughly checked out in the box by his marker.
The penalty shout was a good one but not in the referees eyes.
Instead of possibly being two up and facing ten men we now took
on the second half with the game still in the balance. We
struggled at the start of the second half with our passing in
sloppy mode and as punishment the
lead was lost on 55 minutes when Aaron Baldwin nipped in to
skilfully guide the ball into the net with the deftest of
headers. It is a stone cold recognised fact that in Cockfosters
attacking play we have bagged a netful of goals over the years
to Monnie's ability to get in behind the oppositions defence and
make the by line. This thankfully old worn out party piece was
played out by Jon ten minutes after us losing the lead. His
deadly cut back was met perfectly by Dan O'Connor only for the
shot to be parried brilliantly by the keeper, Adam Seal. Within
a split second however the brave keeper was picking the ball out
of the net having been sent there by a wicked swerving 30 yarder
from the boot of Aaron Tourlamain. One minute later we went into
a 2 goal cushion following a speculative goal clearance from
Chay Morris that found a galloping Dave Pigden bearing down on
goal. Dave was blatantly stopped in his tracks when about to
pull the trigger and from the resulting spot kick Jon made no
mistake. From hereon we had our nervy moments especially after
losing an injury time soft goal to Manors Matt Crumbie who
managed to nod home a long range throw in from the left. In
between Chay was putting in a Jekyll and Hyde performance in
goal mixing mistakes with brilliance and it cannot be argued
that the brilliant bits kept us in the game when it mattered
with some net guarding sheer magic to the eyes. At the back for
us Ben Andreos had a good solid game alongside our new captain
courageous Samson Okeke whilst Kevin Reade worked his socks off
up and down the touchline like a yo-yo. So that's the story so
far and as yet we remain unbeaten in the great F.A. CUP. and who
knows maybe we can travel along the road a bit further yet.
Thank you lads one and all. M.O.M. HERTFORD MONIATIS 6 PAGE 3
OKEKE 1 ANDREOS 1 O,CONNOR 1 SOUTHEND M. READE 5 ANDREOS 4
MONIATIS 1 O,CONNOR 1 MORRIS 1 Tue 14th August 2007 Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division COCKFOSTERS 1 HERTFORD TOWN 3 Welcome to the Premier..... (Photos courtesy of Elaine Waumsley - Hertford Town F.C.)
Sat 11th August 2007
Spartan South Midlands League - Premier Division CHALFONT ST. PETER 4 COCKFOSTERS 0 Not At The Races.....
Saturday 28th April 2007Spartan South Midlands League - Division 1CRANFIELD UNITED 0 COCKFOSTERS 3 RENT-A-GOB DELIVERS THE GOODS....  During
the close season of last summer our then new manager addressed the
committee and players of Cockfosters F.C. and stated that with the
right desire the climb into the Premiership league could be achieved
in his first season. Knowing the pattern of years past our mid table
placings have been seen as the clubs norm and the Premiership dreams
were I am certain viewed as being one of David Craig's personal pipe
dreams and no one else's. Well the goods have been delivered and
next season the lads in the Cockfosters red will be parading their
skills on Premiership turf. There were times when we thought that it
was not going to happen especially following the two home defeats
against Ampthill and Stony. Those two defeats were followed by a
spate of annoying first choice absentees and our reserve strength
had to be tested out to see us through. Even the loyal Hutch took
his warrior legs out of semi retirement to rally to the cause. It
all paid off and no matter what mix n match combinations David came
up with the team produced with a never say die end of season run in
of six straight wins and a draw. On this front we must not forget
Neil Ewing's role because unlike previous years their has been a
more fruitful liason between first and reserve teams with the
milking of the reserve team being readily encouraged by Neil in the
first teams cause. Despite these milkings Neil has also come up with
the goods with his squad. As for the final game of the season it
could not have been a more nail biting finish with three teams all
vying for the scraps left over from Brimsdown Rovers brilliant
season and we at Cockfosters have to congratulate them on their
decisive title win. Having said that they were arsehole lucky to
leave Chalk Lane with a point over Christmas. It was certainly a new
Cranfield we played and it soon became evident their players were
not the same whipping boys that had performed for them throughout
most of the season. They were lively with a well drilled defence
geared to snuffing us out with offside tactics. Penfold and Haycock
came close for us in the nervy early stages of a game which we knew
victory alone might not be enough and a good winning goal margin may
prove to be very important. On twenty minutes our attacking
dominance was rewarded when the linesman at last kept his flag down
to a perfectly timed Jon Moniatis run that took him into the inside
right channel. The execution of the goal which followed was nothing
short of sheer class. A defender took Jon close to the six yard box
byline and although the strike on goal was still on our hit man
decided to create a more positive opening. In a flash the defender
was turned and Jon found a better angle of attack which led to a
shot being planted across the keeper and into the far corner of the
net. A quality strikers goal made to look so easy because of the
skills used in its make up. Our only other real threat on goal in
the first half came from a glancing Ben Andreas header that narrowly
skimmed over the bar. That we went into the break 1- 0. up was due
mainly to two out of this world saves from Chay Morris. The first a
close range save made in a cloud of goalmouth dust would have done
justice to any Barclays premiership keeper. The second a long range
missile that needed extraordinary athleticism to steer the ball
round the post. With news that Rovers were doing their bit for us at
Ampthill the need for more goals to stave off the Stony challenge
became paramount and it was a goal resulting from a Gavin Conway
free kick that settled us down five mins into the restart. Sub Dave
Pigden made a harassing drifting run across the path of the keeper
allowing Gavin's teasing free kick to find its way into the far
corner of the net via the slightest of touches from Dave(pictured).
To settle any arguments about the goal claim it can best be said
that the goal would never have materialised but for the menace of
the free kick into the box and neither would it have came about but
for Dave's
perfectly timed run. Dave's honesty however cannot be questioned and
if he got a touch then it has to be a Pigden goal. News was now
coming in that Stony were 3. 1. up and a third for goal would
certainly seal things up for us. That goal soon came and it came
about through the dogged play of sub Michael Casey who made a steam
engine run down the right byline to deliver a ball that Jon Moniatis
hooked over his head into the net. Jon was in no way in a
threatening position on goal and yet he used yet another of his
skills to manufacture a goal from nothing. There were many chances
to increase our lead and the best came to Samson Okeke who could
have claimed his first goal of the season had he not tried to whack
the ball into the next county. Jamie Brandon had one of his quieter
games and found coming forward difficult from his role as wing back
but it must be remembered that it was his wonder strike against
Harpenden that set the big finale up. We have been fortunate to have
had an inspirational captain in Steve Weldon to steer us through to
this great campaign whilst Rent a Gob has been like having a twelth
man on the pitch. Let us not forget the quiet man Stan whose
coaching prowess has also helped to deliver the goods and last but
no means least Charly Farley our physio who has done a fine job
although some of the players reckon that someone in a skirt could do
a better job especially on groin strains. A big well done to you all
from the club committee we are proud of you. DOUG WENT P.O. AND
CHEIF BALL BOY. M.O.M. MORRIS 6 MONIATIS 3 HUTCHINGS 2 OKEKE 1
Tuesday 24th April 2007Potters Bar Charity Cup COCKFOSTERS 0 POTTERS BAR TOWN 3POTTERS BAR DO IT HOWARD'S WAY....Cockfosters fell at the semi-final stage of the Pootters Bar Charity Cup to neighbouring Potters Bar Town. Richie Howard set the tone for the evening as he put Town two goals up in the first fifteen minutes. The first after seven minutes flew high past Chay Morris's right hand into the top corner and when Morris came to collect a freekick from the left, Howard got there first to head into the vacant net. Cockfosters through Gavin Conway and Jon Moniatis went close but in truth were never able to get a foothold into the game. There was a chance to find a way back but Moniatis was off target with his spot kick. Late on, Howard put the game beyond reach to claim his hat-trick and give Town the local bragging rights.... for now. M.O.M. Hutchings 4, Conway 2, Weldon 2, Haycock 2, Penfold 2Tuesday 17th April 2007Spartan South Midlands League - Division 1COCKFOSTERS 1 HARPENDEN TOWN 0 BRANDON KEEPS THE DREAM ALIVE....
Saturday 14th April 2007Spartan South Midlands League - Division 1ARLESEY ATHLETIC 0 COCKFOSTERS 4 ARLESEY NOT VERY ATHLETIC.... Once again it was a case of fresh faces appearing
on the team sheet as David had to deal with the on going absentee problem. It
does however give him the opportunity to eye up our reserve strength and his
latest recruit Ben Andreos did not let him down with a good solid showing on his
first team debut. Third place in the league looks to be the best we can hope for
this campaign but that has to be seen as a vast improvement in recent years and
our players and team management can take a bow on a good job well done. Word in
the camp is that David Craig is giving his lungs a rest at the end of the season
due mainly to the heavy demands involved in managing a footie team. Whatever the
outcome we at Tuesday 10th April 2007South Midlands Floodlight Cup - Third RoundHERTFORD TOWN 4 COCKFOSTERS 2 HUTCH BUT NO STARSKY.... Once again enforced team changes saw us put out a patched up side for this game. For a cup tie it did not have much in the way of thrills simply because Hertford were mainly in control despite us taking the lead on 25 mins. The home defence made the mistake of allowing Jon Moniatis to drift across the box with the ball and let fly at goal, the ball was blocked and broke to Dave Pigden ferreting around the edge of the six yard box. Dave in those situations is red hot and the ball was lashed into the net. We were however never comfortable at the back and Chay in particular seemed to have butter on his gloves. Hertford soon hit back and within 10 mins of our opener we trailed 2. 1. Dave Pigden was again our main threat when he was very unlucky with a long range effort that smashed against the upright. Going 3. 1. down within 3 mins of the restart did not help matters for us but to be honest our hosts were showing their quality in all departments. When they made it 4. 1. it seemed dead and buried as a game but to our credit we hung on to fight back to show some of our best bits of the game in the last 20 mins. Getting the ball to sub Jamie Brandon proved difficult but he did manage to round off a super Moniatis power run to the by line that ended with the perfect pull back into Jamie's path. Their were chances to make it 4-3. but superman Samson Okeke who worked his socks off did not get the rub of the green near goal. Danny Hutchings made a return to first team duty after a long absence and certainly did not look rusty round the joints. He put in some quality through balls and one fizzing drive from 30 yards only just missed the target. No complaints in the end with Hertford coming out worthy winners. M.O.M. HERTFORD. HUTCHINGS 6 OKEKE 4 PENFOLD 2.Saturday 7th April 2007Spartan South Midlands League - Division 1STONY STRATFORD TOWN 1 COCKFOSTERS 2 KESSACK TO THE RESCUE....
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Certainly
the adage that football is a game of two halves was well and truly
proven in this fixture.
There was a major shock
on Saturday - a 100-1 winner of the Grand National!. While we would never be at
those odds against the team vying for the Premier title, the probability of an
upset at Chalk Lane was never really on the cards as Cockfosters toiled away in
the April sunshine. The early stages though were promising as Cockfosters were a
match for the title chasers and the goalmouth activity was shared between both
ends of the pitch. Dan O'Connor was welcomed back from Cheshunt and it was Dan
that set up the best chance in the early stages as a deep cross from the right
touchline was met but headed over by Danny Curbelo. Another Dan, Biggleswade's
Heron looked a certainty to claim the first goal of the afternoon as he latched
onto a Route One clearance by 'keeper Dean Bull and in the race that followed a
superb
intervention by Charlie Morgan saved the day for Cockfosters. Bobby Dance then
set Glen Lamacraft through on the right and his low cross was well cut out by
Paul Daley. For the first twenty-five minutes, Cockfosters were well in the game
but as the half progressed their grip was loosened as Biggleswade turned up the
heat. On 38 minutes Kevin Cooper saw his angled shot come back off the post and
moments later the same player was narrowly off the target with a headed chance
and Heron had an attempt deflected for a corner. Even by this stage the Referee,
Mr. Andy Stevens, was baffling the crowd with some of his decisions. Two
minutes before the break, another of those mysteries provided Biggleswade with a
free kick near half-way wide on the right. The ball was hoisted into the penalty
area by Daniel Flack and general consensus was that Charlie Morgan sent the ball
goalwards with Waders Glen Lamacraft claiming it hit one of his curls before
flying past Paul Daley. The second half began with Heron going wide and Jack
Weeden missing the target after bursting through the middle. In an afternoon
that was already going wrong for Steve Kessack, after 63 minutes it got worse.
Booked earlier for an alleged sh
ow
off dissent, failing to deal with the ball just yards from goal on the goal
line, the ball was rolled across the face of the goal to give Kevin Cooper an
easy tap in. Cockfosters had their share of the ball but were really unable to
create much in the way of chances and were confined to long range efforts from
Ian Reddington and Dan O'Connor. The Reds were not lying down but the reality
was that they were unable to claim a real foothold in the game not matter how
much they grafted. The front two were fed on crumbs as Biggleswade, without
being overpowering ground their way to the inevitable win. More woe for Steve
Kessack as he applauded a decision that went Cockfosters way, much to the
annoyance of the referee, who promptlyproduced another yellow followed by the
red. How bloody pathetic! Cockfosters played out the last ten minutes one short
and Biggleswade might have finished with a flourish but for two magnificent
stops by Paul Daley. 
We went into this game
knowing that our principal safe cracker over recent years had moved on to
pastures new. How this was going to affect our forward play only time would tell
and although we created good opportunities the final piece in the jig saw was
sorely missing and our finishing let us down badly. The game itself took some
time to liven up and both sides seemed to be still testing each other out when
from out of nowhere on 21mins Jon Moniatis
waltzed through the Jets backline to finish off a fine one on one with a
stinging low drive. The equaliser for the home side came about through quite
bizarre circumstances when Curbelo came off worse in a duel with Tim O'Mara and
freakishly the ball got headed into an empty net. Throughout the first half
there were only two chances on goal and both were taken. If anything we shaded
the second half with more chances coming our way. Their was however a bad lapse
of concentration ten mins into the half when we were too busy whinging about not
getting a free kick instead of watching the ball and as a result Adam Lowton
steam rolled though our off guard defence in order to plant a fierce drive past
Curbelo. We had chances to get something from the game after this setback but
the clinical finishing was not there. Defensively we appear to have got our act
together and in all honesty a draw would have been a fair result. Despite the
obvious loss of a great playmaker for us we came through the game well and our
lowly position in the league in reality looks a false one.
Dramatic
it was, but pretty it wasn't as Cockfosters secured a place in the last sixteen
of the competition. Faced against Division One opponents, but clearly with
brittle confidence, Cockfosters needed to put to bed the memories of their most
recent outing. To be fair, the opening forty-five saw Cockfosters dominate and
they should have taken the lead as early as the second minute. Dan O'Connor
roared down the Barton Rovers slope, which resembles the infamous gradient at
Underhill, and played in Ian Reddington whose shot flashed across the face of
the goal. Cockfosters were playing with more purpose and after a great cross
from Kevin Reade, the ball eventually reached Nicky Page just outside the box,
but once more the finish was the wrong side of the post. Crawley were being
fairly comfortably held and the closest they came was on 25 minutes when Matty
Edge's free kick flashed wide of Dan Curbelo's right post. There were to be
several more efforts on the Crawley goal as Cockfosters broke at pace and time
and again set up shooting chances that went begging, Reddington, Steward and
Reade all coming within inches of making the breakthrough. As the interval
approached, Danny Curbelo reacted quickly to smother a snap shot from Edge that
for a brief moment seemed likely to give the home side an undeserved lead. The
second half began with Crawley banging long balls and pretty soon we were drawn
into the same tactics as the earlier domination began to fade. Although rarely
troubled by any shots on target, Curbelo was a key feature as a series of free
kicks rained in on his goal. Other than for one mispunch that set up a chance
for Steve McKiernan, the Cockfosters No. 1 coped admirably. Just when we
thought the defensive gremlins were having a night off, one reared its head.
Gavin Conway did not react to Cubelo's 'away' call allowing Edge to retrieve a
lost cause and provide James Dickson with the chance to tuck the ball past
Cubelo to give Crawley a 67th minute lead. Credit Cockfosters who immediately
threatened when Kessack to Page to O'Connor and back to Page, with the
midfielder's shot crept past the angle of Nick Drummond's goal. Lee Barker set
O'Connor free but once more the shot failed to trouble Drummond. Moments later
Drummond was a bit more concerned and did well to keep out O'Connor's shot.
Jamie Brandon had been introduced and after 88 minutes, a trick on the goal-line
opened the way to slip in Dan O'Connor to fire Cockfosters level. With an extra
30 minutes looming Sean Downey, Crawley's central defender, clattered O'Connor,
who was clear on goal and about to pull the trigger, leaving Referee Costelloe
with no choice other than to point to the spot. O'Connor picked himself up and
coolly sent Drummond the wrong way to give Cockfosters the win deep into added
time that will do no harm for the confidence. 
near
the corner flag and worked his way into the area before opening the angle and
firing beneath the clutches of Kris Smithers to put Cockfosters in front after
eleven minutes. The Saints roared back but shots from Ricky Light and Andy
Birnie were fired straight into the grateful arms of Chay Morris. Cockfosters
then survived a double scare as first Chay Morris made his only slip of the
night when the ball ricocheted off his shoulder and had to be cleared off the
line and then the frame of the goal preventing Birnie from levelling. After 35
minutes, Cockfosters heaped more misery on the Saints as they doubled the lead.
Nicky Page floated a ball from the left that Smithers thought was drifting out
beyond the far post. With Smithers backpedalling, Kevin Reade got round the back
and sent a header across the face of the unguarded goal for Dan O'Connor to tap
into the net. It has to be said that a 2-0 half-time lead
flattered
Cockfosters, but if the Saints were upset then, it was about to get much worse.
Cockfosters, boosted by their first half successes, looked the better side in
the early minutes of the second half and within ten minutes effectively put the
game beyond St. Margaretsbury. Dan O'Connor latched onto a ball from Jon
Moniatis and drove forward into the penalty area before drilling the ball wide
of Smithers right hand. Ben Andreos had a thunderous shot flash past the post
but from then on in, it was all hands to the pumps as Cockfosters defended for
their lives. In the final thirty minutes, the mid-field battle was lost leaving
Moniatis and
O'Connor starved of any worthwhile possession. The onus then fell on the
rearguard and to a man, they were superb. Chay Morris totally commanded his
penalty area, while Michael Casey, Ben Andreos, Dan Hurrell, Steve Kessack and
Kevin Hunt ensured that St. Margaretsbury never saw a close range shooting
opportunity. There were a couple of freekicks around the edge of the home
penalty area and twice Kevin Eldridge was frustrated as superb crosses were
ushered to safety by Hurrell, but that was as near as the Saints would get. A
thoroughly enjoyable evening full of passion and commitment; Cockfosters
flattered? Certainly, but if you play with that level of passion, then you
deserve to reap the rewards. M.o.M Sorry it can't be everyone .. but you
all deserved it. (To follow). 
Although the champions have taken a maximum 6
points from us this season we gave them a good game on each occasion and should
have got something in return but lady luck was never on our side. We were just
five mins away from holding out the champions 101 goal attack when a long
hopeful punt upfield into our half caught us napping and Anthony Wright punished
us with his late winner. Chances on goal in this game were limited with our sole
contribution in the first half being a Jack Chandler header that only just
missed its target. In defence our backline worked wonders to contain a lively
Beaconsfield attack that kept on coming forward with purpose throwing everything
they could at us. Ben Andreos in particular played his heart out ably supported
by captain Gavin Conway, Steve Kessack and the ever reliable Kevin Hunt. In the
second half we tried valiantly to take the game to our visitors and succeeded in
giving them scares in front of goal but not enough to seriously test
their keeper. One marauding Lee Barker run down the right ended up with a cross
that saw Dave Pigden burying the ball into the net with a bullet header. Sadly
for us Beaconsfield got the result they wanted when the linos flag came to their
rescue for a very suspect off side decision. Dave went
close later in the game
with a shot that smacked the crossbar and but for a sweetly taken Conway guided
missile free kick which just failed in its mission that was about it as far as
chances went for us. Compliments from one Beaconsfield official said it all. '
We were fortunate to have beaten you at our place and the same can be said of
today's game'. Those comments just about summed up this game in as much that we
gave it our all against the best in the league but that little bit of luck
needed sometimes was not around. M.O.M. COLNEY HTH. PIGDEN 5 KESSACK 4
O'CONNOR 2 ANDREOS I BEACONSFIELD ANDREOS 8 CONWAY 4
This
game followed an all too familiar pattern of late in
revealing our Achilles Heel problem of letting teams off the
hook after appearing to have them on the rack. The start had
all the same ingredients of a typical home game played out
on Dacre Field with us waltzing through our opponents
rearguard with embarrassing ease giving first impressions of
a goal feast there for the taking. David Craig decided to do
his prompting from the field of play and all seemed well
after just six mins when Nicky Page released Dan O'Connor on
a goal run that ended up with the 'Greens' keeper getting
tangled up with his centre back and so allowing Dan the
opportunity of planting the ball home into an open net.
There then followed our usual glut of missed chances with
one
O'Connor burst to the by line ending up with a pull back
that went agonisingly behind a Jon Moniatis run into the six
yard box. Jon then followed this up with a run to the line
himself and when he was allowed to drift across the penalty
area it looked curtains for Holmer but his eventual strike
went narrowly wide. In the meantime the visitors looked a
shadow of the team that beat us on their patch a few weeks
back and our defence was rarely troubled with their powder
puff approach to attack. Cometh the second half and somehow
magically a different lot of players appear to parade the
pitch for us with little or no signs of us picking up on our
first half play. Holmer Green were allowed to grow in
confidence but fortunately they were still showing little
bite up front and it seemed only an absolute gift on our
part would allow them to score. This we presented to them
when Chay Morris fed David Craig with a pass out of defence
that took our manager by surprise and as the ball ran loose
it was now the turn of Danny Craggs to have the luxury of
putting the ball away into an empty net. What followed was
now very scrappy stuff from us and if we were going to get
back into the game it needed to be something very special
from someone with a bit of class. That someone proved to be
our Star ressie Aaron Ewing who clinically finished off a
determined right side raid with a crisp low drive past
keeper Clark. Watching Aaron play
is
like breath of fresh air and it seems criminal that his
talents are not displayed for us at an higher level more
often than it is. His receiving of the ball coupled with a
flowing movement that sees him drift off and away from his
marker is a talent to savour for any spectator. Having
seemed to have got out of jail we immediately went trigger
happy in defence conceding two penalties in less that five
mins. Fortunately for us Chay came good with an improvised
leg save to keep out the first kick but the second with
fresh taker Alvin Rajumin over the ball found its goal. At
the end of it all no complaints because the much revitalised
'Greens' were well worth their point whereas we are going to
have to find that 90 minute rhythm again which not so long
ago saw pull Biggleswade United apart in their own
backyard. M.O.M. EWING 4 ANDREOS 2 CONWAY 2 HUNT 2 CRAIG
1 MONIATIS 1. HANWELL AND N. MYMMS GAMES. CONWAY 7
OTARI 6 BARKER 4 MONIATIS 4 PAGE 2 MARTIN 1 
down the road from the Polish War memorial, it was apt that
a native of that land was to play a key part in the first
half telling moments. In Jakub Machlowski, Hanwell had a
custodian that was to make fine saves from free kicks from
Steve Weldon(right) and Dan O'Connor(above). On each
occasion hurling himself to his right to deny Cockfosters a
goal. After the early pressure, Cockosters piled forward
with Danny Hutchings and Nicky Page prominent. Kevin Reade
was enjoying some success down the right and Jon Moniatis
and Dan O'Connor never let the Hanwell rearguard rest. just
when it seemed that Cockfosters were the more likely to make
the breakthrough it was Hanwell who didn't read the script.
After 28 minutes,Hanwell's Victor Osobu broke down trhe left
and tormented Reade before delivering a cross that was
firmly headed home by Mark Gallagher. Cockfosters bounced
back and within
ten
minutes were level. Lee Barker took a corner on the left;
the ball found its way back to Barker who from the corner of
the penalty area, beat Machlowski's dive with the ball
creeping inside the post. The pointers to the second half
were promising and when Dan O'Connor was off target early
on, the doubts began to set in. With an hour on the clock
Darren O'Callaghan put Hanwell back in front and the omens
were suddenly not so bright. It's true to say that
Cockfosters enjoyed much of the possession but seldom did it
seem the Reds would get anything for the rest of the night.
MOM to follow....
Not for the first time this
season we went in at half time full of confidence having
destroyed the opposition with our continual driving forward
for goal style. The opening half saw us bag two goals and
the game from hereon looked to be a formality with thoughts
of just how many more goals our weak visitors would concede.
Just 8 points from 34 starts and a leaky defence letting in
99 goals the signs were that we were going to push the poor
Blues into the century mark. Unfortunately for us that was
not to be because the second half deservedly went the way of
our visitors who came at us right from the off showing signs
that they were not going to take defeat lying down. The
initial start of the game went so predictably well for us
when a Kevin Reade gallop down the right led to a cross that
rattled the woodwork leaving Dan O'Connor to pick up the
scraps and help himself to goal 22 of the season. As the
game progressed we inevitably let opportunities go by to
pile on the goals that our destroying front play deserved.
Dave Pigden missed a good chance when O'Connor put him
through for a 'one on one' and Lee Barker only just went
wide with a snap header on goal. Nicky Page also went close
with a drilled shot that grazed the upright Everything
however was going according to plan on 20 mins when Pigden
was fouled by the blues keeper int the box and O'Connor
notched up his 23rd with an emphatic strike from the spot.
Everyone was on song for us especially Page, Reade and it
goes without saying the O'Connor lad too. A completed job in
the second half would surely take us on to 5 or six goal win
as it looked so damn easy. The half was only a few seconds
old when
London Colney hit us with a goal from Sam Mitchell,
that took us by complete surprise. That goal ignited our
visitors to dig in and fight and they did so to their credit
throughout the entire second half. Our game on the other
hand went to pot with the rhythm of the first half
completely disappearing off the park. A Francis Otari strike
could so easily have been given as a goal but amidst the
sheer speed of the action the lino decided that the ball
never crossed the line. The nightmare thought of a strike
force that has only hit the net 18 times all season getting
two against us in one game looked to be an ominous
possibility as the half progressed. The embarrassment of it
all duly arrived late in the game when Dan Fitzgerald
fired the Blues level for their deserved equaliser. We let
ourselves down badly in this game simply because we got a
bit too cocky thinking that turning up for the second half
was all that was required and we got our just deserts. Full
credit to our visitors for turning up on the pitch to make a
game of it in the second even though all seemed lost for
them. M.O.M. VOTES TO FOLLOW
Our
local lower level equivilent of a Spurs v Gunners clash
turned out to be a big let down with little or nothing to
wet one's pants over. It was very much a defenders game
where both sides produced some solid barriers in front of
their respective number one shirts. Sadly for us we did have
just one defensive lapse which presented Jimmie Martin with
a 75th minute winning strike for our visitors. Rovers
started the season off like an express season and have hit
the buffers of late and by this showing it is easy to see
the reason why. Like us they were weak on the penetration
front on the day and lack the flair to be serious title
contenders. Their can be no excuses for our own powder puff
display in front of goal with far too many players leaving
their hearts in the changing room. Rovers keeper Ashley
Harris could it has to be said would not have been missed if
he had stayed in the visitors changing room because he never
had a goal bound shot to save during the 90 mins. Everything
we tried to manufacture up front broke down early in the
move with that final piece in the jig saw never
materialising. A strong feature of our attacking play has
always been centred around our ability to hit the by line
but the Rovers defence with ex red Alan Oakes looking good
snuffed out this part of our game. The one promising feature
about this match for us was the fact that defensively we are
looking a lot better than the 79 against statistics suggest.
On this front it is of note that the return of Kevin Hunt
has coincided with this improvement. The one attack of real
threat by us was stopped dead in its tracks when Dan
O'Connor got floored on the penalty area line and whereas
most referees would have given the benefit of the doubt to
an attacking player the resulting free kick decision went
Rovers way. It is not often one of these reports is starved
of describing our usual exciting front play but this one is
different because their was none. Reade did his best to
liven up the right side to give Oakes some headaches but our
old foes held out for a win. M.O.M. OVER PAST 3 GAMES
HUNT 9 MORRIS 8 WELDON 4 LANEY 4 CASEY 4 HUTCHINGS 4
CONWAY 2 O'CONNOR 1
The blustery wind made certain that this game
would be something of a lottery with ball play very difficult to put into
exercise. According to what end a team was playing out of passing had to be one
of two things either the slightest of touches of foot on ball or plenty of
wellie in order to get the ball to its target. Colney Heath had the wind up
their backsides in the first half and surprisingly made very little use of
it. As a match it was a slow starter with the first attack on either goal not
arriving until half hour when Nicky Page fired one in from just outside the box.
Kevin Reade followed that up with a looping cross that just missed its goal the
far top corner of the net. We had luck on our side in the second half when the
wind picked up more strength. A long clearance from Chay Morris put us straight
into the attack but with the goal at his mercy Dan O'Connor slipped his shot
wide of the goal. Page running here there and everywhere as usual found himself
free on the left and again tested keeper Blackman with a stinging drive on goal.
Reade then set up Jon Moniatis with a beautifully released ball but Blackman
came to the magpies rescue when he saved at Monnies feet before he could get a
shot away. O'Connor too had a run through clear on goal only to lay off the ball
when a shot was clearly on. There is no doubt that this was a game we should
have won comfortably and Colney must have felt happy about picking up a point
whereas we were kicking ourselves not to have bagged all three. Chay had a good
game dealing comfortably with everything that came his way whilst Weldon Casey
and Conway did their best in very awkward conditions. Penalty shouts didn't go
our way with one blatant handball offence looking like a spot of basketball
play. M.O.M. VOTES TO FOLLOW.
For
several minutes an equaliser looked on the cards and when Dan O'Connor was
tagged as he burst into the area - the fact that he stumbled but did not go down
was to cost Cockfosters dear. These were dodgy times for Biggleswade but the
Waders managed to repel the surges of O'Connor and Moniatis. Midway through the
half and Biggleswade really took control having by far their best spell of the
game and although Chay Morris did not have a save of note to make, the home side
were unfortunate to have a shot cleared off the line and were creating some
dangerous situations as Cockfosters wilted. Just as it seemed the home side
would be the next to score, Cockfosters drew breath for one last onslaught. With
88 minutes played Kevin Reade spun and lashed a shot inches wide of the post
with all in attendance waiting for the net to bulge. With the clock showing 90
minutes, Dan O'Connor unleashed a fierce drive that had the frame of the goal
rattling as he hit the post. There was still time for more pressure as
Cockfosters piled forward - even Chay Morris raced the length of the pitch for a
couple of corners in the dying seconds but the Waders managed to hold out to
move into second place in the league. Not the prettiest game you will ever see
but you would need to go some way to find a more battling performance. A credit
to everyone in a red shirt. To single out individuals would be unfair but a
special mention to Morris, Reade, Laney,Weldon, Hunt, Casey, Conway, Hutchings,
Moniatis, O'Connor, Martin, Pigden and Chandler and not forgetting "The Voice"
....... M.o.M. to follow.... 
from
the left found the visitors defence in a panic leaving
enough space for Danny Hutchings to fire in a shot which was
dealt with by a block. The loose running ball turned up at
the feet of a grateful Jon Moniatis who lashed
home
from close in. We continued to attack and would surely have
added to our tally but for some outrageous offside calls.
Steve Weldon came very close with one of his free kick
missiles whilst Nicky Page could have done better when an
inviting Dave Pigden angled pass landed at his feet.
Defensively we looked sound although much of the work was
being done by our last line man Chay Morris. Early into the
second half Page was the one doing most of the tormenting
giving his marker a torrid time. He had four quickfire bursting
runs on goal all of which were fruitless with the best
chance getting blazed wildly over the bar. Rob Laney also
had a couple of pearlers that
tested the keeper to the full but Jack Chandler missed the
best opportunity to seal the game for us when he drove
straight at the very impressive Ross Channer from six yards.
Oxhey in the meantime were getting plenty of the ball and
one break on 70 mins down the left exposed our back line
leaving Tim O'Mara a free run on goal for a fortuitous shot
that
had just enough gas in its tank to hit the upright before
dribbling over the line. Kevin Reade had a snap chance to
win it for us late in the game and Oxhey too it could be
said were denied a winner when a Wayne Gladdy strike saw the
ball hit our crossbar. A fairly ordinary game with a fairly
ordinary result. M.O.M. VOTES MARTIN 3 PAGE 3 WELDON 2
MONIATIIS 2 MORRIS 1 HUTCHINGS 1 HOLMER GN, READE
6 PAGE 3 BARKER 2 OTIRA 1.
oncoming
challenge of keeper Adam Lawrence. At this stage United were
showing distinct signs of having no answer to checking our
attacking play and this in turn led to their own attack
taking on powder puff proportions. Nicky Page of late has
been producing an energetic work rate that allies itself to
having 12 players on the pitch. Just before the half hour
his fetching and carrying role of picking up any scraps on
offer saw him popping up 30 yards from goal with an inviting
dig their for the taking. The subsequent attempt on goal had
everything going right for it the moment the ball left
Nick's boot and thus left an embarrassed
keeper
the task of clearing the unwanted debris from his net. A two
nil half time lead was in no way a true reflection on how we
totally dominated the half. The general half time chatter
centred around the fact that we did have wind advantage and
the second half could be a different story. It was not so
and if anything we played even better. Nicky Page should
have made it 3. 0. with less than a minute into the half.
Dave Pigden was proving very lively up front and was unlucky
not to get on the score sheet with some bursting runs into
the box. It was Page again who set up Reade with a snap
twist and turn chance that skimmed the crossbar. We were
still coasting through the game when Moniatis made way for
the unleashing of the 'Reds' answer to Maradonna and that
flattering comparison is purely down to the pocket
battleship build Ben Andreos has in liking with the stocky
Argentinian. Ben up front is a frightening sight for any
defence and the two goals he blasted home in the 79the and
90th mins were all about power play which is in truth
another great asset Diego possessed. Our back line did have
a bit more to do in the second half but what threats did
come the way of Steve Weldon's well drilled back line were
comfortably snuffed out due mainly to a superb Francis Otira
performance. M.O.M/ OTIRA 4 READE 4 WELDON 3 MARTIN 1.
EYNESBURY MATCH . CONWAY 5 CASEY 3 O'CONNOR 2 WELDON 1
MONIATIS 1 
On ten minutes we went down as a result of a typical
Cockfosters cock up when Craig Tomkins was allowed to nip in
between our back line and Chay for a simple lobbed ball into
an open net. Our response to this setback should have been
swift when O'Connor blazed a splendid chance wildly over the
bar so much so a 40 foot high net would not have collected
the ball. We did however manage to pull level on 40 mins
following a free kick from the left which Welwyn defended
badly by producing a bungled clearance which had the makings
of an own goal written all over it until Weldon put the
final finishing touch to claim the honours. Charitable to
the extreme as always we let Welwyn in for the lead again
just before the break. An innocent looking corner kick led
to a penalty decision against us when Chay was judged to
have pushed a defender in the back as the ball came across.
Neil Richardson accepted the grateful gift from the
spot. The second half produced our usual catalogue of
spurned chances with Casey, Hutchings and a Monnie howler
all denying us the chance to seek our revenge on the Welwyn
bogey.. A classic Nielson through ball to the galloping Dan
O'Connor did however produce that deserved leveller after 58
mins. Dan as cool as you like took time to check out the
'lino' to make sure his run was timed right before planting
his 21st goal of the season away. Defending corner kicks is
not one of our specialities over this season and on 65 mins
we showed again just how awful we are in this department.
Over comes the cross, a free header for Richard Morton
and 'bob,s your uncle' it looks so damn easy as the ball
hits the back of the net. Kevin Reade who had produced some
dazzling wing play for us as a second half sub went straight
down the line from the restart and sent over a teasing cross
that completely screwed up keeper Bartley leaving him a
spectator to a ball that drifted over his head into the net.
A fairly even game with us just about being justified in
saying it was two points lost rather than one gained.
Without being too optimistic it does appear that our 11
points from the last available 21 has secured us another
season in the premier league. M.O.M. O'CONNOR 3
MONIATIS 3 WELDON 2 PAGE 2 READE 2
For
a brief opening 5 minute spell our visitors looked the
business and containing them for the full 90 mins looked to
be a tall order. That however was it and for the rest of the
game we took complete control with typical 'Reds' gung ho
football. The Tring defence took a mauling as we pushed
forward attacking from all angles Kevin Reade especially was
clearly up for it with some great wing play down the right
but we were not quite getting the rub of the green to
capitalise on the openings created, Dan O'Connor had the
best of the chances up for grabs in our early raids but our
pitch did us no favours when a wicked bobbling ball denied
our 18 goal man the opportunity to make it 19. A wild Steve
Weldon clearance turned out to be a brilliant defence
splitting pass that sent Jon Moniatis free on a goal gallop
only for him to be denied by a keepers despairing leg save.
A cleverly worked Nicky Page frree kick routine with Monnie
set the latter up for another strike which blazed across the
face of the goal. Reade clean through on goal also found the
bobble gremlins in the box to stop us taking the lead. Page
then went close with one of his trade mark far post drifters
that narrowly missed its top angle target. Our well deserved
break through came on 24 mins when a Reade corner kick found
Weldon getting just enough head on the ball to cause panic
in the Tring box. Amidst the confusion that followed Michael
Casey stabbed the ball home from close in. Although being
totally outplayed Tring got a present of an equaliser when
some sloppy defending allowed Humphrey's the opportunity to
smash the ball home from close range on 40 mins. The second
half opened up with us still very much in the driving seat
and Tring's back line could only respond to it by constantly
whining for 'lino' flag calls. Danny Hutchings guided a
beauty towards goal that was bettered only by the keeping
that kept the ball out of the net. Moniatis then smacked a
fierce volley that only just failed to burst the net.. It
was O'Connor who eventually put us back in front after 52
mins when he jinked his way into the box and sold enough
dummies to find the space for a shot that crept across the
line via the upright. If Dan has an Achilles heel then it is
in his head not his feet and it showed up when Reade sent
over a cross that demanded a goal from it but somehow Dan
missed the chance to get into the twenties by sending the
gift over the bar.
Hutch had another terrific dig on goal(pictured) that found
the keeper denying him once again and one Monnie drifting
run across the box led to a pass to Reade which should have
been buried. With five to go our long sought after comfort
goal came when a free kick by Weldon was arrowed home so
viciously the keeper never moved a muscle as the ball
flashed past him.. A well deserved win and in truth Tring
were taught a footballing lesson and played off the park. In
defence we had a good day except for the gifted equaliser.
Francis Otira gets better with every game whilst Nick Martin
is doing the same. For the second game running M.O.M. votes
were not easy to give out simply because from one to eleven
the team played good football WELDON 5 HUTCHINGS 3 READE 2
OTIRA 2
Laney
desperately unlucky not to score in the opening minute when
he galloped past a statuesque Chalfont defence. This was
quickly followed up by a Kevin Reade raid down the right
which produced a cross for Jon Moniatis to test the keeper
out with a firm header. Throughout the first half Laney and
Reade were constantly switching their touchline patrols and
these tactics clearly upset the visitors defence. A Dan
O'Connor free kick only just failed to produce the goods
when Laney again brought the best out of the keeper with a
bullet header that was finger tipped over the bar. Our
goalkeeping problems before the game meant that the all
action man Danny Curbelo was called upon to put his
versatile talents to use guarding our net. Thankfully our
Dan knows only one way to play the game no matter what
position he plays and he was doing a great job at imitating
a keeper so that we went in at the break with a well
deserved share of the spoils. Things got even better 5 mins
into the restart when Rob Laney created havoc with a gutsy
never say die run down the left. Amidst the mayhem that
followed the Chalfont defence was breached when those
famous white boots latched on to a loose ball inside the box
and their owner finished in style with a cleverly planted
shot across the keeper. Jon Moniatis made that goal look so
very easy but in truth it was quality through and through.
Even better things were
soon
to come when 4 mins later O'Connor and keeper Power
Simpson both chased for a rogue fifty, fifty ball. As the
determined
pair met at the edge of the box their scrap for the ball
sent it on a path behind the keeper into an empty net for
Dan's 15th of the season. Unfortunately Chalfont were soon
let back in the game 3 mins later when our worrying
inability to consistently deal with corner kick situations
led to Charlie Strutton crashing the ball home from close
range. Super sub Strutton came to his sides rescue with
another goal before the final whistle. The closing stages
saw Chalfont power forward in search of a winning goal but
the Cockfosters rearguard superbly marshalled by Steve
Weldon ensured that justice was seen to be done. This was a
very encouraging performance against good opponents and
Chalfont must have left Chalk Lane puzzled as to why we are
are so lowly placed in the league. Its been a long time
coming but how pleasing it is to see Rob Laney back on song
after injury. M.O.M. votes.....Dan O'Connor 5, Danny Curbelo
3, Danny Hutchings 3, Steve Weldon 1
nightmares
which presented our visitors with 3 late first half goals we
should have added to our opening goal Firstly O'Connor made a
mess of a one on one where he clearly checked his run waiting
for an off side flag that never came and it all ended up with
him fluffing a simple chance. Ben Andreos then went narrowly
wide with a wicked swerving 30 yarder that only just had too
much bend on it at the end of its flight on goal. Ben then
followed this up with a disappointing unchallenged tame header
on goal that lacked both venom and direction. Our nigh total
capitulation in defence that turned the game on its head 5
minutes before the break produced goals for Biggleswade's Dan
Heron (two) and Jamie Steele. It was a freak half time
scoreline brought about by a calamitous mini spell of charitable
defending on our part. The second half opened up perfectly for
us when a skidding free kick from O'Connor slipped under
Springham's body and we were back in the game
with
a
goal just 5 mins into the second period. As much as we tried we
could not produce the leveller that we richly deserved and as
what nearly always happens when an all out attacking ploy is put
into practice the breakaway goal is always a threat. This
predictably was conceded late in the game when Dan Heron
completed his hat trick with a goal that really should have been
ruled off side. Before this goal the opportunities were their
for us to notch that elusive equaliser but those wasted chances
in front of goal that forever plague our game still continue to
haunt us. O'Connor missed the best of these with a simple chance
to score with a close in header. Dan however was our main
attacking threat throughout and should have bagged a penalty
with one brilliant run on goal. Nick Nicou worked hard up front
and his holding up of the ball was a joy to watch in what was a
solid all round display. M.O.M. NICOU 5 ANDREOS 3 READE 2
O'CONNOR 2. RUISLIP MATCH READE 5 ANDREOS 2 OKEKE 2 PAGE
1 WELDON 1 PENFOLD 1
decided to go for placing the ball into the net and
unfortunately for our skipper the keeper guessed right and saved
to is right. Deep into injury time Kevin Reade set up Samson
Okeke for a run on goal and it all ended up with a clinical chop
down challenge inside the box We all waited to see if Ben
Andreos could notch up what would be only our second home point
of the season with an equalising strike from the spot. That
second home point of the season was duly secured with a penalty
that had so much power in it the keeper would have ended up in
Cockfosters cricket ground had he got in the way of the ball.
m.o.m. votes to follow. M.O.M. ROMFORD GAME OKEKE 5
HUTCHINGS 3 WELDON 2 READE 2
delight
of Ben Penfold, who side-stepped the 'keeper and rolled the ball
home. As is
often said, "You are most vulnerable after having just scored" -
how true. Within two minutes Bedfont were level; across from the
left found James Hennessey whose looping header left Chay
stranded as the ball found its target via the post. A lesson in
the art of concentration if ever one was needed. The game was
now stepping up a gear and it marked the beginning of a running
feud between Samson Okeke and Bedfont's Adam Barrance.
Unfortunately for the Reds it was Samson who cracked and was
adjudged to have spat in the direction of the Bedfont man. The
action spotted by the Asst Ref. who brought it to Mr. Campbell's
attention who promptly red-carded the Cockfosters man with two
minutes to go before half-time. This called for an immediate
reshuffle with Gavin Conway unfortunately being sacrificed as
the need for a centre half was vital. Enter Steve Weldon. It
seemed inevitable that Cockfosters would face a backs to
the
wall second-half, but that's not how it turned out. The output
all round was stepped up and with Steve Weldon back in harness
with the captain's armband just about everything Bedfont threw
floundered on the Weldon and Andreos rocks. Only once did they
look in trouble: a huge punt upfield from Miles beat the
combined attention of the Cockfosters central pairing who could
only watch as Barrance hoisted a golden opportunity skywards.
Everywhere you looked the red shirts were chasing, battling and
shutting down all over the pitch. and with Craiggie in full
vocal encouragement who would dare give less than 100%. Oh yes -
and we were playing some decent stuff as well. Cometh the hour,
cometh the man from the valleys. On 71 minutes Liam Kenna found
himself further forward than he might have been and after
working an opening with Nicky Steward let fly from the edge of
the box to totally beat Miles despairing dive. Now Cockfosters
had something to hang on to and with a collective mentality of
"They shall not Pass" , Bedfont rarely troubled Chay in goal.
Towards the end there were a couple of dead-ball situations that
threatened but safe handling from our custodian and superb
attitude from everyone in a red shirt saw the job completed.
Very difficult to choose MOM but David Craig came very close.
Great entertainment and I'm very proud to be associated with a
performance like that - Well done fellas........ MOM
(official) Lee Barker 5, Ben Penfold 3, Ben Andreos 2,
Kevin Reade 1, Nick Martin 1
This
scoreline seems to be a very fashionable one for the, Reds in
cup competitions this season and as expected nail biting
tension will always show up in such games and this one was no
exception. Of late manager David Craig has had to come up with
all manner of permutations in order to put out a side on the
field of play and it is to his credit that he has come up with
the goods despite important players being unavailable. Our first
feel for the game centred around a lot of powerhouse play from
Captain Okeke for when he is allowed to roam up front he is one
heck of an handful. Early signs were that our opponents could be
comfortably broken down with Nicky 'Tricky' Steward in
particular readily carving out openings. On seven mins however
we set out our all too familiar charity stall and gifted Niz
Hoque with a lovely free header on goal and he never made any
mistake in burying his prize. Steward in the meantime was still
doing it for us up front and one killer cross from him should
have been converted by Dave Pigden. On 25 mins it could have got
a lot worse for us but Chay Morris came to our rescue with a
blinding save from the lively Hoque. Samson Okeke clearly
enjoying his plundering sorties into the visitors penalty box
put us level with his first goal for the club on 36 mins. A
fierce Steward drive on goal could only be parried out and
Samson was on hand to put in a wierd bobbling shot that somehow
looped over the keepers head and into the net. We had other good
chances before the break but let Sporting Bengal off the hook
with some woeful finishing. Just 3 mins into the second half Ben
Andreos slipped a sweet pass from his own penalty box straight
to the feet of opponent Leon Ryan. It left Ryan free on goal and
although his cross drive on goal should have been dealt with
comfortably by Chay those normally safe hands faltered and the
ball dropped over his head to give our visitors a surprise lead.
From hereon we laid siege on the Sporting Bengal goal with one
explosive belter from Lee Barker producing a brilliant save from
Keeper Dilworth. Dave Pigden
then went on to miss a couple of good chances before Lee Barker
on 87 mins sent in another rocket which this time the keeper had
no answer to. Aaron Ewing could have sewn the tie up for us when
he sent in a cracking looping volley that only just found the
tips of the keepers gloves. Extra time was only 4 mins old when
when Dave Pigden found himself clear on goal and this time he
atoned for his earlier misses with a coolly placed finish. There
was some controversy about the goal due to a visiting defender
sitting it out on the pitch at the time of the goal but in all
fairness cramp pains are not really injuries sustained during
play and the unsporting tag should never apply in such
cases. That we went on to win the game was due mainly to Lee
Barker helping us through a suicide moment with a goal line
clearance close to full time. Nick Martin had his best game for
the club since his arrival from Borehamwood and picked up 3
M.O.M. votes. Others all with 3 votes were Nicky Steward, Ben
Andreos and Aaron Ewing. A match report of the game appears in
the Non League paper but beware it is only in the late edition
with the front page headline HANDS OFF OUR KIDS.
On
paper this game looked a comfortable tie and that is how it was
with no repeat of the Aston Clinton embarrassment of last year.
Right from the off it was clear Cranfield would be in for a
rough ride when Dan O'Connor went straight through the heart of
the visitors defence to put us one up. It proved to be a clear
indication of the mood our midfield terrier was in for the night
as he went on to run his legs off for the whole 90 mins. He
notched another mid way through the first half before continueing
on a relentless seek and search mission for the ball causing
havoc wherever his legs took him. Not long into the second half
he set up Jon Moniatis for a sitter and likewise five mins later
Jon set up sub Dave Pigden for a replica goal. The lively Pigden
was clearly up for it and grabbed another shortly afterwards and
then it was time for a piece of Monnie magic as he drifted
menacingly from touchline to launch site just outside the mid
box penalty area before drilling home a drive a la Ginola
fashion or in Jon,s case perhaps ex gunner Perez fashion would
suit better. Argueably goal of the game however was the Dave
Pigden hat trick clincher, a cool cheeky flick over the keepers
head into an empty net for 7. 0. Defensively we were solid and
although threats on goal were minimal it has to be said it was
due to the way we snuffed out the oppositions front line
with Ben Andreos the android having a great game floating all
along the back line doing a great tidying up job with the broom.
M.O.M. O'CONNOR 5 ANDREOS 3 PIGDEN 2 MONIATIS 2
Following
a poor start to the campaign at Chalfont at the weekend, the last thing that
Cockfosters needed was a kick in the teeth in the first minute against the
title favourites, Hertford Town. Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened
as Ryan Wade headed a corner back across the face of the goal for Glen
Draper to power home a close range header. Credit Cockfosters for not
buckling and on fourteen minutes they deservedly drew level. Dan O'Connor
started the move before feeding Jon Moniatis in on the right. A driving run
along the bye-line before flashing the ball across goal for Dave Pigden to
apply the finishing touch. At this stage there was little to choose between
the sides until on the half-hour when Cockfosters again pressed the
self-destruct button. A ball played down the middle should have been dealt
with quite comfortably but as Chay Morris charged from his area, a breakdown
in communication saw Samson Okeke head past his
goalkeeper(pictured
right) to leave
Hertford's predator-in-chief, Ryan Redford, the simplest of tasks to roll
the ball into the gaping net. That did little for the confidence and proved
to be the defining moment of the game. Hertford were now in the driving seat
and moved the ball about menacingly but there was no more goalmouth action
before the break. David Craig had rung the changes and introduced Nicky Page
and Ben Andreos both of whom had promising starts. To be fair, the whole
side
performed far better than at Chalfont and at the break the points were up
for grabs for both teams. In the opening exchanges of the second half, Ben
Andreos, Aaron Tourlamain and Jon Moniatis all went close with Mark Virgo
making fine saves from the latter two. Mid-way through the second period,
and Hertford began to turn the screw. Mentally and physically quicker as
Cockfosters began to tire, Hertford took full control and as the Reds picked
up knocks to Andreos and Tourlamain and with the energy tanks close to running
on empty, there seemed only one likely winner. Eleven minutes from the finish
came the finish, Cockfosters were unable to clear and Ryan Wade gleefully
pounced from just inside the box to put the points beyond doubt. Cockfosters
have had a baptism of fire in the opening two Premier Division games of
their campaign but there was much promise in this performance for the
future..... Man of the match points to follow....
Unfortunately for us this first taste of the real
stuff went the same way as our pre season form and that was a case of very
little invention coupled with a lack of form i
n far too many areas of the
pitch. Our hosts were more than worthy winners but they themselves should be
wary about taking too much from the game because we were their to be easily
beaten. For us the alarm bells got louder as the game progressed when
Chalfont took firm control. At first all seemed reasonably well within the
pack but the game immediately changed when after 10 mins a groin strain took
Hutch off the pitch. The best chance in the entire game for us came within
seconds of sub Steve Scripps being on the pitch. Jon Moniatis broke down the
left channell gettng to his favourite by line spot only to see his cross
narrowly evading Steve's run on goal. On 20 mins we went one down when Lee
Barker was left all alone to cope with too much coming at him down the left
flank. Chay Morris at first dealt with the on goal threat but in the penalty
box scrap which followed Gary Haycock unnecessarily took out a retreating
attacker. No complaints a fair penalty award and although Chay made a good
effort to keep the spot kick out, Danny Stone converted. At this stage we
were still battling and by no means being overun, Jon Moniatis did manage to
work out a do it yourself opening only for the final shot to lack its
customary zip. Another ,Monnie, run set up Gavin Conway for a half chance
but the effort on goal was narrowly scooped over the bar. In between our
hosts were coming more and more into the game and a brilliant double Chay
save kept us out of trouble. We were being tormented a lot down the right
and on the stroke of half time we were delivered a hammer blow when a second
goal was conceded. Arguably Chay should have dealt with the initial threat
and instead a mix up occurred which allowed Bradley Bubb to stab the ball
over the line. The second half eventually saw changes with Kevin Reade
coming on and later Jamie Brandon. The moves did nothing to improve our game
and throughout the entire half the only goal effort was a weak Aaron
Toulamain shot close to time. Chalfont on the other hand improved all the
time and added two further goals through Adam Bunce and Barry Brosnan. M.O.M.
Awards were issued out mainly on desire and effort and on that front
Conway picked up 6pts Moniatis 5pts O,Connor 1pt Early days yet and we do
have some key players missing, so lets hope some of our buzz returns for the
big Hertford game.
Having
won at Arlesey, the target for the remaining two games was very straightforward
- six points was the minimum requirement. Standing in our way tonight was
Harpenden Town, not in the best of form currently, but nonetheless certain to be
dogged opponents on a night where we needed positive minds and actions. The
merry-go-round of availability or the lack of it brought the inevitable changes.
Chay Morris, recovered from a infected arm, returned to replace Marcin Cichowlas
who competently covered for Chay at Arlesey. Danny Hurrell was missing while
Danny Hutchings was given his second First team start. Ben Andreos
continued after a fine performance at the weekend while Gary Haycock and Jon
Moniatis, recovered from previous knocks, were on the bench. In a game that
demanded a high tempo, the first half was just about the complete opposite.
True, Cockfosters had the lion's share of the play but the reality was that
precious few chances were created. Harpenden were defending well and Dave Pigden
and Jamie Brandon made precious little headway in a half that will not live long
in the memory. There was no need to worry about Chay's arm as I cannot recall a
shot on target by either side in the opening forty-five. The half-time chatter
in the clubhouse centered around "We'll settle for a 1-0" as nerves began to
show on the Chalk Lane faithful. David Craig should take the credit for ringing
the changes at half-time. Jon Moniatis came on for Dave Pigden and Ben Penfold
reverted to his strikers role after an outstanding wing-back performance at
Arlesey and the first half of tonight's game. Harpenden must have thought they
were facing different opposition as Cockfosters laid siege to the visitors half.
Driven on by Michael Casey, Danny Hutchings, Ben Andreos and Gavin Conway the
pressure on Matt Lord in the Harpenden goal was mounting. A succession of
corners failed to provide the breakthrough and the closest we came to breaking
the deadlock was Ben Penfold who was twice foiled by good goalkeeping by Lord.
With eyes flicking between stopwatch and pitch and the clock rapidly ticking
away the urgency was building as were the anxiety levels, primarily the
spectators. Then it happened. on 64 minutes, Jamie Brandon celebrated his 18th
birthday with a sensational goal. Following a short corner, the ball found its
way to Jamie wide on the right and outside the box. With a thumping drive that
flew past Lord and into the top far corner, the roar of delight and relief was
music to the ears and could probly be heard in Ampthill and Stony Stratford..
Shortly after, Michael Casey was brought down by Lord but Referee Henderson
waved away the penalty appeals, which goalkeeper Lord admitted to those within
earshot was valid. Although Harpenden never really threatened, a one goal lead
was never going to guarantee the win, so for added insurance Gavin Conway made
way for Gary Haycock to shore up the back line. The final whistle was most
welcome although in the end there was only one team that was going to win; but
I'm not sure I would have said that after 63 minutes. Well done to all concerned
- a day off on Saturday - then press on to Cranfield next week. M.O.M Brandon 6,
Hutchings 2, Penfold 2, Andreos 2
Cockfosters greatly appreciate what David and Stan have done for
the club since they arrived at Chalk Lane. The turn around for the better in
our game did not come about by accident that's for sure. Our hosts Arlesey, have
a claim to 
fame in as much that they are the only team as yet to turn over the
express train that has been Brimsdown Rovers this season. Taking this fact into
consideration we can feel pretty good about how we cantered through a game which
could so easily have turned it into a double figure thrashing if chances missed
were taken. As early as the first minute we should have taken the lead when a
Gary Haycock attempt on goal was blocked by a piece of reverse defending from
Dave Pigden. With ten on the clock cometh the free kick, cometh the man Gavin
Conway with a beauty that hit the back of the net before the keeper even thought
about diving(pictured). That was the fifth free kick conversion by Gavin this season and
that is a good return by anybody's standards. Those free kicks are never about
power blasting but more about skill and deceptive flight that screw keepers up
making them look silly. Ben Penfold was given the task of impersonating Lee
Barker bombing down the right and what a good act he put on. Ben was more than
up for it and all our first half pressure seemed to have his label on it. Goal
number two came on 30 mins and this time Conway fired in a free kick that
invited a good head to attack it. That good head belonged to Jamie Brandon who
planted the ball into the net with the sweetest of quality headers. Our every
attack had a mesmerised host defence in all sorts of trouble but it was not
until the last kick of the first half that we made another chance count. A Steve
Weldon header was skilfully looped over the Arlesey defence in order for Dave
Pigden to time a perfect run to put him in on goal and as cool as a cucumber our
ferret poacher tucked the ball away into the net. We took our foot off the gas
in the second half but still managed to give the Arlesey back line plenty of
headaches. One headache that they could not cope with however was a bustling
Dave Pigden run which took him to the by line whereupon he put in a devastating
cross that Jamie Brandon said thank you very much to. We could and should have
had a lot more goals but the nearest we came to another was a spanking header
from sub Steve Scripps that rapped the crossbar. Despite our dominance the
second half did have its Arlesey moments but Marcin Cichowlas showed us just how
lucky we are to have such a good keeper to slip into Chay's boots. Talking of
Chay we of course all wish him well following a small bout of hospitalisation
bought about by an arm injury that become infected following the Hertford match.
Rumours say that third in the league could still give us promotion and if so it
is deserving on a terrific young set of lads. M.O.M. ARLESEY. PENFOLD 5 PIGDEN 2 CICHOWLAS 2 BRANDON 1 CONWAY 1
HAYCOCK 1
Our third encounter with the ,Blues,
saw us reap just revenge with a win in their tough and
uncompromising own backyard. Ostlers Field is a formidable fortress
and for us to take the home side to penalties in a cup tie and then
nick 3 home points from them in the space of two weeks is a feather
in our cap. Promotion now all hinges on Ampthill slipping up twice
whereas we have to not slip up at all and with our run in that is
not too hard a task. Brimsdown of course can do us a massive favour
and Ampthill will be more than aware of how important that encounter
is to them. We took the game to Stony with some lively inter active
play which frequently got us behind enemy lines but our hosts back
line dug in with some do or die defending just as we were about to
pull the trigger. They were fortunate when Jon Moniatis just failed
to get enough on an header from an up and under and although the
keeper was beaten the ball went narrowly wide of an empty net. That
was soon followed by our first goal from the in form Dan O'Connor
who latched on to a loose ball from a poor defensive clearance and
in a flash the space was made for him to smash home an unstoppable
shot past a very static keeper. Ben Penfold in particular was giving
the Stony brick wall a torrid time and was unlucky not to add to our
lead when Kevin Reade made a good opening for him. Defensively we
were looking sound across the back and if things did get a bit dodgy
the safe hands of Chay Morris tidied things up for us. Chay is
without question in a very rich vein of form and just cannot put a
glove wrong. Our first half lead was more than justified and rather
than make the nonsensical long hike back to the changing room the
team decided to rough it on the side of the pitch. Within minutes of
the restart Jon Moniatis laid one on the plate for Michael Casey who
duly obliged by tucking the ball away into the net but somehow the
referee deemed Jon to have mysteriously fouled an opponent. We went
off the boil from hereon with Stony getting more into the game and
when they levelled from a brilliant defence splitting long ball it
looked as though they would go into cruise control and take the
game. With twenty to go however a speculatve break by Steve Kessack
down the left led to our winning goal. Whether it was meant to be a
cross or a shot only Steve really knows but the balls path was inch
perfect as it swept past the keeper and into the far corner of the
net. Stony plugged away but we were now back on song and held on for
the 3 points. It was good to see Kevin Reade put in a good solid
display galloping down the right. Kevin is a fine club man and it is
to his like the manager has to turn to when he has to juggle the
team sheet around. We can still pull off the promotion thing but
whatever happens it has been a wonderful effort from the lads who
wear the red shirt of Cockfosters. M.O.M. HODDESDON. MORRIS 5
WELDON 2 PENFOLD 2 OKEKE 2 O,CONNOR 1 STONY STRATFORD MORRIS
4 WELDON 3 OKEKE 2 PENFOLD 1 O,CONNOR 1 KESSACK 1
ell
to Dan O'Connor who fired home from just inside the box. What
followed next was our customary letting off the hook style of play
with far too many chances being thrown away. Good fisherman always
land their catch but we however like to let too many escape from
entering the net.
Brandon
was in the thick of it all when we attacked and he popped up all
over the place frightening the shits out of any B. and V. player who
tried to take him on. One little party trick saw him slip the ball
between two static defenders, it was in effect a pass to himself and
in a flash he was delivering a killer cross that O'Connor just
failed to convert with a kneeling header. Dan was letting another
fish escape the net only seconds later when he blazed wide following
a brilliantly worked set up by Moniatis. Samson Okeke in the
meantime was on another planet with some lung bursting runs from
deep that created havoc whenever he ventured forward. One of those
runs on 40 mins set up Jon Moniatis for a sniff at goal and our 21
goal man made no mistake in putting the tally up to 22. Despite our
dominating play Chay Morris twice came to our rescue the first
occasion being when we fell asleep from a throw in and a one on one
had to be dealt with. The second half saw us losing our way as time
after time promising moves broke down through sloppy final balls. A
penalty miss by Jon Moniatis on 65 mins added to our woes and the
game from thereon got even more messy. Sub Dave Pigden was denied
two certain goals when good intelligent poaching runs into the box
were ignored first by Penfold and then by Moniatis. The crunch
factor to all this is we should have taken more goals out of this
game and eaten away at rival Ampthill Town's goal difference which
in reality is an extra point in the bag for them. We narrowed it
by just one to six but it should have been a lot more. Chay Morris
had one of those games when he did not put a foot wrong and although
he never had too much menacing stuff to deal with his overall
display was top drawer. M.O.M. VOTES MORRIS 5 OKEKE 3 WELDON 3
BARKER 1 
It
may have all ended in tears, but take a bow Jamie Brandon. At first this
tie did not go too well for us with Stony looking as mean at the back as they
did at Chalk Lane only three days previously. Trying to get the width back
buzzing in our game was not proving easy and that has always been a strong
feature of our game when we are up for it. We did take a surprise lead on 20
mins when Dave Pigden chased a back pass towards keeper Egerton. It proved to be
a Paul Robinson type nightmare for the hapless keeper as his wild swing at the
ball smashed into thin air and a seemingly innocent back pass rolled into the
net. Stony are good down the flanks and it was a cross from the left that saw
them draw level 10 mins later . We were at our charitable worse allowing their
striker time to read War and Peace before slotting home the ball. The same thing
occurred close to half time and our hosts once again accepted the offer of a
goal for the taking. Our best efforts on goal came from a Nicky Page special
which the keeper only just read right and a Tony Burke drive that gave Egerton
the opportunity to atone for his earlier gaff. The second half saw Page and
Steward make way for Brandon and Hurrel . Almost immediately it was clear Jamie
Brandon was going to upset the normally unruffled Stony defence with his tricky
skills and pace. Whenever he was fed with the ball he produced and to be honest
he is nigh impossible to defend against when in full flow. From a supporters
point of view the young lad sends tingles down the spine once he has the ball at
his feet. Despite our new found zest for the game we went two goals down on 65
mins when Marcin Cicholwas was beaten all ends up by a 30 yard free kick. That
goal however only succeeded in pumping up Jamie for his party spoiling piece.
Within 5 mins he crashed home the ball following a brilliantly parried shot from
keeper Egerton. By now we were really at Stony's throats and it was the old
Cockfosters at their rampant best. A deserved leveller came with 5 to go when
the ball bobbled around in the box and eventually found a path into the Stony
net. Extra time soon went pear shaped for us when Lee Barker was alleged to have
handled in the box and the referee saw it as deliberate. Lee Barker's sending
off was the cue for Marcin to pull of a Dudek style penalty save to keep
us in the game. At the turn around we were still very much the dominant force as
Brandon continued to tease and harass Stony's Wickes type stone wall defence. A
long Laney throw in was headed backwards by Haycock and as the ball fell to
Jamie he killed it like a bag of cement and followed it with cool overhead flick
that gave him the opportunity to fire home at the near post. Magic stuff. In the
final seconds Rob Laney and Samson Okeke advanced on the Stony goal unchallenged
but contrived to miss the chance for a 5-3 win. From the resultant goal-kick,
Stony made one last charge and sadly the gallant 10 could not hold out and
Stony made it 4.- 4. close to time. The penalty shoot out did not go our way but
that cannot detract from the fact that our players one and all gave it their
best shot and we as a club can feel justly proud of them. M.O.M. votes to follow
but I am sure Samson's super human showing will not go unrewarded whereas Jamie
Brandon's performance was something so very special and yes indeed a star is
born. 
We
needed 3 points from this game if we were going to have any chance of the title
outright. Stony got the 3 points so barring miracles its good night nurse as
far as the title is concerned. In all honesty we looked a jaded outfit due
mainly to a few players going off song and others clearly not fully match fit.
Stony caught us stone cold within 4 mins when Marc Redsull siezed on a defensive
mix up to put the visitors one up. It was a sign of things to come because we
did not look our old selves at the back. On 21 mins however the trusty head of
Gary Haycock put us back in the game. A corner kick was sent out back wide from
the Stony defence only for Tony Burke to clip over the perfect cross for Gary to
smash into the net. Within 5 mins of the second half we were a goal down again
this time a somewhat flukey effort from Dave Holloway which took a wicked
deflection to deceive Chay. Our wide play just was not working for us and to
their credit our visitors knew how to shut it down to be totally ineffective.
The 3 sub injection of Casey, Brandon and Page spiced things up towards the end
but that leveller could not be found and Stony were in truth well worth their 3
points. Only Chay's brilliance, with some fine first-half saves, kept the
scoreline respectable for us. Jamie Brandon, who came on late on, looked lively
down the left and was unlucky with one sharp chance that came his way. Our best
chance of nicking a point fell to Dan O'Connor when clean through on goal he
managed to let the Stony keeper rob him of the ball. No excuses we were a bit
flat and not up for it on the day. M.O.M. HAYCOCK 6 MORRIS 4 CLARK 2.
BALLBOY 10
This
much look forward to game was played out at our hosts first class stadium a far
cry from Oakhill Park's mudbath which some of our players were playing on only
the weekend previous. Right from the off it was clear Chay would be asked to
play a bigger than usual role in the match as Bromley went straight into a
routine of slick passing on the deck style footie. To our credit in the opening
45 we contained a first choice Bromley side which are as near as damn it are at
Conference level. Our defending was top drawer as we had to keep out wave after
wave of attacking play and with a bit of luck we could have unlocked our hosts
defence with some cheeky breakaways. As it turned out our only real effort that
worked their keeper came late in the half when O'Connor broke down the left to
have a crack at goal. We did have other near misses especially when Penfold made
his teasing runs down the right channel but the final killer ball could never be
found. Chay in the meantime was being worked out hard and he eventually
succumbed on 30 mins to a fierce header by Barry Moore that rapped the bar
before dropping down over the line. In the second half it was vitally important
that a second goal for Bromley had to be stalled off for as long as possible in
order for us to have a speak of a chance of getting something out of the game.
It did not happen that way and when Adam Greenway hit the first of his four
second half goals the Fat Lady was tuning up for her song. We battled and
battled holding our heads high without never being overrun. The lads in red did
the club proud. Our best sniff at a consolation goal came when Penfold got
through into the box only to be outdone by a brilliant defensive tackle from the
classy Sam Wood. M.O.M. MORRIS 4 BURKE 3 OKEKE 2 CLARK 2 PENFOLD 1
One
thing you can guarantee about Brache Sparta is that you know by the
end of ninety minutes that you have been in a game. So it was as
these teams met for the fourth time this season , on this occasion
battling for the right to take on Stony Stratford Town in the
semi-final of the Division One Cup. Cockfosters earned the right for
'home' advantage after sliping and sliding through ninety minutes
before the referee abandoned the game at Brache's Foxdell home a
fortnight ago. David Craig was forced to readjust his thinking on
team selection right up to the last minute possible as Michael
Casey, groin strain and Samson Okeke, mental abhorition were late
withdrawals. On the plus side there was a recall for Steve Weldon,
after a comeback in the Reserves at the weekend and it was good to
see long term inury, Gary Haycock back involved. From the first
moments Cockfosters penned back Brache and it only took seven
minutes to make the breakthrough. Lee Barker made a customary surge
up the right and was rewarded for his efforts driving the ball
low past Diego Vazquez in the Brache goal. At this stage it looked
as if Cockfosters would be having an easy passage as Brache were
unable to stem the flow from the wide areas and the clever
prompting of Tony Burke. Ten minutes after establishing the lead,
Cockfosters shredded the visitors back line once more. This time
Steve Kessack stormed up the left before cutting the ball back from
the goal-line to Ben Penfold. Ben's sidefoot effort had 'goal'
written all over it as Vazquez was beaten only to be rescued by a
goal-line
clearance by James Dickson. This signalled a change in the tide and
Cockfoster's threats on the Brache goal abated and it was the turn
of the Reds to defend. Brache were becoming very competitive in
midfield and although territorially they gained an advantage they
had precious little joy as Steve Weldon & Co held firm. The second
half began with the Reds once more in the driving seat. Danny
Hurrell in a central midfield and role won most that came his
way and Tony Burke's prompting caused the visitors problems. On 67
minutes Cockfosters doubled the advantage. Lee Barker won a race and
a challenge from Dickson to send in a cross from the right. The
delivery seemed to be a touch too firm but Jon Moniatis fed the the
ball back into the path of Dave Pigden who drilled the ball past
Vazquez to seemingly settle the tie. But credit Brache they battled
back and once again Cockfosters, if not hanging on, were beginning
to glance at the clock. That nervousness heightened when, after much
deliberation with his Assitant, the referee awarded a dubious
penalty for Lee Barker handling. Ashley Shanahan stepped up to thump
the ball high into the net to set up a tight finish. With the game
already two minutes into added time, Brache should have forced the
extra thirty minutes but thankfully for Cockfosters and their
faithful, Prospere managed to head over when it seemed easier to
score. An entertaining game from too battling sides.
MOM ---Danny Hurrell 4, Lee Barker 3, Steve Weldon 3, Tony Burke 2
With
the Swans experiencing an indifferent season not knowing what sort
of form they are likely to show on the pitch, this game looked good
for 3 away points. In its early stages that seemed to be the case as
we soon began to set about testing the host keeper. Dan O'Connor was
driving forward showing his usual gutsy spirit and with only 2 mins
on the clock he should have done better with a clear opening on
goal. It was 'gung ho' stuff from us and every raid looked like
opening up Athletics defence. Nicky Page set up the galloping Steve
Kessack for a run in on goal but Steve snatched at the opportunity
and a grateful keeper was glad to see the ball sail over the bar.
Michael Casey then had what looked like an absolute stonking sitter
just 2 feet from goal but somehow he could not dig the ball out from
his own 2 feet and he stabbed it wide. At times our playing
formation looked like nothing known to coaching manuals, so geared
up to driving forward were we. As a result we paid for it with a
sucker punch that led to the Swans having the audacity to take the
lead. Chay unfortunately had about as much protection as a leaky
condom when on 20 mins Andy Bennett found himself in oceans of space
to score a simple goal. Right from the restart O'Connor fed Kessack
with a dream ball that should have ended up in the net but Steve's
shot went agonisingly wide. Our leveller however did eventually come
on 30 mins when Jon Moniatis had his heels clipped as he was about
to make one of his trademark drifting runs across the box. Needless
to say Jon dispatched the spot kick in his usual emphatic style.
Just before the interval the Swans let us off the hook when Chay
once again found the protection thing in front of him somewhat
leaky. Fortunately for us our scare ended up with a miss of the
season on our goal. At half time Ian Clark was replaced by new
signing Dan Gruar a prolific net finder for local team Hadley.
Buckingham seemed more up for it in the second half whereas our game
went down the pan with some of our crappiest play of the season
being served up. We were very lucky not to go down again within
seconds of the start. Our raids up front were not carrying the same
threat although Gruar did manage three solid efforts on goal with
the best being matched by a piece of brilliant goal keeping. Conway
came on for O'Connor in order to try and infuse some steady flow to
our game that would settle us down but it was the last throw of the
dice that produced the magic turnaround. A third striker Dave Pigden
was thrown into the fray with 10 mins to play. Just when it seemed
we were going to be denied our 3 point target Jon Moniatis slipped
Dave Pigden in for a sniff at goal. The chance was expertly snapped
up with a piece of cool finishing fit enough to grace any
premiership arena. It is worth noting that if man hours on the pitch
are taken into consideration Dave has an excellent strike rate
probably better than any other in the squad. We did manage to pick
up a dug out red card when David Craig went over the top with some
poetic verbal but that did not stop us from bagging the 3 points we
went for. Kevin Hunt had a good solid game as did Samson Okeke and
Steve Kessack. Overall however this was a poor show and the win was
only salvaged by a bit of Pigden class being shown at the right
time. M.O.M. HUNT 6 KESSACK 4 MONIATIS 1 OKEKE 1.
All games are important nowadays for
the Reds but it has to be said this one was to be the crunch game if
that title should come to roost at Chalk Lane. After the way we
battled to beat Ampthill on their own patch earlier this season
there was for certain going to be plenty of fierce rivalry in the
game. Right from the start we went straight into attack mode and one
by line cross from Jon Moniatis had our hosts defence in all sorts
of a mess and they were grateful to see the ball shave the upright.
From thereon however we were soon to realise that our own backline
looked vulnerable whenever Ampthill counter attacked with plenty of
threatening pace. They looked good and up for it whereas we went on
to become a disjointed outfit finding it difficult to string passes
together. After one early scare on Chay's goal Ampthill made the
next one count when Tony Hill swept into our box to fire home. It
looked all too easy and it knocked us even more out of our stride.
In particular it looked as though the Ampthill management had done
their homework on our characteristic lively wing play. Laney and
Barker were smothered every time they got sight of the ball. Our
best chance of levelling before half time fell to Laney but with the
keeper asking to be lobbed Rob blazed wildly over the bar. It could
so easily have been us going two down just before the break but
thankfully Chay pulled off a great save to deny an ever threatening
Ampthill attack. Gavin Conway was replaced by Tony Burke for the
second half and although we huffed and puffed trying to be creative
nothing seemed to gel together for us. Too many players were having
an off day with Micheal Casey, Chay Morris and Samson Okeke the
exceptions. The killer second goal against us came with 15 mins to
go and it came via a Stuart Reynolds penalty following a lunging
Samson Okeke challenge which to be honest looked to be outside the
box. Our bench was then thrown on to the pitch with Nicky Page
looking good from the very moment he touched the ball. It was
fitting that he snatched our consolation goal close to time with a
brilliant individual effort that even had the Ampthill keeper
applauding. Earlier Tony Burke had provoked keeper Andy Gibb into
making a fine save to keep his goal intact.It was in fact the only
time throughout the game he was forced into making a save which
summed up our performance. Towards the end we gave it everything but
some good defending and the unlucky run of the ball denied us an
equaliser. At the end of it all no complaints we never performed to
our recent high standards and well played Ampthill. M.O.M. CASEY 8
OKEKE 2 MORRIS 1. Note 1 vote missing due to one judge abstaining.
For the first quarter of this game
we as a team were clearly finding a feel for the pitch. There was no
confident flow to our game and as can be expected all our opposition
nowadays see us as a target to make a name for themselves. Make no
mistake about it the name COCKFOSTERS means something in the league
and we really are truly playing like SPARTANS. Slowly but surely we
began to put things together and Sun Postal's early resistance
gradually began to show signs of being stretched at the back with
every attack we created. Those sweeping moves with passes being
sprayed across the park to our wings has been a wonderful feature of
our game this season and we must be thankful that we have the class
players to knit it all together. Once Sun Postal felt the
pressure our chances soon came along with our superb midfield
engineering wave after wave of raids on keeper Andy Felton's goal.
Frustratingly we let Sun off the hook by snatching at too many of
the goal scoring opportunities that came our way including some
absolute sitters amongst them. There was one scorching drive from
Ben Penfold that burst the back of our hosts net but cruelly the
complexed off side rules of today denied us of the breakthrough we
deserved. Level at half time was not what we wanted and we
desperately needed a goal to settle us down so that we could go for
the jugular of a Sun team who had little to offer in
attack. Thankfully that elusive goal soon came along early into the
second half. Ben Penfold's driving run down the right side of the
box took him to within the whites of the keepers eyes before
slipping the ball cleverly home passing fashion into the net. It
was a typical piece of Penfold class which prompted the
annoyed guardian of the net to utter, F*** it,! Our second goal was
almost a carbon copy of the first except this time it was Lee Barker
in the driving seat. The same right channel was exploited following
a dream move between Penfold, Burke and our galloping wing back Lee
who delivered the lethal ,coupe de gras,. Tony Burke back with us
after his wanderings slipped into the game from the bench ten
minutes into the second half and it was he more than any who helped
turn the game for us. A delightful flicked pass from Tony sent Jon
Moniatis through right down the throat of Sun's by now demoralised
defence but somewhat amazingly the piece of butchery that followed
was deemed to be a fair tackle by the referee. Shortly afterwards
Jon slipped a tight marker in the box and this time the attempt to
stop him en route for goal was seen as unfair. Needless to say
Moniatis penalty takes end up in only one place and that is in the
back of the net. Jon now clearly had a sniff for goal and it was not
long before he was bursting through the mddle channel once again.
There was a time when it looked as though Jon had got it all wrong
but although his rounding of the keeper took him to a tight angle on
goal he finished in clinical style. Jon's hat trick goal was one to
really savour and striking at its very best. The ability to create
openings in order to get feet in strike mode on ball has to be part
of a good strikers armoury. Jon showed these qualities when he left
a close marker for dead in the box and in a split second it was case
of pick that one out of the net sunshine. Our back line looks better
with every game no matter what changes Craigie has to juggle around
with and 17 for with 1 against over the past four games proves it.
Kevin Hunt, Ian Clark, Samson Okeke and Chay Morris were so sound
and solid in their roles that they made Sun's front line look poor
when in reality it is they that are so good at their game of
shutting up shop. Our midfield is one of the best engine rooms in
the league and it is their craft that contributes so much to the
intense pressure we put our opposition under. Gavin Conway, Dan
O'Connor, and Michael Casey all had brilliant games whilst our
terrible twins Lee and Rob provide the quality width that gives our
present game so much magical flair. Most of the results went our
way over the weekend thus leaving us with a more secure foothold at
the top of the league. Again it was nice to see our injured team
captain Steve Weldon turn up at an away game to support his fellow
teamates. Things like this do not go unnoticed by the club and
neither does the great effort being made by the team this year. We
are proud of you one and all. M.O.M. MONIATIS 3 CONWAY 2 OKEKE 2
BURKE 2 CLARK 1 HUNT 1 CASEY 1
to their credit Winslow done a good job defending even though at
times lady luck came to their aid. Ben Penfold set up Dave Pigden
for a sitter but his shot cannoned off the keepers body and at the
second bite of the cherry Dave found the crossbar. Lee Barker then
set up Penfold for another golden opportunity but Ben's first touch
was not good enough to take the chance. Barker was again provider
when Nicky Page should have buried a simple far post strike. Craigie
must have put a rocket up the teams backside at half time because
those chances soon began to turn into goals in the second half. The
Barker and Page combination in particular was working well down the
right wing. Lee slipped in a ball for Nicky to hit the byline with
and his cross found the inrushing Danny Hurrell who made no mistake
in bagging his first goal for the Reds. This goal triggered off a
mini goal glut with Dave Pigden
adding a second 5 mins later. Once
again it was the Barker, Page duo who created the chance for Dave to
slip a low drive beneath the keepers body. Page was again doing the
providing shortly afterwards when a sweet through ball found Lee
Barker galloping down the middle to net number three. It was yet
again the terrible tormenters combining to lay a goal on the plate
for a grateful Dave Pigden who tapped in from the goal line. For the
second game running Jon Moniatis came off the subs bench to net the
goal of the game. Driving forward Jon was pushed wide of goal and
from a seemingly impossible angle he shot home from a position just
inches away from the byline. We were not at our best in this game
and yet we chalked up our biggest win margin of the season. The
league is a bit chaotic at the moment with some teams having as many
as 6 games in hand over us but we can do no more than keep on
winning and that is why we sit proudly on top of the league. M.O.M.
CASEY 4 OKEKE 2 CLARK 2 BARKER 2 CONWAY 1 HURRELL 1
For the second
game running the lads in red were asked to ply their skills as
footballers on a waterlogged pitch. In comparison the K.T.F.C. game was
played out on a field of dreams whereas Holloway Park could be better
described as a field of screams so appalling were the conditions.
Somehow the referee gave a nod to the game starting and in driving rain
we set about coping with the conditions as best we could. Short passes
of just a few yards required maximum wellie, and for a start no side had
any answers to how moves could be conjured up. In the first half we
were fortunate to have both our attacking flanks in reasonable condition
and it was these areas that we exploited with Laney and Barker as our
main thrust. Penfold as always drifted intelligently into channels
either side of the box and was unlucky early on with an angled shot that
keeper Beasant did well to smother. On his very next raid down the same
left channel Ben found some support in Dave Pigden and his byline cut
back had just enough legs on it to enable Dave to drill home from six
yards. We were now getting the measure of the conditions with some of
our familiar driving forward game keeping the Magpies back for prolonged
spells. A Dan O'Connor free kick into the box was met sweetly by Laney's
right peg but the ball just skimmed the upright. Amersham were showing
practically no threat up front and it came as no surprise when our
powerhouse play reaped more dividends. Michael Casey produced a piece of
individual magic when from fully forty yards he drove the ball over a
too advanced Beasant into an 
empty
net. Things got worse for our hosts when ten mins from the break they
lost a man to a double yellow card. With the rain letting up for the
second half we seemed to take our foot off the gas and allowed ten men
Amersham a few pots at goal. It was left to the battling Dave Pigden to
settle us down with his second goal of the game and his fourth against
Amwersham this season. A Gavin Conway through ball slowed down by the
wet surface enabled Dave to nip and round the luckless Beasant for a
walk into the net goal. Nicky Page and Jon Moniatis entered the fray
late in the game and both found time to get on the scoresheet. Nicky
made it 4 nil with a coolly taken dipper that once again saw Beasant
beaten by a shot over his head. A penalty for the Magpies added a bit of
respectability to the scoreline but their was still time for one last
treat in the form a Jon Moniatis special. A break down the left saw Jon
take the ball down to the byline whereupon he then drifted menacingly
across the box Perez fashion before smacking the ball home. That was
vintage Monnie at his very best. A mean tackle on Page led to a further
Amersham dismissal, this time a straight red. Jamie Brandon was given a
run out for the last ten mins and was unlucky with two fine goal
attempts. Forgive the pun but this winger is some fine jewel to have
waiting in the wings. Yet another super show from those wearing the red
shirt, you did us proud yet again and all for a few sandwiches at the
end of the game, a million miles away from the prima donnas of the
Barclays premier league. It was a nice touch to see our injured team
captain Steve Weldon travelling to the game to support his team mates. M.O.M. CASEY 4 PIGDEN 3 PENFOLD 2 CONWAY 1 BARKER 1 OKEKE 
Conditions for this game were
atrocious for the players both on and off the pitch. The wild
wet weather had the last say on how the pitch would play and
that after all was in God's hands. Off the pitch however there
can be little excuse for not providing the basic requirement of
hot water for the players to have a shower. After seeing how
magnificently our players performed on the pitch it was a sad
sight to watch them struggle home back to Chalk Lane for a
decent shower still cold and wet from the field of play. To cap
it all three of those players O'Connor, Casey and Kessack had
valuable belongings stolen from out of the dressing room. One
can always argue that the valuables box should have been used
but it still does not take away the fact some scum saw fit to
rob three of our players who had just burst their lungs out for
the Cockfosters cause. As for the game itself it could be said
that not many officials would have given it the
green light to
start but it did and both sides had to accept it. Right from the
start it was plain that fancy moves were going to need Lady Luck
involved in them somewhere if they were going to create
openings. Passes were nigh impossible to thread through at the
right pace and players spent more time on their arses than their
feet. Kentish Town looked lively up front and it was clear Chay
would see a lot of the game and that he did with some highly
competent keeping which to be honest kept us in the game for the
first 45 mins. We were not lacking in our ability to get in
behind our hosts back line and the early signs were that
Moniatis and Penfold would capitalise with their dangerous
penetrating runs at some stage. Our best first half chances came
from a set piece header from Weldon that just scraped the
upright and a Laney far post effort following a powerful driving
run from Barker. Mystery surrounded a refereeing decision that
led to the senior official overulling his assistant who had
flagged for a penalty when Penfold was mauled in the box. Their
followed bizarre scenes where the Town players were seen to be
argueing frantically with the referee for a decision he had
given their way. It was pantomime stuff and really not fit to be
seen on the serious field of play at a football match. Despite
that it is fair to say Kentish Town edged a first half where the
mad following wind did no favours for our defenders. In the
second half wind advantage saw us making better use of the
conditions than our hosts did and frequently we made runs right
through the throat of their defence. The beauty of our game is
that these runs can come from so many different sources so rich
are we in players with footballing brains capable of seeing when
a break is on. Five mins after the interval Moniatis let Barker
in for one of his surging driving runs down the right. Lee
powered on brushing away all tackles and as he closed in on
goal he let blast with a drive that the keeper had no chance of
controlling. The ball spun out to the edge of the six yard box
where Penfold sent it back into the net where it belonged. From
hereon we began to take the game by the scruff of the neck with
Town's defence having no answer to holding their back line
together other than to constantly appeal for the linesman to
help them out with his flag. Fifteen mins into the half the
right decision was made to take the players off the pitch as the
driving rain and hailstones made Town's defending impossible.
Fortunately things improved enough for the game to restart after
just five mins and we carried on where we left off with us
constantly getting in on the Towns goal with embarrasing ease.
Penfold and Moniatis in particular were up for it in these type
of conditions whilst in midfield Casey, O'Connor and Conway were
absolutely brilliant throughout. The former surely has no equal
in the league at playing out the destroying role with such
machine like effectiveness. Our wide berth areas are patrolled by
two quality players in Barker and Laney both of whom have passed
their exams in defending and attacking. It was left to the
energetic Penfold to sew the game up for us on 70 mins. Ben's run
into the box ended up with him coolly rounding keeper Noonan
and sliding the ball into an empty net. Shortly afterwards
Captain Noonan had to leave the field of play with a bad rib
injury. Penfold got a bit of a roughing up in this game and it
is to his credit that he does not react to some of the treatment
dished out to him. Their were times when it looked as though
their were attempts too bury him alive in the Claremont Rd mud.
So for us its back on top of the league where we rightly belong
and although not wishing to sound boring let us not forget
Motormouth's role in it all. Although we are only allowed 11
players on the pitch Craigie is like having a twelth man
actually on the field of play. Once again no apologies are made
for thanking the team for a truly gutsy performance played out
with a sheer passion for the game which we at Cockfosters so
greatly appreciate. M.O.M. CASEY 4 CONWAY 3 MORRIS 3 PENFOLD 2
If
ever a game lived up to its expectations this one did.It passed as
excellent entertainment with flying colours and all those that took
part in it are to be congratulated for the way they played out the
beautiful game. Right from the start we clicked into top gear
showing no respect for Rovers miserly defensive record of only 7
goals conceded coupled with a massive 35 plus goal difference. Our
old familiar driving forward game was clearly in powerhouse mode
giving our visitors the opportunity to put in plenty of overtime at
the back. Jon Moniatis should have given us an early lead but
somehow the ball got stuck under his feet and the chance was lost.
From our midfield came a constant supply of ammunition with lively
raids coming up all over the park. The lads were on fire and Rovers
knew they were going to have to scrap it out if that total of 7
goals conceded was going to be kept intact. Dan O'Connor and Ben
Penfold should have made that tally 8 but both snatched at clear
chances on goal. Brimsdown although finding it hard going at the
back were showing signs that on the rare opportunities they pushed
forward they had the nippy front men to open us up on the break.
Motormouth was in his glory welcoming the chance to drive his
players relentlessly on and it is no exaggeration to say that he was
part of a three man move that eventually saw us take a deserved
lead. Rob Laney broke down the left and screaming from the touchline
Craigie urged Rob to take his marker on. That marker was probably
one of the best full backs in the league and Laney left him for dead
with a brilliant piece of trickery inside the six yard box. The
final lay off saw Jon Moniatis in exactly the same position
as his earlier miss but this time Jon smashed the ball into the roof
of the net. We had the better of a pulsating first half and should
have been rewarded with a bigger lead if only because of the way we
took the game to Rovers. The second half continued in the same vein
for us with our visitors being hunted down whenever they had the
cheek to get hold of the ball. To see Michael Casey acting out his
midfield destroying role is a sight for sore eyes. It is all done
clean fair but hard with no compromise or respect shown to any
opponent who gets in his way. We had opportunities to add to our
lead the best of them falling to Ben Penfold and Lee Barker who both
blazed hopelessly wide when a lay off was screaming out as a better
option. Ben was unlucky
with another angled cross shot that led to a fine save from Keeper
Alan Buck. The time for change came ten mins from time with Jon
making way for Dave Pigden up front. Sadly Dave's early contribution
was to lose out in midfield and within seconds the ball was being
picked out of the net by Chay following some hesitant play at the
back. At the end of the game it was nice to hear the fair minded
Rovers committee all to a man admitting Cockfosters were the better
side on the day. Speaking from a personal view which I am sure will
be endorsed by the rest of the Cockfosters committee I would like to
convey thanks to all those players who have given us such great
entertainment so far this season. It should more than anything be
recognised that these players who don the red shirt do so for the
sheer love of the game without a penny in payment. We as a committee
are fully aware of this and thank you for doing your part in keeping
the Cockfosters proud cockerel crowing and long may it continue to
crow. To one and all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
M.O.M. CASEY 6 WELDON 4 PENFOLD 1 OKEKE 1 
This
match was to be the first of a tough pre Christmas schedule and
Brache Sparta's notorious ,Field of Dreams, produced all the
necessary gremlins needed to knock us out of our stride. The
very sight of Foxdells ploughed field is enough to frighten off
any visiting team accustomed to playing a passing game. A
football is round but it can so easily take on the antics of a
rugby ball when asked to roll over such a nightmare surface. No
excuses however and the truth is we never adapted to take on the
challenge of mastering the pitch. When a football takes on the
antics of a rugby ball the passing game has to go out of the
window. The first half saw us going
close on several occasions and to be honest we should have had
an half time lead. Rob Laney had a good penalty claim backfire
on him with a yellow card for diving. Dan O'Connor had a a
goalbound shot deflected for a corner and from it Steve Weldon
was unlucky to see his snap shot go straight into the keepers
arms. Although we shaded the first half the signs were there
that the Foxes knew all about playing the cunning game and some
of their on the break football looked scary. Chay Morris had to
be on top of his game when those quick breaks managed to
penetrate our normally solid back line. We had our chances in
the second half with Michael Casey, Rob Laney and Dave Pigden
all just missing out but that sucker punch from the Foxes always
looked to be on the cards as we tried to push forward. We got a
bit ragged at times mainly due to the frustration of being
denied playing our passing game and that frustration grew when
Brache punished us with a 85 min strike. Our pushing forward was
all too easy for the Brache on the break play and we went 2-0.
down well into added time. Without wishing to be too biased it
is fair to say we deserved something from the game and that
maybe the 120 min Romford epic took its toll on our players as
we tried to take on Brache Spartas frightening ,Field of
Dreams,. Super performances came from Michael Casey, Chay Morris
and Samson Okeke who worked like a trojan keeping one of the
best strikers in the league quiet throughout the entire game.
M.O.M. VOTES OKEKE 6 MORRIS 3 CASEY 2 CONWAY 1
Things
are beginning to get serious at Chalk Lane nowadays and our top of
the table roost looks to be more than justified. Our powerhouse
style of play is capable of unsettling any team the league can throw
at us. Their is now a kind of machine like efficiency within the
squad and all departments look to be firing on all cylinders. In
particular the midfield is purring away nicely with supporting
attack play that opposing defences find so very difficult to
contain. Sun Postal had hardly got the smell of the changing room
out of their system when the Red Machine hit them with a classic 60
second opener. Brilliant passing movements on the left touchline
between Hurrell and Laney resulted in the latter streaking down the
byline to deliver a killer ball into the six yard box. No one got
any sort of connection on the ball and as it bobbled around Rob
himself ventured into the fray to smack the ball home. An odd goal
in as much that creator eventually finished up as finisher of his
own work. The goal triggered of a non stop barrage of attacking play
that our visitors had no answer to, especially the penetrating runs
of Dan O'Connor who was on high octane stuff covering every blade of
grass on the pitch. On 25 mins after a prolonged spell of pressure
Sun Postal surrendered to a lethal strike carved out by Jon Moniatis
and finished by the in form Ben Penfold. O'Connor in the meantime
was still creating havoc wherever his legs would carry him and he
deseverdly got in on the scoring act after 35 mins. Dan latched on
to a peach of a through ball from Conway and made no mistake with a
shot that blasted into the roof of the net. Prior to that Dan had a
goal disallowed which led to spectators scratching their heads
wondering just where the infringement took place,. a video clip
proving conclusively that the goal should have stood. The second
half should have seen the scoreline doubled but we were in a
charitable mood and even allowed Sun the luxury of a penalty which
went sadly wide. Rob Laney, Kevin Reade, Ian Clark and Ben Penfold
all put in five star performances whereas O,Connor was on something
else and had the game of his life. Dave Pigden scored what looked to
be another perfectly good goal with his first touch as sub but it
was scratching heads time again and where these decisions come from
his hard to believe sometimes. M.O.M. VOTES O'CONNOR 8 LANEY
3 WELDON 1
Prior
to this game the general opinion was that it would be a true
test of our current winning ways. It has to be said we passed
the test with flying colours and our visitors came off Dacre
Field knowing they had been beaten by a better team. This win
chalked up our seventh straight league win on home soil and but
for 3 points thrown away at Bedford U.V. we could now be sitting
on top of the league. Things are on the change and Cockfosters
are looking good, very good. Most importantly the camerardian
spirit running rampant within the squad is sky high and
motormouth David Craig the man responsible for injecting that
spirit is to be congratulated. More than anything he has
installed confidence in his players, some of them playing even
better than they thought they could. The game started off with
both sides eyeing each other up but it soon became obvious that
we were putting Kentish Town on the back foot with regular
ease. We are now more capable of putting constant pressure on
opposing defences and although that pressure usually contains a
catologue of missed chances the law of averages will always bear
fruit at some stage. Amongst the chances that went begging was a
Ben Penfold strike that should have found the net and not the
upright as it did. An even easier opportunity fell to Gavin
Conway from the resulting rebound but his shot went narrowly
wide. Shortly afterwards Gary Haycock missed a simple chance
with an header(pictured) that he knows should have been a bread
and butter take for him. With first half added time being played
out the eventual breakthrough came for us. A Gavin Conway free
kick taken wide and deep on the left had only one target as an
objectiive and that was the head of ,Superbonce,. With target
found sited wide on the right of the box Haycock sent over a
header that had the Kentish defence in all sorts of a mess. From
the resulting mayhem the ball fell to Captain Marvel Steve
Weldon and he made no mistake with a shot that looped over the
keepers head and into the net. A 1-0. half time lead was more
than justified although it came to us thanks mainly because of a
Rob Laney goal line clearance and a wonder save from Chay Morris
that led to spontaneous applause from both sets of fans. The
second half saw us continueing to keep Kentish pushed back. We
were able to do that because Steve Weldon and his back line crew
were doing a great job in containing the visitors attack. Gavin
Conway was unlucky with a free kick that found its equal with a
brilliant piece of keeping whilst Jon Moniatis had a quickfire
double strike on goal which also found its match with some,
never say die, defending. In the end we were well worth the 3
points that add on to a maximum of 21 picked up at home this
season. Luke Smith has proved to be a good find for us in
midfield and because everyone on the pitch gave it their all the
M.O.M. voting was not easy to adjudicate, however our headmaster
seemed to fair better than others. HAYCOCK 6 PENFOLD 3 WELDON 1
SMITH 1 MORRIS 1
If
our previous cup game against Amersham was fantastic then this one
has to be labelled super fantastic. The reds or yellows as was the
strip were absolutely brilliant in all departments and our
Premiership opponents were at times completely overan and the one
goal deficit really flattered them. They are known as ,The Hares,
but compared to us they were tortoises. Things did not look too rosy
at the start for within 5 mins United took the lead through a tricky
piece of wing play. As the game progressed it became apparent that
getting in behind our hosts defence was proving not too difficult.
Jon Moniatis and Ben Penfold in particular were up for it and
looking razor sharp. The latters very strong hold up play is a fine
feature of his game and what can be produced from it gives us so
much more in the way of attacking options. During our spell of
strong pressure we squandered three good chances, one to Jon
Moniatis and a brace to Michael Casey the first of which was an
absolute sitter that even my Granny could have buried. When our
deserved leveller did come on 20 mins it came via the gifted left
peg of Gavin Conway. Whether it was meant to be a deliberate attempt
at goal is not certain but what is certain is that Gavin's cross
from the right hand touchline had defenders nightmare written all
over it and it was deserving that it entered the net direct. United
were by now fully realising that they were in a typical cup tie
scrap with their defence being carved open at will by an on song
Cockfosters. Our long ball passing was inch perfect and Jon was
revelling in latching on to some super balls. Taking the lead now
looked a formality and it was Penfold's neat flick inside the box
that set up Moniatis for a strike that left the keeper helpless. Ten
mins later Penfold was busying away down the left and screwed up his
marker enough to put in a cross that Moniatis neatly tucked home
inside the near post. We were buzzing and the Hares were being
chased and harried all over the park. Their was an obvious attempt
of a United fight back in the second half but the score should have
been 4. 1. when a Jon Moniatis run in on goal led to him blazing
wildly over the bar. We then got a bit of a wobble set in and
Harefield pulled one back mid way through the half. Just when they
thought the tide was turning for them Moniatis delivered the strike
that eventually won the tie for us. Receiving the ball wide on the
left he muscled his way to the edge of the box before slipping the
ball past the advancing keeper for a brilliant hat trick. There was
a hiccup close on time when it got to 4. 3. but we held on. All the
lads were brilliant especially M.O.M. Michael Casey who played out
the destroyers role in midfield like a Sherman tank. m.o.m.votes
CASEY 5 MONIATIS 3 WELDON 2 PENFOLD 1 CONWAY 1
The best
thing about this game was the 3 points which stretched our league
home record to18 points from 6 straight wins. As a game it was an
ugly scrappy affair with very little in the way of on the deck
football. Instead their was plenty of the big boot stuff which must
have given the impression to outsiders that Dacre Field had a
balloon race going on. Buckingham were up for it in defence and
breaking them down proved difficult. Our first clear chance on
goal fell to Samson Okeke but his rasping shot on goal was tipped
over by the keeper. On the half hour a free kick from just outside
the box led to us deservedly taking the lead. Such set pieces are
tailor made for the likes of Gavin Conway. Gavin made the most of
the opportunity and our bend it like Beckham man,s swerving
corkscrew smacked the crossbar before dropping down across the
line.Gary Haycock, Kevin Reade and Jon Moniatis came close to
adding to our lead but keeper Colin Johnson was having a good day
for the Swans. The second half dished up more of the same with
plenty of big wellie going on all over the park and the less said
about it the better. The most encouraging thing about the season to
date is the fact we have ground out results using a
varied assortment of team sheets. It is clearly a mark of good
management when enforced squad rotation still keeps producing the
results. M.O.M. VOTES AMERSHAM CUP TIE KEVIN HUNT 7 STEVE WELDON 2
GARY HAYCOCK 2 CHAY MORRIS 1 BUCKINGHAM. STEVE WELDON 5 DANNY
HURRELL 4 IAN CLARK 2 SAMSON OKEKE 1
This
game was a cup tie classic in every sense of the phrase, it had
everything and served up a wealth of entertainment for those looking on.
The game had hardly breathed life when Gavin Conway slipped through a
stone cold Amersham back line to give us a twenty second lead. Our hosts
had yet to touch the ball and they were clearly stunned especially when
four mins later we hit them with a second. A Gavin Conway free kick just
outside the box was spilled by Sam Beasant and like all good predatory
strikers sniffing around for scraps Dave Pigden reacted quickest to
smash the ball home. Despite the fantastic start our lads were soon put
on the back foot by an Amersham side which has improved beyond all
recognition. They have adopted a free flowing style of play that is both
pleasing to the eye and effective with attacking breaks played out at
lightning speed. One spell of pressure on the half hour produced the
goal that was threatening to put the Magpies back in the match. From a
corner kick our lines were breached when Leigh Cogdell found the space
needed to fire home in a frantic goalmouth scramble. Although we went in
at the break with our lead still intact it was obvious that the second
half would require a lot of resolve from our players. It helped matters
when once again we caught Amersham cold with a goal five mins into the
half. Direct from a corner Gary Haycock produced one of his special
haymakers. When Gary's head meets the delivery spot on its a case of
,pick that one out of the net, for the keeper. Amersham
however continued to play some classy football continually threatening
our back line where Chay Morris stood out by pulling off some great
saves. We were soaking up a lot of pressure so much so that it told on
70 mins when Leigh Cogdell again found our net this time with a fierce
drive that squirmed under Chay's body. Their were a few more scary
moments but we hung on in there for a truly marvellous victory over
worthy opponents who in all honesty must have considered themselves
unlucky not to get something out of the game. Manager David Craig must
be singled out for the way he drives his side on from the dugout.
Although he is not on the field of play he is as good as an extra player
with his relentless barrage of encouragement spurring and motivating to
the final whistle. Singling out those who shone in this game is not easy
simply because they were gladiators one and all but maybe Kevin Hunt and
Chay Morris dished out more than their share of fighting spirit. M.O.M.
VOTES TO FOLLOW.