Cooks Land former Cobblers Hitman
The Cooks are delighted to welcome former Northampton Town forward Courtney Herbert to Compton Park. Herbert joins the Cooks from Evo-Stik Southern League Premier side Banbury United where he has spent this season following his release from Northampton Town at the end of last season.
Courtney joined Northampton Town from Long Buckby after a successful trial in September 2009, making his Football League debut away to Shrewsbury Town on 26th September 2009 and went on to make a total of 23 appearances that season for the Cobblers, of which 8 were in the starting 11, and scored 2 goals. Courtney made a further 15 league appearances last season, albeit all but one was as a substitute, though did not score and with playing opportunities limited he joined Conference side Cambridge United on loan in March 2011
Almost a year to the day Herbert was part of the Cobblers side who did the unthinkable and beat Liverpool in the Carling Cup Third Round at Anfield.
Courney is a real handful for defenders with his pace and movement and were very pleased he's decided to join us here at Cogenhoe as we build on our recent run of results.
F.A. Cup
Preliminary Round
Cogenhoe United 1 Loughborough Dynamo 2
Saturday, 03 September 2011
A goal deep into added time denied the Cooks a second chance against step 4 opposition.
Jack Peck gave the visitors the lead after 54 minutes but Matt Gearing equalised for Cogenhoe a minute before the hour mark.
With a replay beckoning Matt Langham won it for Dynamo three minutes into added time.
Cooks well beaten in first friendly
With manager Andy Marks away on holiday the Cooks were left in the charge of Assistants Mick Donnelly and James Alger for our opening pre-season fixture.
The Cooks welcomed Leighton Town FC to Compton Park on Tuesday and were promptly made aware that there needs to be a massive improvement before the season starts. Our visitors were hungrier and worked twice as hard throughout the game and that was clearly reflected in the full time score. But it was the number of individual errors that eventually was our undoing in a humbling 6-0 home defeat.
The Cooks started the game with almost the same team that finished last season but with the exception of a makeshift defensive duo of recent recruits Bobby Leah and Robbie Bushell who both were out run by the lively front two of Leighton Town. There were plenty of cobwebs out there as touches were poor and the Cooks could not keep control of the ball and gave away possession far to many times in the opening encounters, putting ourselves on the back foot and we soon found ourselves 1-0 down after Keeper Anthony O'Connor could only punch away a cross as far as the edge of the area and Neil Lazarus drove his header home into an empty net.
By half time the score line was 3-0 to our visitors as again slack marking and the inability to clear our lines gifted the reds two more goals.
The second half saw an almost entirely different team play as Alger and Donno rang the changes in order for them to see some of the trialists on offer but there was little improvement as again our visitors pressed on. Returning keeper George McClellan was lobbed from 20 yards for the reds fourth and was left rooted to the spot as a cracking free kick made the score 5-0, to compound his nightmare of a night he was beaten from a close range header following good work from Leighton's right winger whipping in a cross for one of their substitutes to nod home.
One of the only positives was an appearance for Kieran Tarry at right back, the young full back who has come out of the Rushden & Diamonds academy looked assured and in 30 minutes showed more drive and determination than we had showed in the whole game, linking up well with Dan Thomason on the right flank and forcing Leighton's backline to turn.
The Cooks have to pick themselves up now as we face another tough game on Thursday night against a Histon XI and then on Saturday a double header away to Burton Park Wanderers.
Cooks have a good mixture planned for pre-season
The Cooks have lined up a good blend of fixtures as part of their build up for the forth comming 2011/12 UCL Premier Division season.
Saturday 16th July - Home - Leighton Town FC - 3.00pm KO
Thursday 21st July - Home - Histon FC XI - 7.45pm KO
Saturday 23rd July - Away - Burton Park Wanderers - 1.00pm KO (Reserves)
Saturday 23rd July - Away - Burton Park Wanderers - 3.30pm KO
Thursday 28th July - Away - Harpole - 7.00pm KO (Reserves & 1st Team)
Saturday 30th July - Away - Langford - 3.00pm KO
Tuesday 2nd August - Home - Daventry Town FC - 7.45pm KO
Tuesday 2nd August - Away - Moulton - 7.00pm KO (Reserves)
Saturday 6th August - Away - Olney Town FC - 3.00pm KO
Monday 8th August - Home - Histon Town - 7.45pm KO (Under 18's)
Follow us on Twitter for updates on all the games..
http://twitter.com/cogenhoeunited
