Cookham Dean (21/11/2004)
2004 - 2005 Season, Hithercroft Youth



The weather was chilly and a fine drizzle was falling throughout the game that made the grass very slippery for this, Hithercroft’s first away league game of the current season. Once again Rhydian Grange, Gordon Preston and Mark Sadler were the available substitutes and on this occasion Pat Vaughey ran the line for Hithercroft. Our visitors of Pam, Des, Ken and Steve were well outnumbered by the home team supporters that included Jim Rozenthal, the ITV sports presenter who introduces the Formula One coverage.

The game kicked off at 10.32am and both teams quickly settled in with the ball moving from end to end. After 13 minutes Cookham took a corner, floating the ball across to be headed towards goal but Simon Mines dived across to his right to pluck the ball out of the air. Hithercroft soon had a couple of shots at goal but, just like the previous week, were inaccurate in their finishing. At 11.07 the game was halted when Richard Vere and his spectacles parted company. The referee organised a ‘search-party’, getting the Hithercroft players to form a line and move downfield from their goal-line until they were eventually located by Tyrone and restored to their grateful owner. One bright spark, on hearing that Richard did not have a spare pair, remarked, “He should have gone to SpecSaver”. When the game resumed the visitors kept up the pressure at the Cookham end of the field but the goalkeeper was in good form, blocking consecutive shots from Dan Birch and Tyrone Francis. Cookham then broke away down the centre and Simon had to race outside his area to head the ball clear. The ball was then collected by an opposing player who struck the ball toward the far side of the goalmouth, Simon diving to his left to push the ball round the outside of the post. At 11.17 Cookham again ventured into the Hithercroft end and Tom Hing turned past David Blackman to push the ball into the net to give the home team a 1-0 lead. Two minutes later the referee’s whistle signalled the half-way point in the match.

After a strong team talk to Hithercroft by their coach, Brian Lewis, the game restarted at 11.25 and it seemed that this might have done the “trick”. After 2 minutes of play Dewayne Dublin brought them back to 1-1 and an exciting game was in prospect. Dan took a free kick from over 26 yards out and his curving shot passed just outside of the upright. In the eleventh minute of the half Cookham were unlucky not to retake the lead when a cracking shot rattled the crossbar. Three minutes later Rhydian came on to replace Richard, with Ben moving to the centre-back position. At 11.48 Cookham took the lead again courtesy of a David Evans goal and they came close to increasing this lead when their No 14 hit a strong shot against the post. In the 75th minute Hithercroft brought on Mark to replace Dan and, shortly after this Cookham substituted Dan Evans, who had been having a good game. Hithercroft increased the pressure and were spending a lot of time in the Cookham half but having to pull back to defend the occasional breakouts by the home team. In spite of a fair amount of stoppage time added on by the referee neither side managed to add to their tally and the final outcome was a 2-1 win to Cookham when the final whistle was blown at 12.19.

Once again it had been apparent that Hithercroft need more training to improve their finishing, ball control and commitment. It had been frustrating for their supporters and officials to see their side with superior territorial advantage and possession failing to capitalise on their opportunities.

Hithercroft scorer:-
Dewayne Dublin (47m)

Hithercroft players:
Simon Mines, Jamaine Warner, David Blackman, Mark Sadler, Paul & Peter Morgan, Tyrone Francis, ‘Baz’ David, Dewayne Dublin, Dan Birch, Gordon Preston, Ben Steele, Rhydian Grange and Richard Vere.

Cookham Dean’s scorers:-
Tom Hing (45m) and David Evans (78m)