Cookham Dean FC 1
Hughenden 0

The boiling cauldron of a roaring atmosphere from yesterday’s famous Adams Park stadium, bristling with press, TV, and a standing room only game (at least in the Green King IPA stand; where there weren’t any seats) to today’s quiet start with a disappointing turnout for the kick off, which was admittedly 2 minutes 17 seconds early.

As the early ebb and flow of the game kicked off the stands soon filled with local supporters spilling out of the tea room, where Kim was dishing up some interesting brew (according to Mike Sackman who broke off now and again to place calls to a mysterious and distant Easterner).

I say ebb and flow, but it was mainly ebb and ebb, with Cookham immediately pushing up to the Hughenden goal area, and within minutes firing at the target with a nice Mikey missile, followed by Louie letting loose before two corners in quick succession also promised some early chalk on the scoreboard.

The black and white humbug shirts appeared to be everywhere; with both sides enjoying some composed on the ball action; Cookham though, dominating early possession.

After the first tentative moments feeling each other out, Cookham stepped up the ante – with Paul shredding his way through some delicious mint humbug shirts and crossing into an attentive attacking melee.

The slope appeared to be up to its usual tricks of pulling the ball down; where Tom Banks was roaming and fired it back up into the middle and across – culminating in a lovely run from Paul who turned and tapped back to a forward dash from Miles for a lovely shot at goal. Then another shot from Paul, then one from Luke, then a corner from Miles, that floated beautifully into the middle for a Ben header….all saved by a busy keeper.

The touchline was by now turning to the trusty match reporter and requesting “shot on target” stats – because no doubt within 20 minutes of the beginning of the half we must have been on 25 shots on target. Every one of them was deflected by a combination of solid defending, great goalkeeping skills, and an indisputable force field around the goal mouth that seemed to bend every shot away in some “can’t believe its not butter” moments.

Some examples included a header from on the line which one moment was heading into the goal (Where else could it go as it was being headed from ON the line – yes; you guessed it! Mysteriously the ball re-materialised behind the goal….). Another example followed shortly after with a Cookham player up against 3 Hughenden humbugs, battled through, walked the ball right up to the goalmouth, fired at goal, and watched with incredulity as the ball went wide!

At 25 shots on goal the attacking waves continued with Louie on form, showcasing strong ball skills and tough physical play in the middle, creating opportunities threading the ball out to Mikey, then Paul, Tom Harvey, and Miles on the outside roaming up front, all passing, calling, running, shooting, and all of the opportunities going to waste thanks to the terrible trio of defending, keeping, and black magic at the goal mouth.

Not to say by the way that the game was all one way; Cookham were certainly passing and calling today, but the Hughenden lads did a good job of keeping the game up the middle, and we weren’t finding the long passes to open up the game. On top of that they would gain possession in some big hearted attacking play and with big lungs chase down every ball before surging forward in the occasional counter attack of their own.

The Hughenden tight defensive play and strong willed determination paid off as the whistle went to signal the end of a goal-less first half.

A tough talking-to in the changing rooms must have paid off, because Cookham came out having found some longer passes and firing the ball up front well, with an early attacking wave finding the keeper right out of his goalmouth…but then also finding two or three Hughenden lads literally right on the goal line in a trio of John Terry moments, where they neatly cleared the ball out in the closest moment of the game which pressured the goal-mouth force field to its limits.

Again Hughenden came back – now Ben was getting stuck in earning his �£160,000 per week as he found two or three toffee shirts on him, but consistently got the ball out - where Harry was backing in to some pushy Hughenden players, then Louie picking up any lost balls in the middle by forcefully taking possession back – and threading the ball up front for some more goal-mouth action.

Bang Bang Bang, one shot after another – and another header right on the line that again somehow defied the laws of physics – with some epic goalkeeping moments – first a dive at the feet of a charging Luke bravely saving what looked like a dead cert – then a flying, soaring, diving, backward save that plucked the ball out of the air from an impossible angle.

And yet it looked all along that Cookham were the better team on the day…but spirit and determination from Hughenden were paying off, as their closest moment with a soaring bouncing ball almost caught us off guard and threatened to defy the run of the game for a moment.

At last it came; from a short-lived but nerve-wracking Hughenden counter, Ben won possession and ran then passed the ball up to Harry, who with some pace and skill weaved through the middle; popped the ball up to an alert Luke for a lovely lob on a keeper that was finding himself forced out once to often. With a sigh of relief we had chalked up our one and only goal of the game.

Some say that Mike Sackman had �£34 on for a close fought 1 – 0 win with a shady consortium of Eastern backed gangster gamblers, sat in a darkened room watching a satellite feed somewhere; and either the keepers or the ref were in for a �£17 split of the ill-gotten proceeds. I am not so sure (despite the offer of a free side dish of mushy peas next time I’m out at Harvester to write 1-0 in the match report whatever happened); I think the mysterious force field is a more likely explanation.

One of those games with some good passing and calling where the boys’ talent shone through. On the other side of the field, pluck and determination from Hughenden chasing down every ball and marking well, closely cramped the style somewhat. There is no doubt that their good defending and tight play limited the damage of what might otherwise have been a high scoring epic to a close scoreline.

This was nevertheless a Cookham biased game from first to last with relieved spectators heading off to Sunday lunch, and the shifty-looking match reporter hungrily anticipating a warm dish of Harvester mushy peas from this ONE NIL outcome.